Reproducibility and robustness of economics and political science research

Brodeur, Abel, Mikola, Derek, Cook, Nikolai, Fiala, Lenka, Brailey, Thomas, Briggs, Ryan, de Gendre, Alexandra, Dupraz, Yannick, Gabani, Jacopo, Gauriot, Romain, Haddad, Joanne, Lima, Goncalo, Ankel-Peters, Jörg, Dreber, Anna, Campbell, Douglas, Kattan, Lamis, Marino Fages, Diego, Mierisch, Fabian, Sun, Pu, Wright, Taylor, Connolly, Marie, Hoces de La Guardia, Fernando, Johannesson, Magnus, Miguel, Edward, Vilhuber, Lars, Abarca, Alejandro, Acharya, Mahesh, Adjisse, Sossou Simplice, Akhtar, Ahwaz, Ramirez Lizardi, Eduardo Alberto, Albrecht, Sabina, Andersen, Synøve Nygaard, Andlib, Zubaria, Arrora, Falak, Ash, Thomas, Bacher, Etienne, Bachler, Sebastian, Bacon, Félix, Bagues, Manuel, Balogh, Timea, Batmanov, Alisher, Barschkett, Mara, Basdil, Barış Kaan, Baxa, Jaromír, Becker, Sascha O., Beeder, Monica, Beland, Louis-Philippe, Bello, Abdel-Hamid, Markovits, Daniel Benenson, Benjamin, Grant, Bergeron, Thomas, Blimpo, Moussa P., Binetti, Marco, Bonander, Carl, Bonneau, Joseph, Borbáth, Endre, Borgen, Nicolai, Borgen, Solveig Topstad, Borowsky, Jonathan, Brini, Elisa, Brown, Myriam, Brun, Martin, Bruns, Stephan, Buliskeria, Nino, Calef, Andrea, Cameron, Alistair, Campa, Pamela, Campos-Rodríguez, Santiago, Cantone, Giulio Giacomo, Carpena, Fenella, Carter, Perry Jess, Dower, Paul Castañeda, Castek, Ondrej, Caviglia-Harris, Jill, Strand, Gabriella Chauca, Chen, Shi, Chzhen, Sya In, Chung, Jong, Collins, Jason, Coppock, Alexander, Cordeau, Hugo, Couillard, Ben, Crechet, Jonathan, Crippa, Lorenzo, Cui, Jing, Czymara, Christian, Daarstad, Haley, Dao, Danh Chi, Dao, Daniel, Schmandt, Marco David, de Linde, Astrid, De Melo, Lucas, Deer, Lachlan, De Vera, Micole, Dimitrova, Velichka, Dollbaum, Jan Fabian, Dollbaum, Jan Matti, Donnelly, Michael, Huynh, Luu Duc Toan, Dumbalska, Tsvetomira, Duncan, Jamie, Duong, Kiet Tuan, Duprey, Thibaut, Dworschak, Christoph, Ellingsrud, Sigmund, Elminejad, Ali, Eissa, Yasmine, Erhart, Andrea, Etingin-Frati, Giulian, Fatemipour, Elaheh, Federice, Alexa, Feld, Jan, Fenig, Guidon, Firouzjaeiangalougah, Mojtaba, Fleisje, Erlend, Fortier-Chouinard, Alexandre, Engel, Julia Francesca, Fréchet, Nadjim, Fortier, Reid, Fries, Tilman, Frith, Michael James, Galipeau, Thomas, Gallegos, Sebastian, Gangji, Areez, Gao, Xiaoying, Garnache, Cloé, Gáspár, Attila, Gavrilova, Evelina, Ghosh, Arijit, Gibney, Garreth, Gibson, Grant, Godager, Geir, Goff, Leonard, Gong, Da, González, Javier, Gretton, Jeremy D., Griffa, Cristina, Grigoryeva, Idaliya, Grøtting, Maja, Guntermann, Eric, Guo, Jiaqi, Gugushvili, Alexi, Habibnia, Hooman, Häffner, Sonja, Hall, Jonathan D., Hammar, Olle, Kordt, Amund Hanson, Hashimoto, Barry, Hartley, Jonathan S., Hausladen, Carina I., Havránek, Tomáš, He, Harry, Hepplewhite, Matthew, Herrera-Rodriguez, Mario, Heuer, Felix, Heyes, Anthony, Ho, Anson T. Y., Holmes, Jonathan, Holzknecht, Armando, Hsu, Yu-Hsiang Dexter, Hu, Shiang-Hung, Huang, Yu-Shiuan, Huebener, Mathias, Huber, Christoph, Huynh, Kim P., Irsova, Zuzana, Isler, Ozan, Jakobsson, Niklas, Jananji, Raphaël, Jayalath, Tharaka A., Jetter, Michael, John, Jenny, Forshaw, Rachel Joy, Juan, Felipe, Kadriu, Valon, Karim, Sunny, Kelly, Edmund, Hoang Dang, Duy Khanh, Khushboo, Tazia, Kim, Jin, Kjellsson, Gustav, Kjelsrud, Anders, Kotsadam, Andreas, Korpershoek, Jori, Krashinsky, Lewis, Kundu, Suranjana, Kustov, Alexander, Lalayev, Nurlan, Langlois, Audrée, Laufer, Jill, Lee-Whiting, Blake, Leibing, Andreas, Lenz, Gabriel, Levin, Joel, Li, Peng, Li, Tongzhe, Lin, Yuchen, Listo, Ariel, Liu, Dan, Lu, Xuewen, Lukmanova, Elvina, Luscombe, Alex, Lusher, Lester R., Lyu, Ke, Ma, Hai, Mäder, Nicolas, Makate, Clifton, Malmberg, Alice, Maitra, Adit, Mandas, Marco, Marcus, Jan, Margaryan, Shushanik, Márk, Lili, Martignano, Andres, Marsh, Abigail, Masetto, Isabella, McCanny, Anthony, McManus, Emma, McWay, Ryan, Metson, Lennard, Kinge, Jonas Minet, Mishra, Sumit, Mohnen, Myra, Moeller, Jakob, Montambeault, Rosalie, Montpetit, Sébastien, Morin, Louis-Philippe, Morris, Todd, Moser, Scott, Motoki, Fabio Yoshio Suguri, Muehlenbachs, Lucija, Musulan, Andreea, Musumeci, Marco, Nabin, Munirul, Nchare, Karim, Neubauer, Florian, Nguyen, Quan M. P., Nguyen, Tuan, Nguyen-Tien, Viet, Niazi, Ali, Nikolaishvili, Giorgi, Nordstrom, Ardyn, Nüß, Patrick, Odermatt, Angela, Olson, Matt, Øien, Henning, Ölkers, Tim, Oliver I Vert, Miquel, Oral, Emre, Oswald, Christian, Ousman, Ali, Özak, Ömer, Pandey, Shubham, Pavlov, Alexandre, Pelli, Martino, Penheiro, Romeo, Park, RyuGyung, Martel, Eva Pérez, Petrovičová, Tereza, Phan, Linh, Prettyman, Alexa, Procházka, Jakub, Putri, Aqila, Quandt, Julian, Qiu, Kangyu, Thi Nguyen, Loan Quynh, Rahman, Andaleeb, Rea, Carson H., Reiremo, Adam, Renée, Laëtitia, Richardson, Joseph, Rivers, Nicholas, Rodrigues, Bruno, Roelofs, William, Roemer, Tobias, Rogeberg, Ole, Rose, Julian, Roskos-Ewoldsen, Andrew, Rosmer, Paul, Sabada, Barbara, Saberian, Soodeh, Salamanca, Nicolas, Sator, Georg, Scates, Daniel, Schlüter, Elmar, Sells, Cameron, Sen, Sharmi, Sethi, Ritika, Shcherbiak, Anna, Sogaolu, Moyosore, Soosalu, Matt, Sørensen, Erik Ø., Sovani, Manali, Spencer, Noah, Staubli, Stefan, Stans, Renske, Stewart, Anya, Stips, Felix, Stockley, Kieran, Strobel, Stephenson, Struby, Ethan, Tang, John P., Tanrisever, Idil, Yang, Thomas Tao, Tastan, Ipek, Tatić, Dejan, Tatlow, Benjamin, Seuyong, Féraud Tchuisseu, Thériault, Rémi, Thivierge, Vincent, Tian, Wenjie, Toma, Filip-Mihai, Totarelli, Maddalena, Tran, Van-Anh, Truong, Hung, Tsoy, Nikita, Tuzcuoglu, Kerem, Ubfal, Diego, Villalobos, Laura, Walterskirchen, Julian, Wang, Joseph Tao-Yi, Wattal, Vasudha, Webb, Matthew D., Weber, Bryan S., Weisser, Reinhard, Weng, Wei-Chien, Westheide, Christian, White, Kimberly, Winter, Jacob, Wochner, Timo, Woerman, Matt, Wong, Jared, Woodard, Ritchie, Wroński, Marcin, Yazbeck, Myra, Yang, Gustav Chung, Yap, Luther, Yassin, Kareman, Ye, Hao, Yoon, Jin Young, Yurris, Chris, Zahra, Tahreen, Zaneva, Mirela, Zayat, Aline, Zhang, Jonathan, Zhao, Ziwei and Zhong, Yaolang (2026) Reproducibility and robustness of economics and political science research. Nature, 652 (8108). pp. 151-156. ISSN 0028-0836

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Abstract

Science aspires to be cumulative. Reproducibility efforts strengthen science by testing the reliability of published findings, promoting self-correction, and informing policy-making 1. Computational reproductions, whereby independent researchers reproduce the results of published studies, are an essential diagnostic tool 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9–10. Such efforts should have greater visibility 11, 12, 13, 14, 15–16. However, little social science reproduction and robustness has been conducted at scale 10,13,17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22–23. Here we reproduced original analyses and conducted robustness checks of 110 articles that were published in leading economics and political science journals with mandatory data and code sharing policies 17,18. We found that more than 85% of published claims were computationally reproducible. In robustness checks, our reanalyses showed that 72% of statistically significant estimates remain significant and in the same direction, and the median reproduced effect size is nearly the same as the originally published effect size (that is, 99% of the published effect size). Additionally, 6 independent research teams examined 12 pre-specified hypotheses about determinants of robustness. Research teams with more experience found lower levels of robustness, and robustness did not correlate with author characteristics or data availability.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	AAM downloaded from University of Manchester repository, under CC BY. Data availability: The data are available on Zenodo (https://zenodo.org/records/17792605 (ref. 41)) and OSF (https://osf.io/8wsqx/). See OSF for our preanalysis plan. Code availability: Code is available on Zenodo (https://zenodo.org/records/17792605 (ref. 41)) and OSF (https://osf.io/8wsqx/).
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Economics Faculty of Social Sciences > Norwich Business School
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Competition Policy Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Applied Econometrics And Finance
Related URLs:	https://www.scopus.com/pages/publication...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	13 May 2026 13:17
Last Modified:	14 May 2026 15:15
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/102994
DOI:	10.1038/s41586-026-10251-x

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