ABSTRACT
The chapter argues that the strong focus on the new is counterproductive in empirical economics. If all studies are always required to be different from each other, we cannot assess the influence of variation in researcher degrees of freedom on our findings. The chapter argues that we should instead focus on repeatedly replicating our most important studies. We need to rethink, compare, and replicate these studies, many times. There are different measures to aid efforts toward replication. First, researchers would need to be more transparent in their empirical analysis and, if possible, provide access to their datasets and codes. Second, we need a clear distinction between exploratory and confirmatory analysis. Possible tools for this are pre-analysis plans and registered reports. Third, researchers should try to lay out the multiverse of researcher degrees of freedom. Finally, the chapter argues that to foster replication efforts, we would need to change incentives in research. The chapter lists several measures how this could be achieved in the short-run. In the long-run, we need to strive toward a culture of replication, which is the only sustainable way to tackle the false feedback problem.
