Bank of England: Uncovering 'Non-Standard Errors' – How Researcher Choices Sway Economic Results (Explained)

This episode explains a Bank of England Staff Working Paper, "Non-standard errors," by Albert J Menkveld et al., exploring how variations in researcher choices introduce significant "non-standard errors" into scientific findings. We break down their study of 164 teams testing hypotheses on the same data, revealing these errors are substantial, decrease with peer feedback, and are often underestimated by participants. Have thoughts or questions on how researcher bias impacts economic insights? Send them to [email protected]. This episode explains a real academic paper in plain English for a general audience. Source paper: Keywords: non-standard errors, research methodology, scientific uncertainty, economics research, central banking, data analysis