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  5. In Praise of Confidence Intervals

AEA Papers and Proceedings

ISSN 2574-0768 (Print) | ISSN 2574-0776 (Online)

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In Praise of Confidence Intervals

  • David Romer
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 110, May 2020
(pp. 55–60)
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Abstract

Most empirical papers in economics focus on two aspects of their results: whether the estimates are statistically significantly different from zero and the interpretation of the point estimates. This focus obscures important information about the implications of the results for economically interesting hypotheses about values of the parameters other than zero, and in some cases, about the strength of the evidence against values of zero. This limitation can be overcome by reporting confidence intervals for papers' main estimates and discussing their economic interpretation.

Citation

Romer, David. 2020. "In Praise of Confidence Intervals." AEA Papers and Proceedings, 110: 55–60. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20201059

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • C13 Estimation: General