The Finance Crowd Analysis Project is offering an unrivaled meta-scientific view in empirical Finance. 164 research teams worked on this project, an exceptional number in this field. It involved researchers from 207 institutions and 34 countries including central bank economists.

2 TBS Education associate professors involved in #fincap

Two TBS Education associate professors, Anna Calamia and Debrah Meloso, are co-authors of the research paper Non-standard-errors coming from Fincap. Anna and Debrah are professors in the department of Economics and Finance and are affiliated to the Finance, Economics, and Econometrics research laboratory at TBS Education. Their research has focused on the functioning of financial markets and they are engaged in several other projects together.

The first crowd-sourced empirical paper in Economics/Finance

Have you ever wondered whether researchers using the same data set to address a unique research question would come to the same conclusions? Fincap tried to answer this complex question.

This innovative project attracted eminent researchers, including some from the most prestigious French finance department. Fincap was run by project coordinators Anna Dreber, Felix Holzmeister, Juergen Huber, Magnus Johannesson, Michael Kirchler, Albert J. Menkveld, Sebastian Neusuess, Michael Razen, and Utz Weitzel from the Stockholm School of Economics, the University of Innsbruck, and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Abstract

In statistics, samples are drawn from a population in a data-generating process (DGP). Standard errors measure the uncertainty in sample estimates of population parameters. In science, evidence is generated to test hypotheses in an evidence-generating process (EGP). We claim that EGP variation across researchers adds uncertainty: non-standard errors. To study them, we let 164 teams test six hypotheses on the same sample. We find that non-standard errors are sizeable, on par with standard errors. Their size (i) co-varies only weakly with team merits, reproducibility, or peer rating, (ii) declines significantly after peer-feedback, and (iii) is underestimated by participants.

Gilles Lafforgue has been appointed member of the Commission on the Economy of Sustainable Development (CEDD) of the French Ministry of Ecological Transition. The title of qualified personality for his economic expertise was awarded to him in this context. Very involved in the research sphere in terms of sustainable development and recognized for his economic expertise, this professor-researcher at TBS Education had participated in the French Carbon Commission from 2017 to 2019. His involvement and the recognition of his high skills are confirmed with this new appointment.

The role of the Commission on Sustainable Development Economics

The CEDD was created on November 10, 2020 at the initiative of the French Prime Minister and the French Minister of Ecological Transition. It succeeds the Economic Council for Sustainable Development. The CEDD provides assistance to French public decision-making on sustainable development from an economic perspective.

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The mission of this consultative commission is to provide insight into the fields of the environment, energy and climate, transportation and housing. To do this, it relies on the analysis of statistical data and the comparison of economic analyses, the development and evaluation of public policies in these areas.

The objective of the “Environment” group

The professor-researcher will participate more specifically in the work of the “Environment” group, whose objective is to examine and discuss the economic accounts of the environment (monetary and physical flows relating to natural environments, natural resources, the circular economy, or the reduction of emissions and consumption).

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