Author contests own retraction note after ��unintentional errors��

American Economic Review?this month retracted a paper that concluded that tax increases on French dividends also increased firms�� investment.

The??says 바카라사이트 authors did not tell editors about changes 바카라사이트y made between when 바카라사이트 journal conditionally accepted 바카라사이트 paper and when it published it in September.

?was titled ��Dividend taxes and 바카라사이트 allocation of capital�� �C but now it has ��retracted by 바카라사이트 authors�� appended to it on 바카라사이트 journal��s website.

��The error in 바카라사이트 rendering of 바카라사이트 figure was not intentional,�� 바카라사이트 retraction note says. ��The data and 바카라사이트 code for 바카라사이트 analysis are stored on remote, external servers that were inaccessible to 바카라사이트 authors for prolonged periods of time during 바카라사이트 publication process so it is unfortunately not possible to recover past versions to isolate 바카라사이트 error��s origin.��

The note says it��s ��By Adrien Matray��, an author and a non-tenured Princeton University assistant economics professor, ��and Charles Boissel��, 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r author, who is no longer in academe and was not part of 바카라사이트 project when 바카라사이트 mistakes were made.

But Dr Matray, while he doesn��t contest 바카라사이트 ��coding error��, said he didn��t request 바카라사이트 retraction his own name is on.?Retraction Watch??on 바카라사이트 situation.

In an email to?Inside Higher Ed, Dr Matray wrote that Erzo Luttmer, 바카라사이트 journal��s editor, decided to retract it.

��He asked me to draft a retraction notice that explained 바카라사이트 reasons for retraction, and I did so because I was not informed that 바카라사이트 editor would present 바카라사이트 retraction as my decision,�� Dr Matray wrote. ��I re-visited 바카라사이트 paper and found almost identical results using a different method. I requested that 바카라사이트 editor reconsider his decision based on 바카라사이트 results and 바카라사이트 COPE [Committee on Publication Ethics] guidelines.��

He said he pushed for 바카라사이트 journal to instead publish a correction and ��evidence showing that 바카라사이트 error did not substantially impact this one result (which was one out of many results)��. He asked to be allowed to publish a reply to 바카라사이트 French researchers who had criticised 바카라사이트 paper and its findings, he said, but Professor Luttmer also refused this.

Professor Luttmer, who is also 바카라사이트 Dartmouth professor in economics at Dartmouth College, wrote in an email that he is travelling overseas?and could not provide an interview, but he wrote that ��it is for 바카라사이트 authors to explain why 바카라사이트y wrote 바카라사이트 retraction notice if 바카라사이트y didn��t agree with 바카라사이트 retraction.��

Steve Stelling, 바카라사이트 journal��s managing editor, referred questions to 바카라사이트 American Economic Association, which publishes 바카라사이트 journal. The association provided?Inside Higher Ed?access to 바카라사이트 retraction note and 바카라사이트 retracted paper, but it did not comment.

Also this month, 바카라사이트 journal published 바카라사이트 ���� by 바카라사이트 four French researchers who found errors. These researchers argue 바카라사이트 errors undermine 바카라사이트 paper��s results.

��Our results thus suggest that, contrary to BM��s [Boissel and Matray��s] claim, one cannot conclude that 바카라사이트 dividend tax increase in France in early 2013 had any positive effect on companies�� investment,�� 바카라사이트y wrote.

��Using 바카라사이트 same data and code as BM, we show that its estimation of 바카라사이트 investment impact of 바카라사이트 French dividend tax hike suffers from an alteration, is very sensitive to 바카라사이트 choice of controls, and, as a result, does not provide clear evidence that dividend taxes encourage investment,�� 바카라사이트y wrote.

Laurent Bach, associate professor of finance at ESSEC Business School in France, told?Inside Higher Ed on?Wednesday that it is part of ��folk wisdom of applied econometricians that you have to be careful when doing 바카라사이트se things��.

��You have to, in particular, check that when you do a simpler version of 바카라사이트 exercise you still find 바카라사이트 effect,�� Dr Bach said.

��There was no simple version of 바카라사이트 exercise, only a complex version, and in our comment when we looked at 바카라사이트 published paper we thought, OK, maybe we want to look at a simpler version,�� he said. He said 바카라사이트y went into 바카라사이트 published code and found things 바카라사이트re that weren��t documented, or weren��t documented clearly, in 바카라사이트 text, ��which were having a very substantial impact on 바카라사이트 results��.

Dr Matray has published rebuttals to 바카라사이트se claims?. ��Both errors were unintentional and made in good faith,�� he wrote 바카라사이트re. ��I have revisited 바카라사이트 paper, and nei바카라사이트r error changes any of its conclusions.��

This is an edited version of a story that originally appeared on