May Contain Lies Project

In order to learn how to conduct empirical research, over the past year I have spent a lot of time replicating many empirical studies, many of them excellent and some of them with confusing results. Especially in Japan, where raw data is largely lacking.

The possible reasons for not being able to replicate the prior research are mainly as follows:

First, my ability is insufficient.

Second, some of the studies ignored the fact that the Japanese legal system differs from that of foreign countries to a certain extent.

Third, excessive interpretation and manipulation of data.

When there are many confrontational perspectives in corporate governance, we should be more cautious about the results of empirical studies.

Practitioners (and researchers) involved in corporate governance in Japan might benefit from reading Professor Alex Edmans' (London Business School)  website and new book, "May Contain Lies: How Stories, Statistics, and Studies Exploit Our Biases―And What We Can Do about It".

Professor Holger Spamann (Harvard Law School) mentioned on his website that:

Replications aren’t good for the replicator’s career. Replications take as much time as original research. But replications offer none of the rewards in terms of developing and publicizing one’s own ideas or gathering citations. It also risks upsetting the original researchers, which isn’t fun unless you enjoy annoying other people (which I don’t; otherwise, I could have earned a lot more money as a litigator). So why do I do it?

Because I want to stand on the shoulders of giants, not on a giant pile of manure. I can’t help it: I care about truth. That’s why I became an academic. What’s the point theorizing about a factoid that is likely just an error or randomness, intentional or not?

I wish that one day I will have the courage to publish a paper on this issue.

See also Power to Truth: Straight Talk with Luigi Zingales and Anat Admati