The data generating model (Nate Breznau)

What's the data-generating model? The theoretical problem of replication. Before we argue about whether a finding replicates, we should ask a harder question: did we ever know what we were estimating? This session makes the case that many findings are "not even wrong" — and that in economics, the theory often gets written after the results. If we can't state the data-generating model, what exactly is a replication testing? Leading the session: Nate Breznau is a researcher at the German Institute for Adult Education — Leibniz Centre for Lifelong Learning in Bonn. He works on metascience and open science, with a focus on transparency, reproducibility, and inclusivity in research — including the landmark crowdsourced studies showing how much results vary across analysts. Recorded at the Institute for Replication's Barcelona Workshop, July 18, 2026. Participants include: Jörg Ankel-Peters, Juan Pablo Aparicio Rene Bekkers, Nate Breznau, Abel Brodeur, Luna Fazio, Lenka Fiala, Jack Fitzgerald, Victor Gay, Robert Harlow, Christoph Huber, Joan Llull, Jan Marcus, Derek Mikola, Katharina Miller, Simon Nolte, Julian Rose, Maximiliane Sievert, Lukas Wallrich and Josefina Weinerova.