Econ Journal Watch

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Econ Journal Watch
DisciplineEconomics
LanguageEnglish
Edited byDaniel B. Klein
Publication details
History2004-present
Publisher
FrequencySemiannual
Yes
0.920 (2010)
Standard abbreviations
ISO 4Econ J. Watch
Indexing
ISSN1933-527X
LCCN2006215193
OCLC no.55659121
Links

Econ Journal Watch (EJW) is a semiannual peer-reviewed electronic journal established in 2004. It is published by the Fraser Institute. According its website, the journal publishes comments on articles appearing in other economics journals, essays, reflections, investigations, and classic critiques.[1] As of 2017, the Journal maintained a podcast, voiced by Lawrence H. White.[2]

As of 2011, the editor-in-chief was Daniel B. Klein, a libertarian economist and professor at George Mason University.[3] In 2018, the managing editor was Jason Briggeman.[4] As of 2022, the Fraser Institute claimed nine Nobel laureates had been on the Journal's advisory council.[5]

The journal welcomes submissions of comments on articles that appear in economics journals as well as essays, reflections, and investigations that speak to the nature and character of economics research and professional economists.[1] EJW publishes critical commentaries and "watches the journals for inappropriate assumptions, weak chains of argument, phony claims of relevance, omissions of pertinent truths, and irreplicability".[1]

Editorial process

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Compared with typical academic journals, the editorial process of EJW is swift and interactive. Within two weeks of submission, an editor will give an initial reaction to the author. The editor often works directly with authors by email. Submissions will be actively edited for style and expression, after which they are sent for peer review.[6]

Notable articles

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  • A 2010 study by Zeljka Buturovic and Klein published in Econ Journal Watch purported to show that conservatives and libertarians were better informed than liberals about economics.[7][8][9] After receiving criticism, the authors adjusted their research questions in a new study, and published its different findings in 2011.[9][3][10][11] Jonathan Chait of The New Republic, who had called the 2010 study "hackery" and "obviously designed to portray conservatives as better informed",[8] offered the authors praise in 2011 for the revisions.[9]
  • A 2018 article by Alex Young documented that between the 2015 working paper version and the 2017 published version of a paper authored by Andrew Bird and Stephen Karolyi, the numbers in all 11 tables stayed exactly the same, even though the description of the specifications changed.[15] The criticized article was subsequently retracted.[16]
  • A 2020 article by Justin Pickett analyzed both quantitative and qualitative data about what happened regarding retracted articles by the criminologist Eric Stewart and coauthors and suggested that "the five articles were likely fraudulent, several coauthors acted with negligence bordering on complicity after learning about the data irregularities, and the editors violated the ethical standards advanced by the Committee on Publication Ethics".[17] Stewart was subsequently terminated from Florida State University.[18][19]
  • A 2022 article by Phillip Magness and Amelia Janaskie documented evidence of quotation editing and misrepresentation of original sources in an article about the economist Ludwig von Mises by historian Quinn Slobodian.[20]
  • In 2020s, David Barker published several articles critiquing claims that higher temperatures will lower the rate of economic growth.[21] One of them documented that a paper by Riccardo Colacito, Bridget Hoffman, and Toan Phan claimed that higher temperatures decrease the rate of economic growth by regressing annual average state GDP growth on seasonal temperatures but did not test the significance of the sum of the seasonal coefficients (the cumulative effect over the year), which turned out to be insignificant.[22] As of 2025, none of the commented-on authors of the critiqued articles have responded.[21]

Abstracting and indexing

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The journal is abstracted and indexed in the Social Sciences Citation Index, Current Contents/Social & Behavioral Sciences, EconLit, Journal of Economic Literature, and Research Papers in Economics. According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2010 impact factor of 0.920.[23]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "About & Contact · Econ Journal Watch". econjwatch.org. Retrieved 2025-09-12.
  2. ^ "Econ Journal Watch Audio". The Nassau Institute. Nassau, The Bahamas. 5 June 2017. Archived from the original on 9 November 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2022. The host of EJW Audio is Lawrence H. White, a co-editor of EJW and professor of economics at George Mason University
  3. ^ a b Daniel B. Klein (December 2011). "I Was Wrong, and So Are You". The Atlantic. Emerson Collective. ISSN 1072-7825. Retrieved 15 August 2022. Econ Journal Watch, a journal that I edit
  4. ^ "Fostering Resilience in the Medical Marketplace" (PDF). Niskanen Center. July 2018. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  5. ^ "More from the Fraser Institute". Institut Fraser. L'Institut Fraser. 8 June 2016. Archived from the original on 28 October 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2022. Nine Nobel laureates have lent their names to the journal's advisory council
  6. ^ "Call for papers".
  7. ^ Buturovic, Zeljka; Klein, Daniel B. (2010). "Economic Enlightenment in Relation to College-going, Ideology, and Other Variables: A Zogby Survey of Americans". Econ Journal Watch. 7 (2): 174-196.
  8. ^ a b Chait, Jonathan (2010-06-08). "Study Proves Libertarian Economists Ignorant". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved 2023-08-26.
  9. ^ a b c Chait, Jonathan (16 May 2011). "Insult Retractions: A (Very) Occasional Feature". The New Republic.
  10. ^ "Confirmation Bias and Economic Knowledge". Archived from the original on 2011-05-19.
  11. ^ ETHAN RICHARDSON (28 November 2011). "ANNE'S A, BURT'S B, AND THE CONCLUSIVE CONVENIENCE OF THE "MYSIDE"". The Mockingbird. Retrieved 15 August 2022. Later, upon realizing that his research may have been somewhat slanted, Klein co-captains a research plan that would take into account what he coins the "myside bias" or "confirmation bias."
  12. ^ Langbert, Mitchell; Quain, Anthony J.; Klein, Daniel B. (2016). "Faculty Voter Registration in Economics, History, Journalism, Law, and Psychology". Econ Journal Watch. 13 (3): 422-451.
  13. ^ Ana Swanson (14 October 2016). "The most liberal universities in the United States". The Washington Post. Retrieved 15 August 2022. An article recently published in Econ Journal Watch draws on original data to show [...]
  14. ^ "Voter registration data show Democrats outnumber Republicans among social scientists, 11.5 to 1".
  15. ^ Young, Alex (2018). "Will the Real Specification Please Stand Up? A Comment on Andrew Bird and Stephen Karolyi". Econ Journal Watch. 15 (1): 35-48.
  16. ^ "Accounting Review".
  17. ^ Pickett, Justin T. (2020). "The Stewart Retractions: A Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis". Econ Journal Watch. 17 (1): 152-190.
  18. ^ "Retraction Watch".
  19. ^ "Termination letter" (PDF).
  20. ^ Magness, Phillip W.; Janaskie, Amelia (2022). "Misrepresenting Mises: Quotation Editing and a Rejection of Peer Review at Cambridge University Press". Econ Journal Watch. 19 (1): 65-84.
  21. ^ a b Barker, David (2025). "Reflection after Five Papers about Climate Change". Econ Journal Watch. 22 (1): 142–152.
  22. ^ Barker, David (2022). "Temperature and U.S. Economic Growth: Comment on Colacito, Hoffmann, and Phan". Econ Journal Watch. 19 (2): 176–189.
  23. ^ "Econ Journal Watch". 2010 Journal Citation Reports (Science ed.). Thomson Reuters. 2011. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
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