Abstract
In this reply, we comment on Reed and Sidek’s replication of Nijkamp and Poot. We note that Nijkamp and Poot’s conclusions are robust to, first, trimming their sample of primary studies to improve comparability across studies and, second, greatly expanding the number of observations for meta-analysis by including multiple estimates from each of the trimmed sample of primary studies. We argue that future meta-analyses of this empirical literature would benefit from a narrower focus on specific fiscal policies and from considering institutions and cultural–attitudinal contexts within which primary studies are conducted.
About the authors
Peter Nijkamp is Emeritus Professor in regional and urban economics, and in economic geography at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
Jacques Poot is Professor of Population Economics, National Institute of Demographic and Economic Analysis, University of Waikato, New Zealand.