What happened
Most economists outside of one specific field are not using the newest methods for proving cause and effect. This means many economic studies still rely on older ways of showing how things are connected, rather than proving one thing directly causes another.
Why it matters
For years, economists have talked about a 'credibility revolution' — using methods that more rigorously prove cause and effect, like experiments. This paper shows that outside of a small group of economists, most researchers are not actually using these methods. This means that many economic findings, especially in finance and macroeconomics, might not be as robust as they could be.