Asking code of published papers

[Pietro Guglielmi]

Good afternoon, I apologise in advance if this topic is not relevant on Statalist. I thought it might, but if I am wrong I will delete the post.

I am writing a Master's dissertation that replicates an established identification strategy on estimating peer effects (the one developed by Caroline Hoxby her 2000 paper: 10.3386/w7867). I realised that different papers that replicate this strategy in different contexts seem to use slightly different empirical approaches, and it would be helpful to see the exact code some of these researchers used to understand better (1) the exact differences between these approaches and (2) whether there are different ways of performing the same analysis on Stata and (3) if these lead to different results.

I am wondering to what extent it is common practice among Economists to ask other researchers for the code they used in published papers, and whether this practice would also apply to graduate students approaching academics. In other words, I am wondering whether an email from me to some of these academics asking them to share the code they used in their paper would be totally inappropriate or somewhat common practice.

Thank you in advance

[FernandoRios]

I can only talk about my own experience. I have contacted researchers before for this, and have had a mixture of answers
Most people answer very positively, providing all necessary code for replication. A few times, I have even been able to get back to them describing possible typos on original codes, which they were happy to receive and acknowledge.
Others have either ignored or provided reasons why they couldn't share their code.
When I receive those questions, I try to provide as much support as possible.
So, you should send the email, probably mentioning what is your own work about.
Best wishes

[Joao Santos Silva]

Dear Pietro Guglielmi,

Let me echo what Fernando said: it is totally appropriate to ask for code and data and in many cases you do not even need to ask because they are available in the authors' or journal website.
My experience is somewhat mixed, but more authors are happy to help; I certainly always try to help. One think to keep in mind is that not all authors use Stata...

Best wishes and good luck,

Joao

[Pietro Guglielmi]

Joao Santos Silva and FernandoRios thank you very much for your replies and for sharing your experience and thoughts, I will get in contact with these researchers.
Best wishes,
Pietro