<p><a href="https://www.peri.umass.edu/images/WP322.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">The paper by Herndon et al.</a> shows that there were &quot;coding errors, selective exclusion of available data, and unconventional weighting of summary statistics&quot;. So it's a little deeper than a mere &quot;spreadsheet error&quot; and isn't software-specific, but the term makes good press. Herndon <a href="http://www.cc.com/video-clips/dcyvro/the-colbert-report-austerity-s-spreadsheet-error" rel="nofollow noreferrer">was interviewed on the Colbert Report</a> and I believe that may be where the paper got popularly associated with that term.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-24T15:23:44.870Z
2020-07-25T03:46:20.490Z
2020-07-25T03:46:20.490Z
Brian Z
<p>In class our professor said that the Rogoff and Reinhart research on growth and debt was discredited due to spreadsheet mistake. What was this mistake? Also did they perform their research in excel instead of R, stata or some other advanced program?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-24T09:39:05.950Z
See here: https://www.peri.umass.edu/images/WP322.pdf
Michael Greinecker
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-24T09:49:08.957Z
@MichaelGreinecker you should expand it into an answer
1muflon1
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-24T09:50:52.703Z
@1muflon1 I leave that to those with more motivation.
Michael Greinecker
<macroeconomics><reference-request>
What was the Rogoff & Reinhart spreadsheet mistake?
csilvia
# What was the Rogoff & Reinhart spreadsheet mistake?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-07-24)

In class our professor said that the Rogoff and Reinhart research on growth and debt was discredited due to spreadsheet mistake. What was this mistake? Also did they perform their research in excel instead of R, stata or some other advanced program?

**Tags:** macroeconomics, reference-request

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: See here: https://www.peri.umass.edu/images/WP322.pdf  
> **username_2**: @username_1 you should expand it into an answer  
> **username_1**: @username_2 I leave that to those with more motivation.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2020-07-24. Score: 3

[The paper by Herndon et al.](https://www.peri.umass.edu/images/WP322.pdf) shows that there were "coding errors, selective exclusion of available data, and unconventional weighting of summary statistics". So it's a little deeper than a mere "spreadsheet error" and isn't software-specific, but the term makes good press. Herndon [was interviewed on the Colbert Report](http://www.cc.com/video-clips/dcyvro/the-colbert-report-austerity-s-spreadsheet-error) and I believe that may be where the paper got popularly associated with that term.


---

