aeja-theory-model
Use when an American Economic Journal: Applied Economics (AEJ: Applied) manuscript needs a model to interpret, discipline, or structure its empirical estimates — not to lead the paper. Calibrates how much theory belongs in an empirical-first journal and where it goes; it does not design the identification (aeja-identification) or build a standalone structural estimation.
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill aeja-theory-model --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# Theory & Model for Interpretation (aeja-theory-model) ## When to trigger - A referee asks "what is the mechanism / what model rationalizes this?" - The reduced-form estimate is credible but its economic meaning is ambiguous - You want a welfare statement, an elasticity, or a counterfactual the raw estimate cannot deliver - You are tempted to lead the paper with a full structural model and need to right-size it for AEJ: Applied ## The AEJ: Applied theory dial AEJ: Applied is **empirical-first**. Theory earns its place only when it **interprets the estimate, sharpens the estimand, or unlocks a magnitude the design cannot deliver alone** — never as the headline. Pick the lightest tool that does the job and keep the empirical estimate the star. | Theory's job | Right amount of model | Where it goes | |--------------|-----------------------|---------------| | Name the mechanism | a few equations / a conceptual framework | short section before results | | Map a reduced-form coefficient to a structural parameter | a sufficient-statistic / envelope argument | inline derivation + appendix | | Deliver a welfare or counterfactual number | a calibrated or partially-structural model | a dedic
- When to trigger
- The AEJ: Applied theory dial
- Sufficient-statistic style (often the AEJ: Applied sweet spot)
- When a fuller model is warranted
- Checklist
- Anti-patterns
- Worked vignette (illustrative)
- Referee pushback mapped to the theory fix
- Output format
What does the aeja-theory-model skill do?
Use when an American Economic Journal: Applied Economics (AEJ: Applied) manuscript needs a model to interpret, discipline, or structure its empirical estimates — not to lead the paper. Calibrates how much theory belongs in an empirical-first journal and where it goes; it does not design the identification (aeja-identification) or build a standalone structural estimation.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill aeja-theory-model --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills, a repository with 909 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.