ier-theory-model
Use when the model is the contribution for an International Economic Review (IER) manuscript and its assumptions, results, or comparative statics are not yet tight. Stress-tests load-bearing assumptions, generality, and the proof to IER's theory/structural bar; it does not write the proofs.
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill ier-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 and Model Craft (ier-theory-model) ## When to trigger - The model "works" numerically but you cannot say which assumption is doing the work - Existence/uniqueness of equilibrium is asserted rather than proved, or relies on a knife-edge condition - A referee suspects the headline result is an artifact of a functional-form or parametric choice - The comparative statics are stated but the *sign* of a key derivative is not signed cleanly - You are unsure the model is general enough — does the result survive perturbing the convenient assumption? ## Why theory is central at IER IER tilts theory/structural, and for theory and structural papers the model **is** the contribution — so the bar is not "is the model plausible" but "is the result **tight and general**." A tight result names exactly which assumptions are load-bearing and shows the conclusion is not an accident of a convenient functional form. This is the difference an IER referee looks for between a paper that teaches a general lesson and one that re-derives a known fact under new notation. ### What makes a result "tight" at IER | Dimension | The tight version | The loose version a referee punishes | |-----------|-------
- When to trigger
- Why theory is central at IER
- What makes a result "tight" at IER
- The discipline sequence for an IER model
- Worked vignette: making a uniqueness claim tight (illustrative)
- Why theory craft is judged harder at IER than at applied venues
- The "is it new or is it notation?" gate
- Generality without overreach
- Checklist
- Anti-patterns
- Referee pushback mapped to the theory fix
- Output format
What does the ier-theory-model skill do?
Use when the model is the contribution for an International Economic Review (IER) manuscript and its assumptions, results, or comparative statics are not yet tight. Stress-tests load-bearing assumptions, generality, and the proof to IER's theory/structural bar; it does not write the proofs.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill ier-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.