jpam-theory-building
Use when building the conceptual frame of a Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (JPAM) manuscript — the theory of change / logic model linking the policy lever to outcomes, the mechanism, and the scope conditions that govern transfer to other settings. Sharpens the argument; it does not run estimation or design identification.
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill jpam-theory-building --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 of Change & Mechanism (jpam-theory-building) JPAM is empirical, but the best policy papers are not atheoretical. The "theory" here is a **theory of change**: a transparent logic that says *why* the policy lever should move the outcome, *through what mechanism*, *for whom*, and *under what conditions it would (or would not) transfer* to another jurisdiction or scale. This frame is what turns a single estimate into evidence a policymaker elsewhere can use, and it disciplines the cost-benefit and heterogeneity analysis downstream. ## When to trigger - Specifying the logic model / theory of change before or alongside the design - A reviewer asked "what's the mechanism?" or "why would this generalize?" - Deciding which heterogeneity and mediation analyses are theory-driven (not fishing) - Framing scope conditions for external validity and scale-up ## Building the theory of change 1. **Lever → mechanism → outcome.** Write the causal chain explicitly: the policy changes X (incentive, constraint, information, price, access), which operates through mechanism M, producing outcome Y. 2. **Behavioral or institutional micro-foundation.** Say *who* responds and *why* — incentives, liqui
- When to trigger
- Building the theory of change
- What the theory buys (JPAM-specific)
- Checklist
- Anti-patterns
- Worked micro-example (illustrative)
- Calibration anchors (hedged)
- Output format
- Supplementary resources
What does the jpam-theory-building skill do?
Use when building the conceptual frame of a Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (JPAM) manuscript — the theory of change / logic model linking the policy lever to outcomes, the mechanism, and the scope conditions that govern transfer to other settings. Sharpens the argument; it does not run estimation or design identification.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill jpam-theory-building --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.