restat-theory-model
Use when deciding how much theory or structure a The Review of Economics and Statistics (REStat) manuscript should carry — right-sizing a model so it interprets or disciplines the empirical estimate without becoming the contribution. Calibrates the theory's role; it does not develop new theory for its own sake.
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill restat-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 Right-Sizing (restat-theory-model) ## When to trigger - A reduced-form result needs an economic interpretation a referee will ask for - The draft has a sprawling model section that overshadows the empirical contribution - You are unsure whether to estimate a structural model or stay reduced-form - A referee asked "what is the mechanism?" or "what is the model behind this regression?" ## The REStat theory bar REStat is **empirical-first**: theory is in service of the estimate, not the headline. The right amount of model is the amount that (1) **defines the estimand** — names the parameter the design recovers and why it is interesting; (2) **disciplines the interpretation** — maps the coefficient to an economic object (an elasticity, a welfare-relevant margin, a structural parameter); or (3) **delivers a counterfactual** the reduced form cannot. Anything more risks turning the paper into a theory or pure-structural paper that belongs elsewhere. A short, transparent model that yields a testable prediction or an interpretable parameter is worth more at REStat than an elaborate one that buries the empirics. ## Decision: how much theory? | Situation | Theory dose | Form
- When to trigger
- The REStat theory bar
- Decision: how much theory?
- Right-sizing moves
- Checklist
- Anti-patterns
- Worked vignette: right-sizing a model to an estimate (illustrative)
- Output format
What does the restat-theory-model skill do?
Use when deciding how much theory or structure a The Review of Economics and Statistics (REStat) manuscript should carry — right-sizing a model so it interprets or disciplines the empirical estimate without becoming the contribution. Calibrates the theory's role; it does not develop new theory for its own sake.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill restat-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.