AEJ Policy Referee Strategy
Anticipates referee objections and aligns economics manuscripts with AEJ: Economic Policy editorial standards prior to submission.
AEJ: Economic Policy Referee Strategy helps researchers evaluate manuscripts through the lens of an American Economic Journal: Economic Policy referee before submission or during an R&R. It systematically checks papers against four fatal friction points—broad policy interest, causal identification credibility, rigorous welfare derivations, and replication standards. By mapping predictable pushback to main-text exhibits and triaging which weaknesses to fix versus which to bound and disclose, this skill ensures manuscripts withstand rigorous single-blind peer review.
Key Features
01Formulates pre-emptive main-text defenses and maps objections to specific exhibits or paragraphs
02Identifies fatal referee objections regarding causal identification, welfare implications, and policy scope
03Structures pre-submission checklists tailored to AEA single-blind review expectations
04Generates triage guidance distinguishing issues to fix from limitations to bound and disclose
05Evaluates empirical rigor including staggered TWFE checks, parallel trends, and replication readiness
061,069 GitHub stars
Use Cases
01Pre-submission stress testing to identify and address lethal referee objections in economics papers
02Triaging empirical limitations between main-text identification fixes and transparently bounded disclosures
03Preparing for revise-and-resubmit (R&R) cycles by calibrating manuscript defenses and welfare derivations