Topic Selection & Scope Fit (aejmic-topic-selection)

When to trigger

• The project could plausibly go to AEJ: Micro, a specialist theory journal, or an applied/empirical venue, and you must choose
• The question feels narrow, technical, or of interest only to a sub-sub-field
• A reviewer or colleague asked "is this really an AEJ: Micro paper?"
• You have a clever model but are unsure it carries a broad-interest economic message

The AEJ: Micro fit gate

AEJ: Micro is the AEA's quarterly journal for microeconomic theory and its applications, founded 2009. It is theory-first but values broad microeconomic interest delivered through the AEA editorial process. The fit question is two-pronged: (1) is the contribution a theory contribution (a model, result, characterization, or theory-grounded experiment)? and (2) is the result broadly interesting to micro economists, not only to specialists in one technique?

In scope

• Game theory, mechanism and market design, matching, auctions and contests
• Contract theory, information economics, Bayesian persuasion / information design
• Industrial-organization theory (and structural IO where the theory is the point)
• Decision theory, behavioral theory, and theory-grounded experiments
• Political economy / networks when the contribution is a micro-theoretic result

Sibling boundaries — route elsewhere if

• JET / GEB: specialist theory prizing maximal generality or a technical advance with narrower audience → those venues; AEJ: Micro wants broader micro interest + AEA process.
• Theoretical Economics / Econometrica: more abstract or methodological (a new solution concept, an estimator, deep foundations) → those venues.
• AEJ: Applied: the contribution is an empirical applied-micro finding with no central theoretical result → AEJ: Applied (a sibling AEJ).
• A pure econometric-method paper → Econometrica / QE / a metrics journal.

Decision table

Checklist

• The central contribution is a theory result (or a theory-grounded experiment), not just an empirical finding
• The result is interesting to a broad micro audience, statable in one sentence
• Checked the four sibling boundaries (JET/GEB, TE/Econometrica, AEJ: Applied, metrics) and can say why AEJ: Micro
• The question motivates the model (not a model in search of a question)
• JEL codes that match the contribution are identifiable (required at submission)

Anti-patterns

• A "model in search of a question" — technique first, economics absent
• Maximal generality with a narrow audience (a JET/GEB paper mis-aimed at AEJ: Micro)
• An empirical paper with a token model bolted on, sent to AEJ: Micro instead of AEJ: Applied
• Pitching a new estimator or solution concept here rather than to a methods/foundations venue
• Assuming "microeconomics" in the title is the fit test — the theory-first + broad-interest gate is

Worked vignette (illustrative)

A draft characterizes optimal disclosure in a two-seller search market and also tests one comparative static in a lab experiment. Is it AEJ: Micro? Yes if the characterization is the contribution and the experiment is supporting evidence — that is theory-first with broad IO/information interest. It drifts to a field journal if the experiment becomes the headline and the model is decorative, and toward JET if the authors chase maximal generality at the cost of the economic message.

Output format

【Contribution type】theory result / theory-grounded experiment / structural-with-theory
【One-sentence claim】[...]
【Broad-interest check】who beyond specialists cares, and why
【Sibling boundaries cleared】JET-GEB? TE-Econometrica? AEJ:Applied? metrics? [Y/N each]
【JEL codes】[primary; secondary]
【Verdict】AEJ: Micro fit? [yes / reconsider venue]
【Next step】aejmic-literature-positioning, then aejmic-theory-model