JPE Workflow Router (jpe-workflow)

Overview

This is the router. It does not replace any specialized skill. It tells you which jpe- skill to use given where you are right now* in a Journal of Political Economy (JPE) submission.

Default assumption: unless the user says otherwise, treat the target as JPE proper (University of Chicago Press; lead editor Esteban Rossi-Hansberg). The same routing applies to the 2023-launched companion journals — JPE Microeconomics (lead editor John List) and JPE Macroeconomics (lead editor Greg Kaplan) — but those are narrower in scope; flag that routing choice in jpe-topic-selection. Note two JPE-specific gates that shape the whole pipeline: a non-refundable $250 / $125 submission fee with a 3-referee-reports waiver, and a conditional accept that triggers the JPE Data Editor verifying a DCAS package deposited to the JPE Dataverse.

The single organizing question behind every JPE skill: "What does economic theory predict here, and does the evidence bear it out?" A Chicago referee will read the paper as an economic argument, not a regression table. Internal consistency of that argument is scrutinized harder than at most journals.

When to trigger

• The user asks "what should I do next?" on a JPE-targeted paper
• A draft is handed over and the current bottleneck is unclear
• Work is bouncing between modeling, empirics, and writing with no clear order
• A JPE decision letter (reject / R&R) has arrived and the user needs to switch into response mode

Routing table

Default order

1. jpe-topic-selection — lock the economic question and the mechanism it tests
2. jpe-literature-positioning — situate the contribution in the economics literature (Chicago author-date)
3. jpe-identification — make the causal/empirical claim credible
4. jpe-theory-model — the model or mechanism that gives the result its economic meaning
5. jpe-robustness — kill the alternative explanations a referee will float
6. jpe-tables-figures — finalize main exhibits so each carries economic content
7. jpe-writing-style — tighten prose into JPE's analytical register (polish)
8. jpe-referee-strategy — pre-mortem the report you expect, patch holes
9. jpe-replication-package — assemble data/code to DCAS standard for the JPE Data Editor / JPE Dataverse
10. jpe-submission — Editorial Express preflight ($250/$125 fee, Chicago author-date format, single-blind)
11. jpe-rebuttal — after the R&R lands

jpe-writing-style is a late polish stage. Do not chase prose before the identification and the model are sound. jpe-theory-model and jpe-identification often iterate together — for JPE the model frequently disciplines the empirical specification, not the reverse.

Decision heuristics

• "I have a clean causal effect but no story for why" → jpe-theory-model (a bare effect is not a JPE paper)
• "I have a model but the empirics are an afterthought" → jpe-identification
• "My intro cites everyone but never says what economics learns" → jpe-literature-positioning
• "DID uses TWFE with staggered timing and I haven't addressed heterogeneity bias" → jpe-identification
• "All my evidence is one regression" → jpe-robustness
• "A referee will say this ignores general equilibrium / selection / incentives" → jpe-referee-strategy
• "Submitting tomorrow" → jpe-submission
• "Got three referee reports" → jpe-rebuttal

Pipeline status manifest

Track where the manuscript actually is before asking "what next?". Keep this block at the top of the project notes and update it after every working session; the first blocked or todo row is the skill to invoke.

jpe_pipeline:
  target: JPE proper          # or: JPE Micro | JPE Macro — decide in jpe-topic-selection
  stages:
    - {skill: jpe-topic-selection,        status: done,    gate: "economic question + mechanism locked"}
    - {skill: jpe-literature-positioning, status: done,    gate: "contribution stated in Chicago author-date frame"}
    - {skill: jpe-identification,         status: blocked, gate: "causal claim defensible to a Chicago referee"}
    - {skill: jpe-theory-model,           status: todo,    gate: "model disciplines the empirical specification"}
    - {skill: jpe-robustness,             status: todo,    gate: "alternative explanations killed, not just noted"}
    - {skill: jpe-tables-figures,         status: todo,    gate: "each exhibit carries economic content"}
    - {skill: jpe-writing-style,          status: todo,    gate: "spare analytical register throughout"}
    - {skill: jpe-referee-strategy,       status: todo,    gate: "price-theory / GE objections pre-answered"}
    - {skill: jpe-replication-package,    status: todo,    gate: "DCAS package ready for JPE Dataverse deposit"}
    - {skill: jpe-submission,             status: todo,    gate: "Editorial Express preflight; $250/$125 fee cleared"}
    - {skill: jpe-rebuttal,               status: n/a,     gate: "activates only after an R&R decision"}
  rule: "route to the first stage whose status is blocked or todo; never polish downstream of a blocked gate"

Differences vs. QJE / Econometrica / REStud stacks

JPE sits among the top-five but has a distinct house taste:

• JPE: premium on a tight economic mechanism and price-theoretic reasoning; reduced-form and structural both welcome, but the result must mean something for economic theory.
• QJE: prizes a striking, important question and a clean natural experiment; mechanism valued but identification often leads.
• Econometrica: methodological / theoretical novelty and formal rigor lead; pure applied work needs a method or theory contribution.
• REStud: technical depth with a younger-frontier slant; theory and structural empirics both core.

If the paper is methodological with no economic application, Econometrica may fit better. If it is an atheoretical policy evaluation, reconsider the framing in jpe-topic-selection before targeting JPE. And unlike its peers, JPE offers an in-house routing choice between the flagship and the JPE Micro / JPE Macro companions — use it deliberately.

Anti-patterns

• Do not skip jpe-theory-model and present a reduced-form correlation as a finished JPE paper — referees ask "what is the economics?"
• Do not let jpe-tables-figures polish exhibits while the identification is still contested
• Do not let jpe-rebuttal draft a response letter before the manuscript itself has been revised
• Do not treat jpe-submission as the first stop; preflight is worthless if the economic argument is not yet sound
• Do not defer reproducible code to post-accept; the JPE Data Editor verifies the package before publication