Writing Style (jpube-writing-style)
When to trigger
- The abstract exceeds 250 words or buries the policy finding
- The intro recites results before stating the public-economics question
- Estimates are reported without translation into welfare / revenue terms
- References are not in author-date format
JPubE house style
JPubE is an Elsevier field journal read by public-finance specialists internationally, and its conventions are concrete. Match them:
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Abstract: 250 words maximum. Write a concise, factual abstract stating the purpose, the principal results (with the key number), and the major policy conclusion. No literature, no equations.
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References: author-date (name-and-year) in-text, per Elsevier's economics formatting; reference list alphabetical by surname. Numbered/footnote citation styles read as off-template.
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Source files. Supply editable files: Word in single-column layout, or LaTeX (
.tex) — double-column is permitted only for LaTeX submissions. Keep the manuscript in an editable format, not a flattened PDF only.
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AI disclosure. If generative AI assisted manuscript preparation, it must be declared at submission; AI may support but not substitute for your critical thinking and analysis.
Prose moves specific to public economics
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Lead with the policy question, then the answer. The first paragraph should name the government policy, the behavioral margin, and the welfare stake.
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Translate every headline estimate. Convert elasticities into deadweight loss, revenue, MVPF, or distributional language a policy economist reads instantly.
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State the design in plain words before the equations — JPubE referees reward transparent identification described verbally.
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Be precise about scope. Say which population and policy the estimate identifies; avoid implying a universal optimal rate from a local design.
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Discipline the claims. The conclusion must not exceed what the design and welfare assumptions support.
Checklist
Anti-patterns
- A 300-word abstract crammed with caveats and no headline number
- Reporting elasticities the reader must convert to welfare themselves
- Numbered or footnote references instead of author-date
- A PDF-only submission with no editable Word/LaTeX source
- Undeclared AI assistance in manuscript preparation
Style execution pass for Journal of Public Economics
Treat this skill as an executable review pass, not a prose hint. First lock the policy instrument, affected margin, identification design, and welfare or incidence interpretation; then judge whether the current manuscript answers the venue's real reader: public economists who ask whether policy design, fiscal incidence, or welfare interpretation is credible.
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Do the pass: Rewrite the first two pages so each paragraph starts from the venue-level claim, not from chronology or method inventory; preserve exact source-map limits and move technical overflow to appendix or supplement.
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Return a ledger: give
claim / evidence / risk / manuscript location rows, so the next agent can edit rather than rediscover the issue.
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Sibling guard: compare against JDE for development policy, JIE for cross-border policy, AEJ Economic Policy for broad policy readership; if a sibling owns the contribution, recommend re-routing before polishing format.
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Stop condition: do not give submission-ready advice until the pack's
resources/official-source-map.md has been checked for volatile rules and the manuscript has one concrete fix for the largest venue-specific risk.
Output format
【Abstract】≤250 words, states result + policy conclusion? [Y/N]
【Intro】leads with policy question then answer? [Y/N]
【Estimate translation】welfare / revenue / distributional? [Y/N]
【References】author-date, alphabetical? [Y/N]
【Source files】Word single-column / LaTeX .tex ready? [Y/N]
【AI declaration】prepared if applicable? [Y/N]
【Next step】jpube-replication-and-data-policy
