aejmac-writing-style

Writing Style (aejmac-writing-style)

When to trigger

• The introduction leads with the model block or the estimator, not the macro question
• The abstract is over 100 words or buries the headline quantity
• A general macroeconomist cannot tell from page 1 what is measured and why it matters
• The prose is technically correct but the idea does not land

The AEJ: Macro writing bar

AEJ: Macro is broad-interest, so the writing must make the macro question and the headline quantity legible to a general macroeconomist early — before the DSGE notation or the SVAR machinery. Follow AEA house style (active voice, plain prose, quantities with units, standard errors / bands reported). The hard constraint to design around: the abstract is ≤100 words (检索于 2026-06；以官网为准) — far tighter than most economics journals — so every word in it must earn its place.

The AEJ: Macro introduction arc

1. The macro question + headline quantity, in the first breath. "How much does a monetary tightening lower output?" — then the number with units and uncertainty, e.g., "we find a 100 bp shock lowers output by 0.6% (90% band [0.2, 1.0]) at its peak."
2. Why it is hard. The identification or quantification obstacle (anticipation, simultaneity, short samples; or what disciplines the model).
3. The approach. Data + design (SVAR/LP/narrative) and/or model (DSGE/HANK) — in one paragraph, after the question, not before it.
4. The result restated with mechanism and uncertainty. What drives the number; carry the band into any counterfactual.
5. Contribution + lesson with scope. What general macroeconomists learn; where it holds and where it does not.
6. Brief roadmap. One or two sentences, not a section-by-section recital.

The ≤100-word abstract

• Sentence 1: the macro question.
• Sentence 2–3: the approach (one clause) and the headline quantity with uncertainty.
• Sentence 4: the mechanism or policy lesson.
• Cut: literature, method jargon, signposting. At ≤100 words there is no room for throat-clearing.

Prose discipline

• Quantities, not adjectives. "Large" → "0.6% at peak." Report SEs/bands in the sentence where the number appears.
• Active voice, short sentences. AEA house style favors plain prose.
• Define before you deploy notation; minimize symbols in the intro.
• One idea per paragraph; topic sentence first.
• Policy relevance stated, not implied — AEJ: Macro readers want the decision-relevant takeaway.

Checklist

• Abstract ≤100 words, with the headline quantity and its uncertainty
• First paragraph states the macro question and the number (units + band/SE)
• Approach appears after the question, not before it
• Mechanism and scope/limits stated; no over-claiming
• Active voice, AEA plain style; quantities not adjectives
• Roadmap is one or two sentences
• A general macroeconomist could state your contribution after reading page 1

Anti-patterns

• Leading the intro with the model's equations or the estimator (reads as a field/methods paper)
• An abstract over 100 words, or one with no number in it
• "Significant effects" with no point estimate or band in the abstract/intro
• Over-signposted roadmap doing the argument's job
• Subfield jargon on page 1 that a general macro reader cannot parse
• Burying the policy lesson in the conclusion

Worked vignette: before → after first sentence (illustrative)

• Before: "We build a medium-scale New Keynesian DSGE model with financial frictions and estimate it by Bayesian methods to study monetary transmission." (machinery first; no question, no number)
• After: "How much of a recession does a surprise monetary tightening cause, and through which channel? Using high-frequency policy surprises in a proxy-VAR, we find a 100 bp shock lowers output by 0.6% (90% band [0.2, 1.0]) at its peak, two-thirds of it through investment." (question + quantity + uncertainty + mechanism, in the first breath)

For a full before→after introduction in AEJ: Macro house style, see ../../resources/worked-examples/01-introduction.md.

Output format

【Abstract word count】 ≤100? [Y/N] (current: __)
【First-paragraph test】question + quantity + uncertainty present? [Y/N]
【Arc】question → why hard → approach → result+mechanism → contribution+scope → roadmap? [Y/N]
【Style】active voice, quantities-not-adjectives, SEs/bands in sentences? [Y/N]
【Next step】aejmac-replication-package