From aer-insights-skills
Triages robustness checks for AER: Insights manuscripts, deciding which go in-text vs. Supplemental Appendix based on whether a check defends the core identifying assumption.
How this skill is triggered — by the user, by Claude, or both
Slash command
/aer-insights-skills:aeri-robustnessThe summary Claude sees in its skill listing — used to decide when to auto-load this skill
- The robustness section is sprawling and competing with the result for word budget
A standard paper answers every threat in-text; AER: Insights cannot. With ≤7,000 words (minus 200 per exhibit, ≤5 exhibits), robustness must be triaged: keep in-text only the one or two checks that, if they failed, would kill the headline result, and move everything else to the Supplemental Appendix (which has no length cap but is read only by skeptics and the data editor). The skill is deciding the minimum credible set of in-text checks and signposting the rest in a single sentence.
For each candidate check, ask: "If a referee saw only the main text, would the absence of this check make them disbelieve the headline result?"
| Answer | Placement |
|---|---|
| Yes — it defends the core identifying assumption | In-text (1–2 max), often a single robustness exhibit or a sentence |
| No — it reassures but the result survives without seeing it | Supplemental Appendix, named in one in-text sentence |
| It is really an extension / new question | Appendix or a different paper, not "robustness" |
Use one sentence to point to the appendix: "The result is robust to [list] (Supplemental Appendix Section X; Tables X1–X6)." This buys credibility for the price of a sentence and keeps the word budget for the insight. Reproduce nothing in-text that the sentence already covers.
【Core-assumption check (in-text)】<the 1–2 that must stay>
【Signpost sentence】"Robust to [list] (Suppl. Appendix §X, Tables …)."
【To the appendix】alt bandwidths / forms / placebos / heterogeneity / clustering
【Exhibit budget】in-text robustness uses __ of 5 exhibits
【Next step】aeri-tables-figures
npx claudepluginhub brycewang-stanford/awesome-journal-skills --plugin aer-insights-skillsBuilds an exhaustive robustness suite and online appendix for QJE manuscripts, prioritizing checks by identification threat, measurement, and specification.
Plans and audits the robustness, sensitivity, and multiple-testing battery for a Journal of Finance manuscript. Triage checks between the body and Internet Appendix.
Builds robustness suites for AEJ: Applied manuscripts to show headline estimates survive specification, sample, and inference choices.