jeg-workflow

JEG Manuscript Workflow (jeg-workflow)

When to trigger

• Starting a paper you hope to send to the Journal of Economic Growth and wanting a map
• Unsure which jeg skill to use next, or in what order
• Deciding whether your project is a theory paper, an empirical paper, or a quantitative/calibrated hybrid — the branch that conditions everything downstream

What JEG is (and what it conditions)

JEG is the principal specialist outlet for theoretical and empirical research in economic growth and dynamic macroeconomics: neoclassical and endogenous growth, human capital, fertility and the demographic transition, trade-and-growth, financial development, migration, technological change, the political economy of growth, and OLG models. It is edited by Oded Galor and published by Springer Nature (est. 1996, quarterly). It is not a general-interest journal — fit to the growth/dynamic-macro scope is the first gate.

Because JEG runs roughly equal theory and empirics, classify your paper early; the identification, data-analysis, and replication skills each fork on this.

The sequence

1. jeg-topic-selection — is this a first-order growth question inside JEG's scope?
2. jeg-literature-positioning — locate it against the theory and empirics canon.
3. jeg-contribution-framing — state the marginal contribution in one paragraph.
4. jeg-identification-strategy — empirical: causal design; theory: assumptions, results, proof exposition, generality.
5. jeg-data-analysis — empirical: cross-country/panel estimation; theory: numerical example/calibration.
6. jeg-tables-figures — convergence plots, transition paths, growth-regression tables.
7. jeg-writing-style — APA 7 author-year, 150-250 word abstract, JEL codes, LaTeX.
8. jeg-replication-and-data-policy — Springer Nature Data Availability Statement.
9. jeg-submission — Springer Nature portal preflight (editable source file required).
10. jeg-review-process — what to expect after you press submit.
11. jeg-rebuttal — response-to-referees on an R&R.

Anti-patterns

• Treating JEG like a general-interest top-5 outlet (it is a specialist journal).
• Deferring the theory-vs-empirics classification until the identification stage.
• Skipping the scope check and pitching a paper whose growth content is incidental.

Branch gates by paper type

Each branch carries a gate that, if failed, sends you backward rather than forward:

• Empirical (persistence / comparative development): before jeg-data-analysis, write an identification memo naming the shock, the exclusion-restriction defense, and the spatial-inference plan (Conley cutoffs, placebo strategy). No memo, no estimation.
• Theory (growth / dynamic macro): before drafting, write a result memo stating existence, uniqueness, and stability of the balanced-growth path and which assumption is the binding one. A model with no sharp dynamic prediction is not yet a JEG paper.
• Quantitative/calibrated: before jeg-tables-figures, the moment table must separate targeted from untargeted moments and tie each parameter to a documented source.
• Mixed papers: run both memos, and check that the model's binding assumption and the empirical shock speak to the same growth mechanism — otherwise the two halves drift apart during drafting.

Worked vignette — routing a comparative-development project

Illustrative project: colonial railroad placement and modern African city growth. Routing: topic-selection passes (a long-run divergence question); literature-positioning flags two strands to bridge (transport-and-development, deep determinants); identification-strategy demands the least-cost-path instrument's exclusion defense plus a Conley plan before any data work; data-analysis schedules the mechanism decomposition (market access versus schooling) as a main exhibit; tables-figures puts the placement map first. Net path: eight of the twelve skills fire before first submission, and the two skipped (review-process, rebuttal) return once the decision letter lands.

Lifecycle pacing (hedged)

A quarterly journal with a specialist referee pool means multi-month review rounds; use the waiting time to harden the replication package and the mechanism appendix. Re-confirm process and formatting details against the journal's current author guidelines at the start of every submission round.

Output format

【Paper type】theory / empirical / quantitative-calibrated
【Scope fit】growth & dynamic macro? [Y/N + one line]
【Stage now】topic / positioning / identification / analysis / writing / submission / rebuttal
【Next skill】jeg-...