From jfi-skills
Audits the core analytical engine of a JFI banking/intermediation paper: causal design separating credit supply from demand in empirical work, or assumptions/equilibrium discipline/proofs in theory. Tests the design validity, does not run the analysis.
How this skill is triggered — by the user, by Claude, or both
Slash command
/jfi-skills:jfi-identification-strategyThe summary Claude sees in its skill listing — used to decide when to auto-load this skill
- Setting up or defending the empirical design of a banking/intermediation paper
JFI referees are unforgiving on identification in bank data. Build a credible causal design and defend it:
When the contribution is a model, identification means analytical discipline:
The Khwaja–Mian within-firm estimator is this community's default answer to demand confounds: with multi-bank firms, firm×time fixed effects difference out borrower demand and isolate the credit-supply channel. A JFI referee then pushes past the default:
| Variation exploited | Default design | Venue-specific threat to pre-empt |
|---|---|---|
| Staggered regulation/deregulation across states or countries | Heterogeneity-robust staggered DID | Banks lobby for timing — show treatment is not predicted by pre-trend bank health |
| Capital- or size-threshold rule | RDD with density test | Banks bunch by managing the ratio; McCrary check is mandatory |
| Funding or deposit shock with differential exposure | Exposure (shift-share) design | Exposure shares correlate with local demand — balance on borrower observables |
| Run or crisis window | High-frequency event design | Mechanical balance-sheet timing; reverse causality from borrower distress |
A 1pp funding shock reduces bank-level lending by 2.8pp (bank panel, OLS). At JFI that is not yet a result: the same number is consistent with shocked banks happening to serve shocked borrowers. The within-firm version at 1.6pp (firm×time FE) is the publishable object — and the 1.2pp gap becomes evidence on borrower–bank sorting worth its own paragraph, not a nuisance to hide. JFI referees read the movement of the coefficient across fixed-effect columns as a diagnostic in itself; design the identification section so that movement is interpreted, not merely displayed.
【Track】empirical / theory
【Design or assumptions】<the variation, or the key assumptions>
【Top threat / boundary】<the main objection + answer>
【Inference / generality】<clustering, or which results survive>
【Next skill】jfi-data-analysis
npx claudepluginhub brycewang-stanford/awesome-journal-skills --plugin jfi-skillsStress-tests empirical identification strategies for Journal of Banking & Finance manuscripts. Covers bank panels, policy shocks, event studies, IV, staggered DID, dynamic panels, and endogeneity robustness checks.
Stress-tests causal identification strategies (natural experiments, IV, DID, RDD) for empirical corporate finance papers targeting The Journal of Finance.
Helps refine identification arguments for JMCB manuscripts: macro shock identification (SVAR, narrative, high-frequency), parameter identification in monetary/banking models, and micro-banking causal designs.