From jie-skills
Checks whether a research paper fits the Journal of International Economics scope and clears its originality gate. Tests fit without picking the topic for you.
How this skill is triggered — by the user, by Claude, or both
Slash command
/jie-skills:jie-topic-selectionThe summary Claude sees in its skill listing — used to decide when to auto-load this skill
- You are deciding whether a paper belongs at JIE vs a general-interest or domestic-field journal
JIE publishes work across the whole of international economics — both international trade and international macroeconomics/finance. In-scope topics, per the journal's stated scope, include: trade patterns and commercial policy; international institutions; exchange rates; open-economy macroeconomics; country/regional growth and development; international finance; international pricing; sovereign debt; international factor mobility; spatial economics; and international monetary and fiscal theory and policy. A paper must have a genuine international dimension — a closed-economy labor or public-finance result, however clean, is off-fit unless the cross-border mechanism is central.
JIE accepts both empirical and theoretical work, but only if it is original in its motivation or modelling structure. This is the screen that desk-rejects roughly a quarter of submissions. Ask:
Run a candidate through this grid first. The cross-border mechanism must be central, not decorative, and the originality axis (motivation or modelling) must be nameable in one line.
| Candidate framing | Int'l dimension | JIE verdict | Sibling if off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tariff/RTA shock on firm exports (gravity/shift-share) | Central | In-scope, trade | — |
| Exchange-rate pass-through into import prices | Central | In-scope, macro-finance | JIMF if finance-mechanics |
| Sovereign-default model, new renegotiation channel | Central | In-scope, macro-finance | JME if monetary-focused |
| Domestic minimum-wage effect, no trade margin | Absent | Off-fit | JOLE / labour |
| Cross-country growth regression, no transmission | Veneer | Likely desk-reject | JDE if development-driven |
A rightmost-column row means route the paper there before polishing for JIE.
The originality screen turns away a meaningful share of submissions (confirm the current desk-reject figure against the journal's editor pages). Recurring failures: settled-question replication (a known elasticity re-estimated on a fresh panel); bolted-on internationalism (a closed-economy result whose mechanism stays domestic); re-skinned structure (a model recalibrated, not extended); and wrong-venue ambition (a "lesson for macro" pitch reading as general-interest).
A draft proposes: "We estimate the effect of the 2018–2019 US–China tariff escalation on Chinese firms' export values using customs microdata and a shift-share exposure measure." Walk the gate:
【Topic】(one line)
【Scope half】international trade / international macro-finance
【In-scope】[trade patterns / commercial policy / exchange rates / open-economy / sovereign debt / factor mobility / spatial / ...]
【Originality】motivation-original? modelling-original? [Y/N each + why]
【Suggested editor half】trade / macro-finance
【Verdict】fit / needs sharpening / off-fit
【Next step】jie-literature-positioning
../../resources/external_tools.md — trade and international macro/finance data sources to source novel facts../../resources/official-source-map.md — scope and editor-roster sourcesnpx claudepluginhub brycewang-stanford/awesome-journal-skills --plugin jie-skillsEvaluates manuscript fit for the Journal of International Economics (JIE) in international trade and macro/finance, covering scope, method bar, framing, and desk-reject risks.
Decides whether a research question fits the Journal of International Money and Finance (JIMF) scope and frames it as international monetary/financial economics.
Guides topic selection for JEEA manuscripts by testing general-interest fit and sharpening the question. Use when deciding between JEEA and field or sibling general-interest outlets.