/aejmac-workflow

name: aejmac-workflow
description: Use when deciding which aejmac-* sub-skill to invoke next, or when sequencing manuscript work from topic selection through rebuttal for an American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics (AEJ: Macro) submission. Routes — it does not replace — the specialized skills.

AEJ: Macro Workflow Router (aejmac-workflow)

Overview

This is the router. It tells you **which aejmac-* skill to use at the current stage** of a manuscript aimed at the *American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics* (AEJ: Macro) — the **American Economic Association's** quarterly, broad-interest macro journal (founded 2009; one of four AEJs). AEJ: Macro rewards papers that bring **quantitative discipline and policy relevance** to a substantive macro question across growth, business cycles, monetary and fiscal policy, labor-macro, international macro, and macro-finance.

The defining feature of AEJ: Macro is **methodological breadth**: it publishes both **quantitative-theoretical** work (DSGE, heterogeneous-agent, structural estimation, calibrated models) **and** **identified-empirical** work (SVAR, local projections, narrative identification, micro-data macro). A paper does not have to be one or the other — the bar is that whichever tool you use, the **mapping from model/data to the macro conclusion is disciplined**.

Default assumption: unless the user says otherwise, treat the target as AEJ: Macro. Operational tells that you are at AEJ: Macro and not a field-macro or general-interest sibling: submission via the **AEA submission system**; a **membership-scaled submission fee** (member/nonmember × income tier; 检索于 2026-06，以官网为准); **single-blind** external review managed by the editor/coeditors; **JEL codes** required; the **AEA Data Editor** (Lars Vilhuber) runs a **pre-publication reproducibility check** — covering simulation and calibration code, not only regression scripts — with materials deposited at the **AEA Data and Code Repository on openICPSR**. Editor as of 2026: **Ayşegül Şahin** (检索于 2026-06；以官网为准). Re-verify volatile specifics on the official AEA pages.

When to trigger

• The user asks "what should I do next?"
• A draft needs its current bottleneck diagnosed
• Work is ping-ponging between model/estimation, identification, framing, writing, and the response letter
• An AEJ: Macro decision letter arrived and the user needs to switch into revision mode

Routing table

| Current symptom | Next skill | |-----------------|------------| | Question feels narrow / field-macro / not broad-interest | `aejmac-topic-selection` | | Contribution vs. the macro frontier is fuzzy or undersold | `aejmac-literature-positioning` | | Empirical identification (SVAR / LP / narrative / IV) is shaky | `aejmac-identification` | | A quantitative model needs calibration / estimation discipline | `aejmac-theory-model` | | Headline number not shown robust to specification / sample / tuning | `aejmac-robustness` | | Exhibits are dense; IRFs/fan charts/fit plots unclear | `aejmac-tables-figures` | | Prose buries the question; abstract/intro do not land | `aejmac-writing-style` | | Data/code/simulation deposit, README, or AEA Data Editor prep | `aejmac-replication-package` | | Want to anticipate referee objections / desk-reject odds | `aejmac-referee-strategy` | | Ready to submit via the AEA system; need a preflight | `aejmac-submission` | | Received an R&R; need a response-letter strategy | `aejmac-rebuttal` |

Default order

1. `aejmac-topic-selection` — lock the broad-interest macro question 2. `aejmac-literature-positioning` — stake the contribution vs. the macro frontier 3. `aejmac-identification` — SVAR / LP / narrative / IV credibility (empirical branch) 4. `aejmac-theory-model` — calibration / structural-estimation discipline (quantitative branch) 5. `aejmac-robustness` — show the headline number is not fragile 6. `aejmac-tables-figures` — IRFs, fan charts, model-fit exhibits done right 7. `aejmac-writing-style` — make the idea land (abstract + intro last; ≤100-word abstract) 8. `aejmac-replication-package` — assemble the AEA-compliant data/code/simulation package 9. `aejmac-referee-strategy` — pre-empt the objections macro referees raise 10. `aejmac-submission` — AEA system preflight 11. `aejmac-rebuttal` — after the R&R

> `aejmac-identification` and `aejmac-theory-model` are siblings, not a strict order: an empirical paper leans on the former, a quantitative paper on the latter, and a hybrid paper visits both. `aejmac-writing-style` is a late-stage polish; do not rewrite the intro before the headline number settles.

Anti-patterns

• Skipping `aejmac-replication-package` until acceptance — the AEA Data Editor verifies **before** publication, and for macro this includes simulation/calibration code, not just data cleaning
• Letting `aejmac-tables-figures` polish IRFs while the identification or calibration is still moving
• Treating AEJ: Macro like a field outlet (J. Monetary Economics / RED) — the bar is **broad macro interest plus AEA process**, not just technical correctness for specialists
• Choosing a method (DSGE vs. SVAR vs. LP) before deciding what the paper must *measure* — let the question pick the tool

Routing by paper archetype

AEJ: Macro spans several macro branches, and the bottleneck differs by branch. Read the archetype, then enter the chain at the right link.

| Archetype | Likely first bottleneck | Enter at | |-----------|-------------------------|----------| | empirical shock-identification (monetary/fiscal) | SVAR / narrative / proxy-VAR credibility | `aejmac-identification` | | dynamic-effects estimation | local-projection specification + inference | `aejmac-identification` → `aejmac-robustness` | | quantitative DSGE / HANK | calibration targets + parameter identification | `aejmac-theory-model` | | structural estimation | what data moments identify each parameter | `aejmac-theory-model` → `aejmac-robustness` | | model + evidence hybrid | does the model mat