Econ Writing Skill

An Agent Skill that transforms AI assistants into expert economics paper writers, synthesizing best practices from 50+ authoritative guides by Nobel laureates, Clark Medal winners, and leading economists.

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What Is This?

Econ Writing Skill is an open-source Agent Skill that gives AI coding assistants deep knowledge of how to write economics papers. It distills actionable advice from over 50 guides by John Cochrane, Deirdre McCloskey, Jesse Shapiro, Keith Head, Marc Bellemare, Claudia Goldin, Edward Glaeser, Michael Kremer, and many others into a single structured skill file. Compatible with the Agent Skills open standard, it works with Claude Code and OpenAI Codex out of the box.

It is part of a suite covering the rest of the paper's life: econ-paper-review-skill reviews the finished draft like a journal referee — an AI referee report with verified comments and a revision plan — and econ-slides-skill turns the paper into a professional LaTeX/Beamer talk with a timed speaker script.

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Key Features

Writing & Structure

• Works for all paper types -- Applied empirical, pure theory, mixed theory-empirical, structural, and descriptive papers each get tailored structure and guidance
• Dedicated formulas for every major section -- Abstract (4-part formula), Introduction (Head's formula), Model Section (Glaeser/Varian), Data Section, Conclusion (3-part formula), Title (with evaluation criteria)
• Identification strategy guidance -- Specific writing advice for 13 strategies: RCT, DiD (including staggered), IV, RDD, Synthetic Control, Synthetic DiD, Bunching, Shift-Share/Bartik, Event Studies, ML for Causal Inference, Structural Estimation, Descriptive, plus guidance for papers using multiple strategies
• Theory paper support -- Model presentation, proposition writing, and Glaeser's "start with an example" approach
• Field-specific conventions -- Macro (calibration tables, IRFs, DSGE), trade (gravity, PPML), development (CONSORT, cost-effectiveness), finance (Fama-MacBeth, winsorization)

Style & Quality

• Style rules from McCloskey and Cochrane -- Active voice, concrete language, triangular structure, reader-first writing
• Anti-AI writing patterns -- Eliminate telltale AI-generated writing (banned words, uniform sentence length, generic phrasing) and write like a real economist
• Title evaluation framework -- Score titles on clarity, specificity, length, and memorability with good/bad examples
• Citation integrity -- Anti-hallucination guidance for verifying references, distinguishing working paper vs. published versions
• Economic significance framework -- Translate coefficients into meaningful units, policy benchmarks, and back-of-envelope calculations
• Tables and figures best practices -- Self-contained captions, figure vs. table trade-offs, data visualization from Schwabish (JEP)

Review & Assessment

• Paper review and audit mode -- Simulated 3-reviewer feedback (Methodologist, Field Expert, Writing Critic) with a 100-point scoring rubric
• Pre-submission checklist -- 24-item checklist covering content, style, and modern standards
• Evaluation test suite -- 18 test cases for benchmarking skill output quality

Academic Workflow

• Job market paper (JMP) guidance -- Title, abstract, introduction polish, length, signaling breadth
• Grant proposal writing -- NSF, ERC proposal guidance: feasibility, budget justification, timeline, selling a plan vs. presenting findings
• Referee response guidance -- Point-by-point response structure for revise-and-resubmit
• Policy brief and op-ed writing -- Translate findings for non-academic audiences with plain language and concrete recommendations
• Working paper to journal conversion -- Cutting strategy, journal-specific length norms (AER, AER Insights, REStat), appendix organization
• Dissertation structure -- Three-essays format, chapter structure, authorship rules
• Survey and review paper writing -- JEL, JEP, Handbook chapter conventions
• Coauthorship conventions -- Voice consistency, designated "voice editor", signaling individual contributions

Modern Standards

• Modern empirical practices -- Pre-registration, multiple testing, specification robustness, transparency and reproducibility
• AEA replication package standards -- Data Editor requirements: README template, data citation, directory structure, code reproducibility
• AI use disclosure guidance -- Journal-specific policies (AEA, Econometric Society) for disclosing AI assistance
• LaTeX formatting guide -- Tables (booktabs, threeparttable), figures, bibliography (natbib), journal submission requirements for AER/QJE/Econometrica/REStud/JPE

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Installation

Open Codex or Claude Code in any project and paste this prompt:

Install or update Econ Write as a standalone skill for the client I am using. Read and follow https://github.com/hanlulong/econ-writing-skill/blob/main/INSTALL.md. Handle same-client migration, backups, and verification yourself. Do not install for or change the other client. Do not ask me to run commands. Finish with a concise result.

Use the same prompt for a first installation and rerun it whenever you want to update or safely migrate from a native plugin. It installs only for the client receiving the prompt.

For alternative installation methods, updates, migration, and troubleshooting, see Installation and updates. Use only one installation method per client.

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Usage

With the recommended standalone installation, natural-language requests can activate the skill automatically. To invoke it explicitly, use /econ-write in Claude Code or $econ-write in Codex (you can also select it from Codex's /skills menu).

Claude Code:

/econ-write write introduction for my paper on the effect of minimum wage on employment

Codex:

$econ-write rewrite this abstract to be more concrete and under 150 words

Either client can also use an ordinary request such as:

Use econ-write to draft a conclusion for my RDD paper on school funding.

Use econ-write to review this paragraph for style violations.

Use econ-write to help me structure the model section for my theory paper.

Use econ-write to audit my full paper and score it.

The skill works in four modes:

• Drafting: generates new text following the formulas and rules, marking areas that need your specific results with [AUTHOR: ...] placeholders.
• Rewriting: identifies violations of the rules (passive voice, vague language, buried leads, throat-clearing) and fixes them while preserving your meaning and contribution.
• Reviewing: checks existing text against all rules and provides a detailed report of issues with suggested fixes.
• Auditing: scores the full paper from three simulated reviewer perspectives and returns a 100-point rubric with prioritized feedback.

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Common Use Cases

• Drafting a new paper section -- Generate a first draft of any section (abstract, introduction, data, results, conclusion) that follows established formulas from the start.
• Rewriting existing text for clarity -- Tighten prose, eliminate passive voice, cut throat-clearing, and make results concrete.
• Writing an introduction from scratch -- Follow Head's formula exactly: Hook, Research Question, Main Results, Literature Review & Value Added, Roadmap.
• Conducting and writing a literature review -- Build a story-driven review of the 5-10 closest papers, embedded in the introduction, that establishes your paper's niche.
• Writing up existing empirical results -- Present results in the correct order (main result first, most parsimonious to least parsimonious) with proper emphasis on economic significance.
• Writing a theory paper -- Structure model presentation, write propositions with intuition before proofs, generate testable predictions.
• Structuring a mixed theory-empirical paper -- Map empirical tests back to specific model predictions.
• Preparing a presentation -- Get advice on slide structure, pacing, and delivery following Shapiro, Cochrane, and others ("Gene Fama usually starts with 'Look at table 1.' That's a good model.").
• Reviewing a full paper -- Get a structured audit with 3 simulated reviewer perspectives and a 100-point score.
• Writing a grant proposal -- Structure an NSF, ERC, or institutional proposal that sells a research plan, not a finished paper.
• Writing for policy audiences -- Translate academic findings into plain-language policy briefs and op-eds.
• Converting a working paper to journal format -- Cut strategically, meet journal length norms, organize the online appendix.
• Preparing a replication package -- Follow AEA Data Editor standards for data citation, code reproducibility, and README structure.

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What's Inside

The skill includes five files:

SKILL.md (main skill file)

1. Core Principles -- Seven foundational rules (Reader First, Triangular Style, One Central Contribution, Concrete Not Abstract, Every Word Counts, Active Voice, Simple over Complex)
2. Section Formulas -- Step-by-step formulas for the Abstract, Introduction (Head's formula), Model Section (Glaeser/Varian), Data Section, Conclusion (3-part formula), and Title (with evaluation criteria)
3. Style Rules -- Detailed guidance on sentence structure, word choice, voice, pronouns, footnotes, numbers, notation, paragraphs, and anti-AI writing patterns
4. Tables and Figures -- Best practices for captions, formatting, figure vs. table trade-offs, and data visualization
5. Empirical Work Rules -- Identification, results presentation, null results, heterogeneity analysis, mechanisms, and common mistakes
6. Modern Empirical Practices -- Pre-registration, multiple testing, specification robustness, transparency
7. Paper Structure Templates -- Templates for applied, theory, mixed theory-empirical, and structural papers, plus appendix organization guidance
8. Use Case Instructions -- Specific instructions for drafting, rewriting, reviewing/auditing, introductions, literature reviews, abstracts, conclusions, results, theory papers, data sections, presentations, and referee responses
9. Revision Checklist -- A 24-item pre-submission checklist covering content, style, and modern standards
10. Field-Specific Conventions -- Adaptations for macro, trade, development, and finance
11. AEA Replication Standards -- Data Editor requirements for replication packages, data citation, and AI disclosure
12. Dissertation Structure -- Three-essays format and JMP positioning

identification-strategies.md

Detailed writing guidance tailored to each identification strategy: RCT, DiD (including staggered), IV, RDD, Synthetic Control, Synthetic DiD, Structural Estimation, Descriptive/Measurement, Bunching Estimation, Shift-Share/Bartik Instruments, Event Studies, and Machine Learning for Causal Inference, plus guidance for papers combining multiple strategies. Includes an introduction adaptation table showing how to adjust hooks, results paragraphs, and key threats for 13 paper types.

latex-tips.md

Practical LaTeX guidance for economics papers: document structure, essential packages (booktabs, threeparttable, natbib, siunitx), regression table formatting, figure best practices (PDF vector graphics, subfigures), bibliography management, math formatting, cross-referencing with cleveref, journal submission requirements (AER, QJE, Econometrica, REStud, JPE), Beamer presentations, and common pitfalls.

review-checklist.md

Structured paper review framework with quick-scan mode (5-minute check), deep-review mode (3 simulated reviewers: Methodologist, Field Expert, Writing Critic), anti-AI detection checklist, 100-point pre-submission scoring rubric, and journal fit assessment for top-5 vs. field journal targeting.

specialized-tasks.md

Task-specific instructions for lower-frequency writing jobs that build on the core skill: conference and seminar presentations, survey/review papers (JEL, JEP, Handbook chapters), converting a working paper to a journal version, grant proposals (NSF, ERC, institutional), writing for non-academic audiences (policy briefs, op-eds), and referee responses for revise-and-resubmit. Splitting these out of SKILL.md keeps the always-loaded core leaner.

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Sources and Acknowledgements

This skill synthesizes advice from 50+ authoritative sources. The top 10 sources by authority and impact:

Rank	Source	Author(s)	Institution
1	Writing Tips for Ph.D. Students	John H. Cochrane	U Chicago Booth / Hoover
2	Economical Writing	Deirdre N. McCloskey	UIC / U Chicago
3	Four Steps to an Applied Micro Paper	Jesse M. Shapiro	Harvard
4	The Introduction Formula	Keith Head	UBC Sauder
5	Ten Most Important Rules of Writing Your JMP	Claudia Goldin & Lawrence F. Katz	Harvard
6	Writing Tips for Economics Research Papers	Plamen Nikolov	Binghamton / Harvard
7	How to Write Applied Papers in Economics	Marc F. Bellemare	U Minnesota
8	How to Give an Applied Micro Talk	Jesse M. Shapiro	Harvard
9	Writing Papers: A Checklist	Michael Kremer	Harvard / UChicago
10	An Economist's Guide to Visualizing Data	Jonathan A. Schwabish	JEP (AEA)

Notable authorities include Nobel laureates (Goldin 2023, Kremer 2019), Clark Medal winners (Gentzkow 2014, Finkelstein 2012), a MacArthur Fellow (Shapiro 2021), and editors of leading journals (Bellemare at AJAE, Beatty at AJAE, Shimshack at JEEM).

The full ranked list of all 50+ sources with links, tiers, and notes is available in sources/SOURCES_RANKED.md.

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Related Skills

Writing is one stage of the paper's life. The same author maintains companion tools for the other stages:

• econ-paper-review-skill -- An AI referee report on your economics paper before a real referee sees it: verified detailed comments, editing notes, and a revision plan you can hand straight to your agents. Free for noncommercial use, built for round-after-round iteration.
• econ-slides-skill -- Turn the paper into a professional LaTeX/Beamer talk: conference, seminar, job-market, and discussant decks with timed speaker scripts, every deck compiled and geometry-checked before delivery (MIT).
• stata-mcp -- Run Stata from AI agents and IDEs.
• awesome-ai-for-economists -- The broader curated toolbox of AI resources for economics research.

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome. If you know of an authoritative economics writing guide that should be included, or if you have suggestions for improving the skill's formulas or rules, please open an issue or submit a pull request.

Areas where contributions are especially useful:

• Additional before/after examples
• Field-specific adaptations (development, trade, labor, macro, finance)
• Translations of the skill for other AI assistant platforms
• Corrections or refinements to existing rules

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License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

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Built by Lu Han. Synthesizes the collective wisdom of the economics profession on how to write well.