Agent Skills
› brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills
› car-theory-development
car-theory-development
GitHub用于构建当代会计研究(CAR)手稿的概念引擎，根据档案、实验、分析或定性传统开发经济/行为机制、预测或形式模型。明确区分于数据分析和贡献定位，确保理论逻辑严谨且可证伪。
Trigger Scenarios
预测仅为描述性关联而缺乏机制解释
分析型论文有方程但无清晰经济直觉
实验缺乏确定预测方向及过程的理论支撑
审稿人指出论文缺乏理论性或预测与框架不符
Install
npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill car-theory-development -g -y
SKILL.md
Frontmatter
{
"name": "car-theory-development",
"description": "Use when building the conceptual engine of a Contemporary Accounting Research (CAR) manuscript — the economic or behavioral mechanism, predictions\/hypotheses, or the formal model — adapted to whether the paper is archival, experimental, analytical, or qualitative. Builds the argument; it does not run estimation (car-data-analysis) or frame the contribution (car-contribution-framing)."
}
Theory & Prediction Development (car-theory-development)
When to trigger
- Predictions are descriptive ("X is associated with Y") with no mechanism
- An analytical paper has equations but no clear economic intuition
- An experiment lacks a theory that pins down the predicted direction and the process
- A reviewer says "this is atheoretical" or "the predictions don't follow from the framework"
CAR develops theory differently by tradition
Because CAR is method-agnostic, "theory development" means different things across its traditions, and a reader should never be able to swap in a generic management-theory template:
- Archival / capital-markets. Ground predictions in economics-based frameworks (information asymmetry and disclosure, agency and contracting, market efficiency and the properties of accounting numbers). Derive directional, falsifiable predictions and, critically, predict cross-sectional variation — the moderators that make the effect stronger or weaker are where the theoretical content lives. State the maintained assumptions linking the accounting construct to the market outcome.
- Experimental. Specify the psychological/economic process (e.g., motivated reasoning, mental accounting, ambiguity, incentives) that produces the effect, then design predictions that isolate that process — including a predicted mediator and the conditions under which the effect reverses or vanishes. Theory must justify the manipulation, not just the dependent variable.
- Analytical / modeling. The model is the theory. State the setting, players, information structure, timing, and equilibrium concept; derive results as propositions with proofs; and translate each comparative static into an empirical or institutional implication. The contribution is the economic insight, not the algebra.
- Field / qualitative. Build theory inductively from the data; make the abductive logic from observations to constructs explicit and traceable.
Predictions and hypotheses
- Write each prediction so the data could falsify it; state sign and, where possible, relative magnitude.
- For mediation/process claims, theorize the mechanism before testing it.
- Distinguish the maintained assumptions (untested) from the tested predictions.
Checklist
- The mechanism is named and its logic is explicit, not assumed
- Predictions are directional and falsifiable; cross-sectional/conditional predictions stated
- (Analytical) assumptions, equilibrium concept, and the intuition behind each result are stated
- (Experimental) the predicted process/mediator and reversal conditions are specified
- Predictions map cleanly to constructs the chosen method can measure or manipulate
Anti-patterns
- Association dressed as theory: "we expect X relates to Y" with no why.
- Algebra without intuition (analytical) or DV-only theory (experimental) that ignores the process.
- Borrowed-template theory that ignores accounting's information/contracting context.
Operating pass for Contemporary Accounting Research
Use this as a second-pass capability check. First lock the accounting construct, setting, identification or theory, and disclosure/market/organizational implication; then test whether the manuscript addresses accounting reviewers who expect accounting-specific constructs, credible design, and contribution to reporting, auditing, tax, or governance debates.
- Primary move: Return a claim-evidence-risk ledger; every recommendation must point to a manuscript location or missing artifact.
- Decision ledger: return
claim / evidence / blocker / next editrows so the next pass can patch the manuscript directly. - Neighbor test: compare against The Accounting Review for US flagship breadth, JAR for Chicago-style accounting research, JAE for economics/accounting interface; if the neighboring outlet has the stronger audience claim, recommend re-routing before polishing.
- Verification floor: before submission-ready advice, re-open
resources/official-source-map.mdfor volatile rules and name the one unresolved fact that could change the recommendation.
Output format
【Tradition】archival / experimental / analytical / qualitative
【Mechanism】the economic/behavioral logic ...
【Predictions/Hypotheses】H1..Hn, signs, conditional/cross-sectional ...
【Assumptions】maintained vs. tested (or model primitives) ...
【Process】predicted mediator / equilibrium intuition ...
【Next step】car-literature-positioning or car-methods
Version History
- 1839142 Current 2026-07-05 12:48
