Journal of Applied Econometrics (journal-of-applied-econometrics)

Journal positioning

JAE is a leading outlet for applied econometrics — econometric methods brought to bear on substantive economic questions, with a strong tradition of data-rich, replicable empirical work. It maintains a data archive, and replicability is part of its identity. It rewards papers that either apply existing methods in a careful, illuminating way or develop a method that is demonstrably useful in a real application; it is methods-in-application, not pure econometric theory. The readership is applied econometricians, so both the method and the empirical payoff must be convincing.

This skill is a fit / venue-selection / re-framing tool. It does not replace the journal's current official submission guidelines. Before submitting, re-check the live author instructions on the journal/Wiley site and the editorial submission system.

When to trigger

• The author names JAE as the target venue, or wants a home for a methods-in-application empirical paper.
• A paper develops or applies an econometric method and the empirical application is central.
• A data-rich empirical paper needs re-framing so the econometric method and its application are foregrounded.
• The author needs JAE's desk-reject risks and a credible applied-econometrics alternative list.

Scope & topic fit

• Applied econometric analyses of substantive economic questions across fields, with the method made explicit.
• Time series, panel, micro-econometric, and Bayesian methods applied to real data.
• Forecasting and model evaluation grounded in an economic application.
• Methodological contributions demonstrated in, and motivated by, a genuine empirical problem.

Method & evidence bar

• The econometric method must be appropriate, correctly applied, and clearly tied to the economic question; identification and inference are scrutinized.
• Data quality, sample construction, and robustness matter; results should be shown to be stable across specifications.
• Replicability is central: the analysis should be reproducible from deposited data and code in the journal's archive.
• A pure theory result with no application, or an application with sloppy econometrics, does not fit.

Structure & house style

• The introduction states the economic question, the econometric approach, why that method is needed, and the headline finding early.
• Make clear whether the contribution is the method, the application, or both, and position against the relevant applied-econometrics literature.
• Uses an unstructured abstract and JEL codes; an appendix and the data archive carry derivations, robustness, and replication materials.
• Exhibits report estimates with proper inference and interpretable magnitudes; specification and robustness tables are expected.

Official-submission checklist

• Before giving submission-ready advice, read ../../resources/source-basis.md and ../../resources/official-source-map.md; start from the official source anchors for this journal family, then cite the current journal-specific page you checked.
• Search the live site for "Journal of Applied Econometrics submission guidelines / author guidelines" and follow the current Wiley version, and note the JAE Data Archive requirements.
• Re-check formatting, abstract/JEL requirements, anonymization, and figure/table standards on the submission system.
• Re-check the current data and code deposit policy and the JAE Data Archive submission workflow (a permanent, replication-focused feature of this journal).
• If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions win.

Pre-submission self-check

• One sentence stating the substantive economic question and why this econometric method answers it.
• The contribution is stated as method-in-application / identification / measurement, not as statistical significance.
• The introduction positions the paper against the relevant applied-econometrics literature.
• Method, identification, and inference are correct; results are robust across specifications.
• Data and code are ready for the JAE Data Archive and replication.

Common desk-reject triggers

• Pure econometric theory with no genuine empirical application.
• An application with inappropriate or incorrectly applied econometrics.
• A method that adds nothing beyond standard tools for the question at hand.
• Results not reproducible / data and code not depositable to the archive.

Re-routing decision

• Pure econometric theory and methods → journal-of-econometrics; methods at the statistics/econometrics interface → journal-of-business-and-economic-statistics.
• General-interest applied result → american-economic-review; applied micro with policy identification → journal-of-human-resources.
• Technically heavy theory/econometrics → international-economic-review; broad general field → european-economic-review.

Output format

[Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason)
[Target] Journal of Applied Econometrics
[Topic tags] <2–3 closest topics>
[Method/evidence] <does the method-in-application clear JAE's bar?>
[Top risk] <the single most likely reason for rejection>
[Official items to re-check] <submission system / JEL / JAE Data Archive / replication / exhibits>
[Re-route suggestion] <if not a fit, a better-matched venue>