Jde Writing Style

---
name: jde-writing-style
description: Use when polishing prose for a Journal of Development Economics (JDE) manuscript so the development question, answer, and policy stakes land for a field audience. A late-stage polish; do not rewrite the intro before identification and framing are settled.
---

# Writing Style (jde-writing-style)

## When to trigger

- The abstract states a setting but not a finding with a magnitude
- The introduction buries the development question under methods or data description
- The prose mixes American and British English, or reads inconsistently
- Identification and contribution are settled and the paper needs its final polish

## The JDE prose bar

JDE readers are development economists; the writing has to make a **first-order development question and its answer** land quickly, with policy stakes explicit. Principles:

- **Abstract states the finding with a number.** Lead with the development question, the design in a phrase, and the headline effect in welfare-relevant units — not just "we study X in country Y." (Pre-results review Stage 1 proposals cap the abstract at **150 words**; a regular-submission abstract cap was not confirmed officially — keep it tight, see 待核实 in the source map.)
- **Introduction as an argument.** Question → why it matters for development → setting and design in a few sentences → headline result with magnitude → contribution relative to the frontier → roadmap. Avoid a literature-survey opening.
- **Policy and welfare made visible.** Translate effects into terms a development economist and a policymaker can weigh (poverty gap, cost-effectiveness, test-score SDs).
- **Honest scope.** State external-validity limits plainly; development referees reward calibrated claims and punish overreach.
- **Language consistency.** Write in **either American or British English, not a combination** — JDE requires one consistent variant. Use author-date citations consistently (single author: name + year; two: both names + year; three or more: first author + "et al." + year). JDE accepts any consistent reference style at submission and applies its own at the proof stage, so prioritize consistency over house formatting.

## Tactics

- Cut throat-clearing; the first paragraph should already pose the development question.
- Prefer concrete institutional detail over abstract generality — context is part of the contribution in development work.
- Define constructed variables and indices in words before the reader meets them in a table.
- Keep the conclusion to what the design supports plus honest open questions.

## Anti-patterns

- An abstract that names a topic but states no effect size
- A survey-style introduction that delays the question and result
- Mixing US and UK spelling/usage in the same manuscript
- Inflated external-validity language unsupported by the design

## Output format

```
【Abstract】states finding + magnitude in welfare units? [Y/N]
【Intro arc】question → stakes → design → result → contribution? [Y/N]
【Policy framing】effects in comparable units? [Y/N]
【Language】consistent US or UK English? [Y/N]
【Citations】consistent author-date? [Y/N]
【Next step】jde-replication-and-data-policy
```