Jfi Contribution Framing

---
name: jfi-contribution-framing
description: Use to frame the contribution of a Journal of Financial Intermediation paper around what it teaches about intermediation — the institution, the friction, the mechanism, and the economic consequence — so it clears the desk screen and reads as banking, not generic finance. It frames; it does not write the paper.
---

# Contribution Framing (jfi-contribution-framing)

## When to trigger

- Drafting the abstract and the contribution paragraph of the introduction
- A reader cannot tell, in one sentence, why intermediaries are central to your result

## The JFI framing bar

Because JFI runs an **active desk-rejection** screen, the contribution must be legible in the abstract and
first pages. Frame it as a statement about **intermediation**, not finance in general. A strong frame names
four things:

1. **Institution / intermediary** — banks, lenders, dealers, insurers, the specific actor.
2. **Friction** — the economic problem the intermediary faces or resolves (information asymmetry,
   monitoring, liquidity transformation, capital constraints, agency).
3. **Mechanism** — how that friction produces the result; the causal or theoretical channel.
4. **Consequence** — why it matters for credit, stability, welfare, or policy.

"Banks do X" is weak; "Because of friction F, intermediary type I responds via mechanism M, with
consequence C for credit/stability" is a JFI contribution.

## Empirical vs. theory framing

- **Empirical:** lead with the identified fact and the mechanism it reveals, then the broader lesson for
  intermediation — not a coefficient in search of a story.
- **Theory:** lead with the friction and the new prediction the model generates; state the testable
  implication so the contribution is not purely formal.

## Anti-patterns

- A contribution that would fit any finance journal (no intermediary mechanism)
- Burying the mechanism past page 3, where the desk screen never reaches it
- Over-claiming policy or welfare beyond what the design or model supports
- Listing results without saying what they teach about intermediation

## Output format

```
【Institution】<the intermediary>
【Friction → Mechanism】<problem → channel>
【Consequence】<why it matters>
【One-sentence contribution】<the abstract-ready claim>
【Next skill】jfi-tables-figures
```