From aer-skills
Drafts or rewrites economics manuscript introductions for AER journals using the Keith Head five-paragraph formula; compresses abstracts to 100 words.
How this skill is triggered — by the user, by Claude, or both
Slash command
/aer-skills:aer-introductionThe summary Claude sees in its skill listing — used to decide when to auto-load this skill
The introduction is the **only** part of the paper most editors read in full. Top-5 desk rejection decisions are typically made on pages 1-3. This skill produces an introduction that survives that filter and an abstract that fits AER's 100-word constraint.
The introduction is the only part of the paper most editors read in full. Top-5 desk rejection decisions are typically made on pages 1-3. This skill produces an introduction that survives that filter and an abstract that fits AER's 100-word constraint.
Two non-negotiable AER formatting facts:
Every AER-style introduction has exactly five components, in this order:
Open with one of:
Two to three sentences. Cite one number that anchors the magnitude. Do not yet name the paper's contribution.
State exactly what this paper does:
This paper [estimates / documents / characterizes] [the causal effect of X on Y /
the response of Y to shock S / the distribution of Y in setting D].
One paragraph. Define the unit of observation, the outcome, and the variation that identifies the answer. Avoid the word "we" if possible; use "this paper."
Empirical papers: name the identification strategy in one sentence, then explain in 1-2 paragraphs what variation drives identification and why the parallel trends / exclusion / smoothness assumption is credible in this setting.
Theory papers: name the modeling discipline — what's tractable, what's general, what the comparative statics give you.
This paragraph is where desk rejection happens. Editors check whether the method matches the claim. If you write "we examine the relationship between X and Y" while using OLS with controls, the paper is desk-rejected for methodology mismatch.
Often the single most important paragraph for surviving referee review. Two halves:
Antecedents (1-2 paragraphs). Position the paper relative to its 3-6 closest published predecessors. Be specific: cite by author-year, identify what each did, and what each missed.
Value-added (1 paragraph or 3 bullet points). State approximately three contributions relative to the antecedents. These are the sentences the referee will quote in their report. Each contribution should make sense only in light of the prior work — otherwise it belongs in the Question paragraph.
Avoid:
One short paragraph. "Section I describes the data. Section II presents the empirical strategy. Section III reports results. Section IV explores mechanisms. Section V concludes." (AER numbers sections with Roman numerals; the introduction is unnumbered.)
Some AER authors omit the roadmap entirely. Acceptable for short papers (AER: Insights). Required for full-length AER.
AER abstracts are 100 words maximum, including all numbers. The high-impact pattern allocates word budget as:
| Function | Sentences | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Question or setting | 1 | 15-20 |
| Method / data / identification | 1 | 15-20 |
| Main quantitative result | 1-2 | 30-40 |
| Implication | 1 | 15-20 |
Allocate the most words to results. Resist motivation-heavy abstracts — that is what the introduction's first paragraph is for. High-citation AER abstracts dedicate three of four sentences to findings.
[Setting and question — 1 sentence].
[Data and identification — 1 sentence].
[Main result with magnitude and sign — 1-2 sentences].
[Implication — 1 sentence].
If the draft is over 100 words:
\section and \subsection; do not insert \vspace or \bigskip.\cite{} (author-year), not numbered references.\textbf for emphasis in body text — italics only, rarely.\renewcommand{\thesection}{\Roman{section}} or use the AEA sample article class, which does this for you.When working from the AER-skills repository or plugin bundle, read examples/intro-example.md only when the user asks for a model introduction, a concrete before/after rewrite, or abstract compression. Sentence-level prose rules shared with the body sections live in docs/style-guide.md; the antecedents paragraph consumes the map built by skills/aer-literature/SKILL.md.
Draft the introduction after the body sections exist (skills/aer-paper-body/SKILL.md) — the introduction summarizes a paper, it does not promise one.
ABSTRACT WORD COUNT: <n>/100
INTRODUCTION PARAGRAPHS: Hook | Question | Identification | Antecedents+Value | Roadmap
CONTRIBUTIONS LISTED: <n> (target: 3, max 4)
KILL SWITCHES: <list of remaining red flags, or "none">
NEXT SKILL: <aer-tables-figures | aer-consistency>
A canonical AER-style intro architecture (paragraph-by-paragraph):
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npx claudepluginhub brycewang-stanford/aer-skills --plugin aer-skills