brycewang-stanford Literature Positioning (ecta-literature-positioning)
When to trigger
- The related-work section lists papers but never says how this result differs formally
- You suspect a referee will name a classic theorem/estimator your result must beat or nest
- Reviewers might think the contribution is already implied by a known result
- The lineage of assumptions (who introduced each, who relaxed it) is unclear
The positioning bar at Econometrica
Econometrica referees are typically the people who wrote the results you are extending — and the handling co-editor (one of a small board; e.g., Keisuke Hirano, Aureo de Paula, Marciano Siniscalchi, Pete Klenow, Patrick Kline, under Editor Marina Halac, 2025–2029 — verify the current board) routes the paper to exactly those experts. Positioning is not a literature dump — it is a precise statement of the formal relationship between your result and the closest prior results. For each key neighbor, say exactly one of: we nest it, we generalize it, we weaken its assumption, we provide what it lacked (e.g., the limiting distribution, uniqueness, a constructive proof).
Because the lineage here is methods/theory rather than empirical findings, the neighbors to position against are usually theorems and estimators with names attached — the GMM framework (Hansen 1982), HAC inference (Newey–West 1987), nested fixed-point estimation (Rust 1987), the relevant fixed-point or representation theorem — not "the literature on this policy." Mis-stating who proved what is a credibility hit with this pool.
Map the lineage
Build a small map before writing prose:
- Foundational result — the classic theorem/estimator the literature builds on (e.g., the GMM framework, the relevant fixed-point / representation theorem, the baseline limit theorem). Cite it precisely.
- Direct antecedents — the 3–6 papers your result most directly competes with or extends. For each, record: their setting, their key assumption, their conclusion.
- Your delta — for each antecedent, the single formal sentence describing the difference (weaker assumption / broader class / sharper rate / added uniqueness / added asymptotics / constructive vs. existential).
Positioning paragraph template
The closest result is [Author, Year], who [conclusion] under [assumption A]. We obtain
[our conclusion] under [weaker assumption A′], which [permits case / yields object] not
covered there. [Author2, Year] consider [related setting] but [lack object / impose
restriction]; our [theorem N] supplies [that object]. Unlike [strand], we do not require
[restrictive condition], at the cost of [honest cost].
State costs honestly: a referee who finds an unacknowledged cost reads the rest of the paper suspiciously.
What to get right
- Attribution of assumptions. Name who introduced each assumption you use and who first relaxed it. Mis-attribution is a credibility hit with this referee pool.
- Nesting claims. If you claim your result nests a known one, show the special case explicitly (often a one-line corollary or remark). Unsupported "nests" claims invite a counterexample.
- Independent / contemporaneous work. Acknowledge concurrent results fairly; do not overclaim priority.
- The right objects. For theory, cite the precise theorem (with number) you rely on, not just the paper.
Checklist
- Foundational result cited precisely (theorem-level, not just paper-level)
- 3–6 direct antecedents, each with a one-sentence formal delta
- Every "we generalize / nest" claim backed by an explicit special case
- Assumptions attributed to their originators correctly
- Honest statement of what your result costs relative to the closest prior result
- Contemporaneous / independent work acknowledged
- No padding: every cited paper bears on the contribution's boundary
Anti-patterns
- A related-work paragraph that lists ten papers but never states a formal difference
- Claiming to "generalize" a result while quietly imposing a stronger assumption elsewhere
- Ignoring the obvious classic theorem a referee will immediately compare you to
- Citing a survey instead of the original theorem your proof depends on
- Overclaiming priority over contemporaneous working papers
Output format
【Foundational result】...
【Direct antecedents】[A (assumption→conclusion), B, ...]
【Deltas】[vs A: weaken X; vs B: add limiting distribution; ...]
【Nesting shown?】yes (corollary N) / no — needs explicit special case
【Honest cost】...
【Next step】ecta-identification