Jole Writing Style

Writing Style (jole-writing-style)

When to trigger

• The abstract exceeds 100 words or does not state the finding
• The introduction wanders before reaching the labor question and the result
• Citations are not in Chicago author-date style, or are ordered wrong in-text
• Sentences are jargon-dense for a general labor-economics readership

JOLE house style: precise, economical, audience = labor economists

JOLE is read across labor economics, not by one subfield, so the prose must make a labor question legible to any labor economist while respecting a strict word economy. Format facts that directly shape the writing:

• 100-word abstract. This is short — there is no room for throat-clearing. Open with the question and design, state the result with a number, and close with the labor takeaway. Count the words.
• ~20,000-word soft cap, full-page table/figure = 500 words. Every paragraph and every exhibit competes for the same budget; relocate heavy detail to a bounded online appendix rather than padding the body.
• Chicago author-date references, with the JOLE convention that in-text citations are ordered chronologically, then alphabetically within the same year (a, b disambiguation), and three or more authors are cited as first author "et al." Purely alphabetical in-text ordering reads as off-template.
• Single-blind: the manuscript is not anonymized, so you may cite your own prior work naturally ("Smith and Lee (2019) show …") — no awkward third-person self-references.

The introduction arc (JOLE labor template)

1. The labor question — one or two plain sentences; stakes for workers/firms/markets clear.
2. Why it is hard — the identification or measurement problem that has prevented a clean answer.
3. The setting & variation — the policy reform, natural experiment, register, or survey that solves it.
4. The headline result — the number with units (e.g., "raises earnings by 6%"), stated early.
5. Mechanism & interpretation — the labor-economic channel in a sentence.
6. Contribution & external relevance — placement in the labor literature + what it teaches beyond this setting.
7. Roadmap — brief.

Abstract: state the finding in ≤ 100 words

• One breath for question + design, then the result with a number, then the labor lesson.
• No "this paper studies the important issue of"; the 100-word budget will not survive it.
• A labor economist should know what you found from the abstract alone.

Sentence-level craft

• Active voice; short declaratives for key claims.
• Quantify ("lowers separations by 4 percentage points") rather than vague intensifiers ("substantially affects").
• Define notation once; do not make the reader hold five symbols.
• Hedge only where the design requires it; calibrated confidence reads as competence.

Checklist

• Abstract is ≤ 100 words and states the finding with a number
• The labor question is on page one in plain language
• Headline result appears early in the intro, with units
• External relevance ("beyond this setting") is explicit
• Chicago author-date cites; in-text chronological-then-alphabetical; "et al." for 3+
• Within the ~20,000-word economy; detail moved to a bounded appendix, not padded
• Claims quantified, not vaguely intensified

Anti-patterns

• An abstract over 100 words, or one that names the topic but never the result
• Leading the intro with method ("We use a Sun–Abraham estimator …") instead of the labor question
• Purely alphabetical in-text citations rather than chronological-then-alphabetical author-date
• Awkwardly anonymizing self-citations (unnecessary — JOLE is single-blind)
• Vague magnitude language ("significantly", "substantially") with no number
• Padding the body to look thorough instead of using a tight online appendix

Output format

【Abstract verdict】≤ 100 words, states finding+number? [Y/N] — fix: ...
【Intro arc】question / hardness / variation / result / mechanism / contribution? [Y/N each]
【Headline number in intro】present + units? [Y/N]
【External relevance stated】[Y/N]
【References】Chicago author-date, chronological-then-alpha in-text, "et al." 3+? [Y/N]
【Word economy】within ~20,000 words incl. 500/page exhibits? [Y/N]
【Next step】jole-replication-and-data-policy or jole-review-process

Source: brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills → Journal-of-Labor-Economics-Skills/skills/jole-writing-style/SKILL.md