--- name: economic-policy description: Use when targeting Economic Policy or deciding whether a policy-oriented economics manuscript fits this venue. Encodes the journal's fit, framing, method-and-evidence bar, house style, the panel-review route, official-submission re-check, and desk-reject heuristics. --- # Economic Policy (economic-policy) ## Journal positioning Economic Policy is a leading European policy-oriented economics journal that publishes rigorous-but-accessible analysis intended to inform European and international policy debate. Its distinctive feature is the Economic Policy Panel: papers are typically presented at the Panel meeting and reviewed there, with the aim of producing timely, authoritative, policy-relevant work that economists and policymakers can both read. What wins here is serious economics on a live policy question, written so a policy audience can use it — analytical depth without becoming a narrow technical paper. **The route runs through the Economic Policy Panel.** Papers are commissioned / selected and presented at Panel meetings, where they are discussed before publication; the path in is often a proposal or invitation rather than a routine open submission. Treat this skill as a fit check for a *proposed* Economic Policy paper and a guide to its house style. This skill is a **fit / venue-selection / re-framing** tool. It does not replace the journal's current official submission guidelines. Before proposing or submitting, re-check the live author / Panel instructions on the Economic Policy / publisher site. ## When to trigger - The author names Economic Policy as the target venue or hopes to present at the Panel. - A policy-relevant economics paper needs the accessible, debate-informing Economic Policy framing. - A technical applied paper needs re-framing toward a European / international policy question and audience. - The author needs this venue's expectations and a credible policy-economics alternative list. ## Scope & topic fit - Topical European and international economic-policy questions across macro, public, labor, trade, finance, and regulation. - Empirical and analytical work that bears directly on current policy choices and institutions. - Assessment of policies, reforms, and shocks with clear lessons for policymakers. - Cross-country and EU-level questions are especially welcome, but the lens is policy relevance, not a region per se. ## Method & evidence bar - Rigorous economics with policy payoff: credible identification or careful measurement, but always tied back to a usable policy conclusion. - Inference at current standards for the relevant data; honest treatment of uncertainty and external validity. - The analysis must support a clear, defensible policy reading — not method for its own sake. - Engagement with the policy and institutional context, not only the academic literature. ## Structure & house style - Papers are presented at the Panel and discussed; write anticipating informed critique and a policy-literate readership. - The introduction should state the policy question, the approach, the headline finding, and the policy implication early and accessibly. - Keep technical machinery proportionate; relegate derivations and robustness to appendices so the main text stays readable. - Follow the current Economic Policy formatting, abstract, and exhibit conventions; magnitudes and policy stakes should be legible. ## Official-submission checklist - Before giving submission-ready advice, read `../../resources/source-basis.md` and `../../resources/official-source-map.md`; start from the official source anchors for this journal family, then cite the current journal-specific page you checked. - Because the venue is Panel-driven, first confirm the route (proposal / invitation / Panel meeting); search the live site for "Economic Policy submission / Panel / instructions for authors" and the current process and timeline. - Re-check word/figure limits, abstract format, reference style, anonymization expectations, and disclosure-of-interest. - Re-check the current data and code availability / replication policy. - If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions win. ## Pre-submission self-check - [ ] One sentence stating which European / international policy debate this informs and the usable conclusion. - [ ] The contribution is stated as a policy-relevant finding / assessment, not as statistical significance. - [ ] The technical content is proportionate and the main text is readable by a policy audience. - [ ] Methods, magnitudes, and uncertainty are transparent; the policy reading is defensible. - [ ] The Panel / proposal route and timeline are confirmed. ## Common desk-reject triggers - A narrow technical paper with no clear policy question or usable conclusion. - A pure-theory or methods paper with no policy relevance. - A US-centric or region-specific paper with no European / international policy angle. - Ignoring the Panel workflow and writing an inaccessible, jargon-heavy main text. ## Re-routing decision - US-centric macro-policy, conference-driven → `brookings-papers-on-economic-activity`; international / open-economy macro → `imf-economic-review`. - Core public-finance policy → `journal-of-public-economics`; applied micro policy → `aej-economic-policy`. - Development-policy questions → `world-bank-economic-review` or `world-development`; general-interest economics → `american-economic-review`. ## Output format ```text [Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason) [Target] Economic Policy [Topic tags] <2–3 closest topics> [Method/evidence] [Top risk] [Official items to re-check] [Re-route suggestion] ```