---
name: jie-tables-figures
description: Use when building or auditing tables and figures for a Journal of International Economics (JIE) manuscript — gravity/coefficient tables, event-study and pass-through impulse-response plots, structural counterfactual charts, and self-contained notes that an international-trade or open-economy-macro referee can read standalone. Shapes exhibits; it does not generate results.
---

# Tables & Figures (jie-tables-figures)

## When to trigger

- Drafting the main regression/gravity tables or the headline figures
- A figure or table cannot be understood without hunting through the text
- You are unsure which exhibit should carry the headline result for a JIE referee

## JIE exhibit conventions

JIE referees split between international trade and international macro/finance; build exhibits each side reads fluently, with **economic magnitudes** front and center (not just stars).

### Tables
- **Gravity / PPML tables**: report the estimator (PPML), the fixed-effect structure (importer×time, exporter×time, pair), the number of zeros retained, and the trade elasticity with an economic reading. State the standard-error clustering (often multi-way for dyadic data).
- **Macro/finance panels**: report the panel structure, dynamic-bias handling, and clustering; show the coefficient as an elasticity or semi-elasticity, not a bare number.
- **Structural tables**: show **targeted vs untargeted moments** side by side and the calibrated/estimated parameters with sources.

### Figures
- **Event-study / trade-policy plots**: pre-period leads near zero, confidence bands shown.
- **Pass-through / impulse responses**: horizon on the x-axis, bands shown, currency-of-invoicing caveats noted.
- **Counterfactual charts**: welfare or trade-share changes from the structural model, with the elasticity used stated in the note.
- Vector output (PDF/EPS); avoid chartjunk (no 3D, minimal color).

### Notes (self-contained)
- Each exhibit's note states the sample (countries/products/years), estimator, fixed effects, clustering, and what a coefficient means in units. A referee should never need the body text to read the table.

## Checklist

- [ ] Headline result is the clearest single exhibit (a gravity table or one figure)
- [ ] Estimator, FE structure, and clustering stated in every table note
- [ ] Economic magnitude (elasticity / welfare / pass-through), not just significance
- [ ] Structural exhibits show targeted and untargeted moments
- [ ] Figures show confidence bands; vector output, print-legible
- [ ] Every exhibit numbered, called out in order, and self-contained in its note
- [ ] Each exhibit is regenerated by the replication script (no hand edits)

## Anti-patterns

- A gravity table that hides the estimator and FE structure
- Reporting stars without the trade/welfare/pass-through magnitude
- A structural table showing only the moments it targeted
- Figures with no confidence bands or with chartjunk
- Notes that force the reader back into the text to interpret the exhibit


## Worked gravity-table example (illustrative)

The headline gravity table should let a referee read the design without the text. A JIE-grade column reports: estimator (PPML), the fixed-effect rows (importer×time ✓, exporter×time ✓, pair ✓), the number of zero-flow observations retained (say, ~30% of dyad-years), the clustering (two-way: exporter and importer), and the RTA coefficient with its economic reading in the note (e.g., "0.20 ⇒ about a 22% trade increase" — illustrative). A weak table prints the coefficient and three stars and hides the estimator and FE structure, forcing the referee into the body to reconstruct what was run. The note alone should answer: what sample, what estimator, what FE, what clustering, and what the number means in trade units.

## Exhibit pass for Journal of International Economics

Treat this skill as an executable review pass, not a prose hint. First lock the cross-border margin, model or identification source, and replication/data readiness; then judge whether the current manuscript answers the venue's real reader: international-economics reviewers who separate trade, open-economy macro, international finance, and sovereign-risk audiences.

- **Do the pass:** For every table or figure, state the estimand or object, sample or case base, uncertainty display, and one sentence the exhibit proves for the venue audience.
- **Return a ledger:** give `claim / evidence / risk / manuscript location` rows, so the next agent can edit rather than rediscover the issue.
- **Sibling guard:** compare against JPubE for public-finance policy, JDE for development settings, JME for monetary macro emphasis; if a sibling owns the contribution, recommend re-routing before polishing format.
- **Stop condition:** do not give submission-ready advice until the pack's `resources/official-source-map.md` has been checked for volatile rules and the manuscript has one concrete fix for the largest venue-specific risk.

## Output format

```
【Headline exhibit】(table/figure that carries the result)
【Estimator/FE stated】[Y/N]
【Magnitude reported】elasticity / welfare / pass-through
【Structural moments】targeted + untargeted shown? [Y/N]
【Notes self-contained】[Y/N]
【Reproducible】each exhibit from script? [Y/N]
【Next step】jie-writing-style
```

## Supplementary resources

- [`../../resources/external_tools.md`](../../resources/external_tools.md) — plotting and estimation tooling for trade/macro exhibits
- [`../../resources/official-source-map.md`](../../resources/official-source-map.md) — scope and reference-style sources