---
name: jpe-tables-figures
description: Use when finalizing the main exhibits (tables and figures) of a Journal of Political Economy (JPE) manuscript so each one carries economic content and is self-contained. Sets exhibit design and notes standards; it does not decide which results to report (see jpe-robustness).
---

# Tables & Figures (jpe-tables-figures)

## When to trigger

- Tables are overloaded with columns; the reader cannot find the economic point
- Figures are decorative rather than carrying the argument
- Notes are thin — a reader cannot reconstruct units, sample, or specification from the exhibit alone
- You are deciding what belongs in the main text vs. the online appendix

## The JPE exhibit philosophy

A JPE table or figure should be **self-contained and economically legible**: a referee skimming exhibits should grasp the result, the magnitude, and what it means. As a **University of Chicago Press** journal, JPE typesets accepted exhibits to Chicago Press production standards — no chartjunk, no gratuitous color, units and economic magnitudes front and center. Every exhibit must also be regenerated by the master script in the **JPE Dataverse** replication deposit, so the numbers in the paper and the numbers the code produces must match exactly when the **JPE Data Editor** verifies them at conditional accept (see `jpe-replication-package`). The headline result usually deserves a *figure* (an event-study plot, a fit-of-model plot, a counterfactual) because magnitudes and dynamics read faster than a coefficient.

### Tables
- Report **economic magnitudes**, not just stars: effect relative to the mean, an elasticity, a standardized effect, or a dollar/welfare figure.
- One table = one idea. Main results table should fit on a page and be readable without the text.
- Columns build an argument (baseline → +controls → preferred → alternative design), not an undifferentiated grid.
- Standard errors in parentheses; state the clustering level in the note. Prefer reporting CIs or exact SEs over star-only inference.
- Self-contained note: sample, period, unit of observation, dependent-variable definition, specification, SE structure, and what each column adds.

### Figures
- Use a figure to carry the main result when dynamics/magnitudes matter (event studies, dose-response, model fit, counterfactual paths).
- Plot confidence bands, not just point estimates. Label axes with units and economic meaning.
- Grayscale-safe and legible in print; no 3-D effects, no unnecessary gridlines.
- Each figure's caption states what the reader should conclude economically.

### Main text vs. online appendix
- Main text: the identifying result, the mechanism evidence, the key magnitude, the headline counterfactual — typically a small number of exhibits.
- Online appendix: the full robustness battery, descriptive tables, secondary heterogeneity, and supporting derivations.

## Checklist

- [ ] Headline result expressed as an economic magnitude (relative to mean / elasticity / welfare), not stars alone
- [ ] Main results readable without the surrounding text
- [ ] Every table note states sample, period, unit, DV definition, spec, and clustering level
- [ ] Columns/panels build an argument rather than dumping specifications
- [ ] At least one figure carries the main result with confidence bands
- [ ] Figures legible in grayscale; axes labeled with units and meaning
- [ ] Heavy robustness/descriptive material moved to the online appendix
- [ ] Exhibit numbering matches in-text references exactly

## Anti-patterns

- Star-only tables with no economic magnitude — a referee cannot tell if the effect matters
- Numbers in an exhibit that the deposited code does not reproduce — fatal at JPE Data Editor verification
- A 12-column main table that no one can parse
- Figures with no confidence bands, or with chartjunk / 3-D / rainbow palettes
- Notes too thin to reconstruct the specification
- Reporting R² and stars but never the units of the dependent variable
- Putting the full robustness battery in the main text and crowding out the economic story

## Output format

```
【Main exhibits】tables: N, figures: N
【Magnitude reported】mean-relative / elasticity / welfare / standardized
【Headline figure】what it shows + has CIs? [y/n]
【Notes complete】sample/period/unit/DV/spec/clustering present? [y/n]
【Main vs. appendix split】...
【Next】jpe-writing-style
```