qje-robustness

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# Robustness & Online Appendix (qje-robustness)

## When to trigger

- The main result exists but the robustness section / online appendix is thin
- You want to pre-empt the "what about X?" referee report
- You are unsure which checks are load-bearing vs. padding
- The appendix is a pile of tables with no organizing logic

## QJE expectation: an exhaustive, organized appendix

QJE imposes **no hard page limit** and the modern QJE empirical paper carries a **very extensive online appendix** — the Chetty–Hendren neighborhoods papers (QJE 2018) and Chetty–Hendren–Kline–Saez (QJE 2014) are the genre standard, with online appendices dwarfing the printed text. A short robustness section signals an unfinished paper. But volume is not the goal — *anticipation* is. The appendix should answer, in advance, every serious threat a smart referee would raise, organized so the handling Editor can find each answer fast. Note: at submission everything ships in **one PDF** (no separate appendix file at the initial stage), so the appendix must be cleanly sectioned within that document. Lead with the checks that defend the **identifying assumption**, then **measurement**, then **specification**.

## Robustness priority ladder (defend in this order)