Individual skill
jpam-research-design
Use when defending the causal identification of a Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (JPAM) manuscript — RCTs, difference-in-differences / event study, regression discontinuity / kink, instrumental variables, and synthetic control for policy and program evaluation. Strengthens the design and its assumptions; it does not write estimation code.
Journal-of-Policy-Analysis-and-Management-Skills/skills/jpam-research-design/SKILL.md
Source commit 932eb23331721b16e967c59f093781be1928b498
What was checked
- Matches the observed repository HEAD
- Yes
- Scanner rules are current
- Yes
- Repository scan complete
- No
- Skill scan complete
- No
- Observed behavior
- Network or broad shell
- Last checked
- Nov 9, 2026
These are observations at the recorded commit, not a guarantee of safety. Review the source before running it.
Install this skill
Choose an agent in your Stack or copy a command below. Commands fetch the pinned commit and copy only this skill directory. Existing destinations are refused. Copying a command does not install anything.
An install command is unavailable: current rules, complete repository and skill scans, an eligible behavior level and a permitted license are required.
Repository context
- Repository stars (not skill ratings)
- 1,405
- Repository last updated
- Sep 27, 2026
- License
- MIT
Observed agent integration: No specific integration evidence. Standard SKILL.md installation does not imply verified compatibility.
- academic-writing Repository topic
- agent-skills Repository topic
- journal Repository topic
- academic-research Repository topic
- ai-agents Repository topic
- anthropic Repository topic
- awesome-list Repository topic
- claude Repository topic
- claude-code Repository topic
- economics Repository topic
- design Derived category
- research Derived category
Files and excerpt
File metadata and permitted, redacted excerpts come from the recorded scan. Source links are pinned to that commit.
Read excerpt
# Research Design & Identification (jpam-research-design)
Credible identification is JPAM's **core bar**. The journal evaluates the effects of real policies and
programs, so the design must connect the theory of change (`jpam-theory-building`) to evidence a
policymaker can trust. State the **estimand**, the **assumptions** that license a causal reading, and
**how each is defended** — then rule out the single strongest rival explanation. Selection-on-
observables alone rarely clears the bar.
## When to trigger
- Specifying or defending identification for a policy evaluation
- A reviewer questioned causal claims, parallel trends, the instrument, the discontinuity, or confounding
- Choosing among RCT / DiD / RD / IV / synthetic control for a given policy variation
- Preparing a pre-analysis plan for a prospective program evaluation