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ecj-writing-style

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Use when polishing the prose of a The Economic Journal (EJ) manuscript into its clear, generalist-legible, economics-first register. Tightens voice, structure, and citation/format house style; it does not fix the economic argument itself (see ecj-theory-model / ecj-identification).

The-Economic-Journal-Skills/skills/ecj-writing-style/SKILL.md

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# Writing Style & House Conventions (ecj-writing-style)

## When to trigger

- The draft is wordy, hedged, or buries the result under qualifications
- Prose explains procedure before establishing economic purpose
- A reader outside your subfield gets lost; the writing assumes too much
- This is the **late polish** stage — identification and model are already sound

## The EJ voice: exposition is part of the contribution

EJ prose must be **clear, precise, and legible to a broad international readership**. EJ has long valued *clear exposition* alongside substance: a generalist economist should follow the argument; a specialist should find it rigorous. This is the journal's distinguishing register — at EJ, an unreadable paper underperforms its own substance, so the writing earns real weight in the decision. The writing carries an argument; every paragraph advances the economic case, and the economic intuition is stated in words before the algebra.

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