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restud-identification
Use when selecting, implementing, or stress-testing the causal identification strategy for an empirical The Review of Economic Studies (REStud) manuscript — DID (incl. staggered), IV (incl. weak-IV-robust inference), RDD, synthetic control, shift-share, or RCT. Apply before writing results; for theory papers route to restud-theory-model.
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# REStud Identification (restud-identification)
## When to trigger
- The empirical core is OLS + controls and a referee will flag selection-on-observables
- DID uses TWFE on staggered data with no modern estimator
- IV first-stage F is being cited as proof of instrument strength
- RDD uses a high-order polynomial or one untested bandwidth
- A prior rejection cited identification grounds and the design needs rebuilding
## REStud identification bar
REStud was founded in 1933 to advance **both theoretical and applied** economics, and that balance is its signature: unlike a purely empirical top-5 outlet, REStud weighs design-based causal work and structural/theory-consistent identification on equal terms. So the bar is a **state-of-the-art causal design**, OR — for a structural/theoretical-empirical paper — a rigorous identification of the model's parameters with the identifying assumptions stated explicitly and mapped to data features. The empirical contribution can itself be *a new identification strategy*; in that case the design is the paper and must be defended to the hilt. Editorial assignment reflects the breadth: handling Joint Managing Editors span IO/applied econometrics (Jan De Loecker), micro theory / mechanism design (Antonio Penta), and behavioral/information economics (Jakub Steiner) — write the identification so the right one of them sees a rigorous argument. Identification is not a section to be footnoted; if the design is fragile, no prose, controls, or sample size rescues it.
