jel-tables-figures

Documents

Use when building exhibits for a Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) survey — summary "who-found-what" tables, conceptual/framework figures, and meta-evidence exhibits that synthesize across studies. Designs survey exhibits; it does not produce original-estimate regression tables (a JEL survey reports no new estimates of its own).

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Tables & Figures for a Survey (jel-tables-figures)

When to trigger

The synthesis is done and the reader needs to see the field at a glance
A controversy or a body of estimates would be clearer as a table than as prose
The organizing framework would land better as a diagram
You are tempted to paste a regression table — but this is a survey, not a primary paper

The three exhibit types a JEL survey actually uses

JEL exhibits summarize across the literature; they do not present the author's own estimation. The workhorses:

Exhibit	Purpose	Design notes
Who-found-what summary table	one row per study (or per design class): question/estimand, method, sample, finding (direction + magnitude), credibility note	rows ordered by the framework's cells, not chronology; columns let the reader compare comparable objects
Conceptual / framework figure	render the organizing spine — taxonomy tree, mechanism diagram, the simple unifying model	this is often the survey's signature exhibit; it should be restate-able from memory
Meta-evidence exhibit	a forest-style plot or funnel of effect sizes, a timeline of methods, a coverage map	use only when the estimates are commensurable; otherwise it manufactures false consensus

Building a credible summary table

Compare like with like. Group studies that estimate the same object; never put non-comparable estimands in one magnitude column (the cross-study version of the pooling error from jel-literature-synthesis).
Carry uncertainty and credibility. A finding column without a credibility/identification note invites a referee to ask "but how good is that study?" — answer it in the table.
Self-contained captions. A JEL exhibit is read on its own; the caption states what the table shows, the unit, and how to read a row, and points to the source studies.
Source every cell. Each entry traces to a paper in the evidence matrix; a survey table with an unsourced number is indefensible.

Meta-analysis caution

If you assemble effect sizes into a quantitative synthesis (forest plot, meta-regression), you are doing a meta-analysis, with all its assumptions — comparable estimands, publication-bias diagnostics, weighting. Only do this where the literature genuinely supports it; otherwise a qualitative who-found-what table is more honest than a spurious pooled number. JEL readers include the methodologists who would catch an invalid pooling.

Reproduced vs. re-drawn figures

When a figure from a surveyed paper is central, prefer a re-drawn synthesis figure (your own panel that places several studies on common axes) over copying one paper's exhibit. A re-drawn figure serves the survey's argument and avoids the consensus-by-accident of reprinting whichever paper had the prettiest chart; if you do reproduce an original figure, attribute it and secure any permission the AEA style guide requires.

Checklist

Each exhibit synthesizes across studies (no original-estimate regression output)
Summary-table rows ordered by the framework's cells; only comparable estimands share a column
Finding columns carry a credibility/identification note, not bare point estimates
The conceptual figure renders the organizing spine and is restate-able from memory
Any meta-evidence plot pools only commensurable estimates; bias diagnostics noted
Captions are self-contained (what / unit / how to read a row / sources)
Every cell sources to a paper in the evidence matrix
Exhibits are placed where the argument needs them, sized for readability in print

Anti-patterns

Pasting a regression table of the author's own new estimates — a survey reports no new results
A who-found-what table that pools incomparable estimands into one magnitude column
A forest plot implying a pooled consensus the literature does not support
Finding columns with no credibility note (every reader then asks "is that study any good?")
Decorative figures that do not encode the framework
Exhibits whose captions require the body text to be intelligible

Output format

【Exhibit set】<list: summary tables / conceptual figure / meta-evidence>
【Summary table】rows by framework cell; comparable estimands only? Y/N
【Credibility column】present for every finding? Y/N
【Conceptual figure】renders the spine; restate-able from memory? Y/N
【Meta-evidence】pools only commensurable estimates (or omitted)? Y/N
【Sourcing】every cell traces to the evidence matrix? Y/N
【Next step】→ jel-writing-style (weave exhibits into the synthesis prose)