A skill your agent uses when deciding whether a development-economics question fits The World Bank Economic Review (WBER) — and how to frame it so both halves of the WBER bar (credible empirics AND…

MITAuto-check passed

Install Wber Topic Selection

skills CLI
$ npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill wber-topic-selection -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills wber-topic-selection --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/World-Bank-Economic-Review-Skills/skills/wber-topic-selection .claude/skills/wber-topic-selection && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
wber-topic-selection
GitHub stars
1.2k
Token cost
~1.9k tokens
SKILL.md length
955 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
2,387
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

A skill your agent uses when deciding whether a development-economics question fits The World Bank Economic Review (WBER) — and how to frame it so both halves of the WBER bar (credible empirics AND…

  • Works in 2 steps: Credible empirics — a design or… → Development-policy relevance — the…
  • SKILL.md covers When to trigger, The WBER two-part bar, Decision table by candidate… and How to sharpen the question, plus 6 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Wber Topic Selection is an agent skill from brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills. Use when deciding whether a development-economics question fits The World Bank Economic Review (WBER) — and how to frame it so both halves of the WBER bar (credible empirics AND policy relevance) are visible. Locks the question and outlet; it does not run the analysis or write the prose.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.9k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

The repository describes itself as: Journal-specific Claude Code/Codex skill packs covering mainstream journals — AER, QJE, Nature, Cell, 管理世界, 经济研究 & 200+ more — your fast track to getting published. | 覆盖主流期刊的… The licence is MIT.

Example prompts

  • “/wber-topic-selection”

Workflow steps

2 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Credible empirics — a design or measurement that a sophisticated applied economist trusts (this is the JDE-grade half).
  2. Development-policy relevance — the result changes how a development practitioner, finance ministry, or World Bank task team would think or…

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 932eb23. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Wber Topic Selection loads about 1.9k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 77 tokens; SKILL.md has 955 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~77
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.9k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills at commit 932eb23, republished under its MIT licence (© brycewang-stanford). 955 words, ~1,869 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/wber-topic-selection/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
wber-topic-selection
description
Use when deciding whether a development-economics question fits The World Bank Economic Review (WBER) — and how to frame it so both halves of the WBER bar (credible empirics AND policy relevance) are visible. Locks the question and outlet; it does not run the analysis or write the prose.

Topic Selection (wber-topic-selection)

When to trigger

  • You have a developing-country result but are unsure it is "general" enough for WBER
  • The work could plausibly go to JDE, World Development, the Research Observer, or WBER and the outlet is undecided
  • The paper reads like a single-program project report rather than evidence on a mechanism
  • A reviewer or coauthor says "interesting, but is this a World Bank paper?"
  • You are weighing a full-length article vs. a WBER short-format policy note

The WBER two-part bar

WBER's stated mission is to publish innovative theoretical and empirical research that identifies, analyzes, measures, and evaluates the macro- and micro-economic forces that promote or impede economic development. The selection test is a logical AND, not an OR:

  1. Credible empirics — a design or measurement that a sophisticated applied economist trusts (this is the JDE-grade half).
  2. Development-policy relevance — the result changes how a development practitioner, finance ministry, or World Bank task team would think or act. Importantly, "policy-relevant" does not mean "aligned with World Bank policy": editorial independence is explicit — consistency with Bank policy plays no role in selection.

A paper that is methodologically immaculate but has no developing-country policy stake reads as "send to a general field journal." A paper with a vivid policy story but a fragile design reads as "send to World Development or a report series." WBER wants both.

Decision table by candidate paper

Your paper looks like...WBER fitMove
Single RCT/evaluation of one program in one placeConditionalReframe around the mechanism and what it teaches development policy broadly; argue external validity / scale-up
Quasi-experiment on a developing-country policy reformStrongForeground the reform as a policy lever; quantify the counterfactual
New measurement of poverty/inequality/welfare in LDCsStrongLead with what the measure changes for targeting/policy; nail data construction
Methods paper / new estimatorWeakSend to an econometrics or methods outlet unless the application is the development contribution
Survey / literature overview / framework pieceWrong outletRoute to the World Bank Research Observer (surveys, not refereed in the WBER sense)
Rich-country labor/finance studyWrong outletSend to a general field journal; WBER is developing-country focused

How to sharpen the question

  • Name the policy decision. "Should a government means-test transfers vs. give universally?" beats "we evaluate a transfer program."
  • Name the development force. Tie the result to a recognized margin: human-capital accumulation, market frictions, credit/insurance constraints, state capacity, trade exposure, informality.
  • State the population and the data spine early. WBER readers expect developing-country data — administrative records, LSMS, DHS, censuses, firm registries, or original surveys — and will judge whether the question is answerable with what you have.
  • Decide full-length vs. short-format. If the contribution is one clean, timely policy-relevant result, the short-format track may be the faster, better-fit home; do not pad it into a full article.

Full-length vs. short-format

WBER runs two tracks, and the topic should pick the track:

  • Short-format fits a single, sharp, timely policy-relevant result with one clean design — a focused evaluation, a new fact, a quick policy-relevant test. Do not pad it with a literature tour or a decorative model; its virtue is speed and focus.
  • Full-length fits a result that needs multiple designs, a mechanism investigation, heterogeneity, or a model-based counterfactual to land. If the contribution genuinely requires that scaffolding, do not amputate it into a short paper.

Choosing the wrong track is a real fit error: a thin paper stretched to full length reads as padded; a rich paper compressed to short format reads as underdeveloped.

Show full SKILL.md (377 more words)Show less

Worked vignette (illustrative)

A team has an RCT of an agricultural-extension app in one region showing a 6% yield gain. As a topic it is a "project report." The WBER reframe asks: what force does this speak to? They reposition it as evidence on information frictions in technology adoption — a central development margin — and ask the policy question "should governments subsidize digital vs. in-person extension?" The data spine (administrative plot records plus the app's usage logs) is named up front, external validity is flagged (one agro-climatic zone), and because the contribution is a single clean result on a timely question, they choose the short-format track. The topic now passes both halves of the bar.

Checklist

  • One sentence states the development question AND the policy decision it informs
  • The result is framed as evidence on a mechanism/force, not a project write-up
  • The setting is developing-country and the data spine (LSMS/DHS/admin/survey) is named
  • Policy relevance is argued without claiming alignment with World Bank policy (independence)
  • Sibling outlets explicitly ruled out (not JDE-as-pure-method, not WD-as-interdisciplinary, not Research Observer-as-survey)
  • Full-length vs. short-format track chosen deliberately

Anti-patterns

  • Pitching a methods innovation with a thin development application as if WBER were a methods journal
  • A "project report" framing: evaluating one program with no claim about a transferable mechanism
  • Conflating "policy-relevant" with "endorses a World Bank position" — selection is independent of Bank policy
  • Sending a survey/overview to WBER instead of the Research Observer
  • Assuming any developing-country dataset makes a paper a WBER paper without a policy stake

The desk-reject screen

Before investing further, run the question through the screen a WBER editor applies in the first pass:

  • Developing-country setting? If the data and policy are rich-country, it is a desk reject regardless of quality.
  • Original empirics (or genuine theory)? A survey or synthesis is a reroute to the Research Observer, not a WBER paper.
  • A policy stake a practitioner would recognize? "Interesting to economists only" is not enough for WBER's dual audience.
  • A credible path to identification? A vivid policy story with no plausible design will not clear the rigor half.

A question that fails any one of these should be re-scoped or re-homed now, before the design, exhibits, and writing skills are invoked on a paper the editor will return unread.

Output format

text
【Target】The World Bank Economic Review
【Development question】one sentence
【Policy decision informed】who acts differently and how
【Development force / mechanism】the margin the result speaks to
【Data spine】LSMS / DHS / admin / firm / original survey
【Track】full-length / short-format
【Sibling ruled out】why not JDE / World Development / Research Observer
【Next skill】wber-literature-positioning

© brycewang-stanford, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in World-Bank-Economic-Review-Skills/skills/wber-topic-selection of brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 932eb23

Compare with similar skills

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TopicsZimoLiao/scholaraio576—~294Automated safety check: PassMIT
Topic Modelingbrycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills4.5k—~3.7kAutomated safety check: PassCustom licence

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Questions about Wber Topic Selection

What does Wber Topic Selection do?

A skill your agent uses when deciding whether a development-economics question fits The World Bank Economic Review (WBER) — and how to frame it so both halves of the WBER bar (credible empirics AND…. Wber Topic Selection is an agent skill from brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills. Use when deciding whether a development-economics question fits The World Bank Economic Review (WBER) — and how to frame it so both halves of the WBER bar (credible empirics AND policy relevance) are visible.

How do I install Wber Topic Selection in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill wber-topic-selection -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (World-Bank-Economic-Review-Skills/skills/wber-topic-selection in brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills) into .claude/skills/wber-topic-selection in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Wber Topic Selection in Codex?

Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill wber-topic-selection -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (World-Bank-Economic-Review-Skills/skills/wber-topic-selection in brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills) into .agents/skills/wber-topic-selection in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Wber Topic Selection in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill wber-topic-selection -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/wber-topic-selection, .gemini/skills/wber-topic-selection, .github/skills/wber-topic-selection and .opencode/skills/wber-topic-selection in your project.

What does Wber Topic Selection need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Wber Topic Selection is instructions for the agent only.

Does Wber Topic Selection access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Wber Topic Selection safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Wber Topic Selection use?

Wber Topic Selection is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Wber Topic Selection use?

About 1.9k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 7.5k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Wber Topic Selection?

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Who maintains Wber Topic Selection?

brycewang-stanford (a GitHub user) maintains it in brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills, which has 1,219 GitHub stars. The repository holds 2,387 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on September 27, 2026.

Source: brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.