AER Insights：为重要而简洁的顶尖经济学论文而生

过去几十年，经济学论文不仅篇幅越来越长，而且审稿周期越来越慢。一篇高质量的经济学论文通常都有50页或更多，从投稿到最终发表经常需要两三年甚至更久的时间。为了鼓励言简意赅的论文写作并加快审稿周期，AER: Insights 横空出世。

AER: Insights 是美国经济学会旗下最新的期刊，2017年12月1日宣布成立，并于2019年6开始正式刊登论文。

AER: Insights 旨在成为顶级的综合性经济学期刊，被设计为刊发与 AER 同样质量的高水平论文，尤其注重具有重要见解且可以简洁传达的论文。其目的是让重要的经济学研究能够被更多人更有效和更广泛的传播，扩大经济学科的影响力。

就定位而言，虽然 AER: Insights 是新的期刊，但定位与 AER 相同。事实上，AER 曾经的短论文（Short Papers）部分已完全由 AER: Insights 取代；同时，在投稿系统里，被 AER 或者 AER: Insights 拒绝的论文，作者可将审稿人意见直接提供给美国经济学会旗下的 AEJ 系列（AEJ: Applied, AEJ: Macro, AEJ: Micro, AEJ: Policy）加快审稿流程。

目前，AER: Insights 每年约有600篇投稿论文，接受率 4% 左右。其中45%左右的论文会被 Desk Reject。期刊要求投稿论文不超过 6,000 词，正文图表不超过 5 个。同时，该期刊会承诺在3个月内给予投稿人首次回复。更重要的是，首次回复将只有“拒稿”或“有条件接受”两种选项，不需要投稿人对审稿者做出冗长的回应，也不再邀请审稿人对修改稿给出二次反馈。编辑的“有条件接受要求”仅限于论文中的阐述性更改，同时编辑要求作者在八周内完成修改。

AER：Insights 现任主编 Amy Finkelstein 是麻省理工学院的经济学教授。她是美国国家科学院院士，约翰·贝茨·克拉克奖得主，麦克阿瑟“天才”奖得主。

AER：Insights 现任共同主编为斯坦福大学教授 Pete Klenow 和耶鲁大学教授 Larry Samuelson。两人曾经都担任顶尖经济学杂志的编辑。例如，Pete Klenow 曾担任 Quarterly Journal of Economics、Journal of Political Economy、Econometrica 等杂志的副主编；Larry Samuelson 曾担任 American Economic Review、Econometrica 的共同主编。

除此以外，该期刊的编委会成员还包括：Alberto Abadie, Andy Atkeson, Marco Battalini, Markus Brunnermeier, Eric Budish, Pascaline Dupas, Janice Eberly, Nathaniel Hendren, PJ Healy, Hilary Hoynes, Navin Kartik, Ted O’Donoghue, Amanda Pallais, Andres Rodriguez-Clare, Jesse Shapiro, Andy Skrzypacz, Jon Steinsson 等著名经济学家。

可以预见，在如此强大的编辑整容和大量高水平论文发表的基础上，未来经济学的顶刊将由过去的 Top 5 变为 Top 6，建议各高校的期刊列表尽快更新吧。

AER：Insights 已经出版了5期，重点推荐一下这4 篇和中国相关的论文。

I. 电商进农村，有用吗？ 

Connecting the Countryside via E-Commerce: Evidence from China

by Victor Couture，Benjamin Faber，Yizhen Gu，Lizhi Liu

Abstract: This paper estimates the impact of the first nation-wide e-commerce expansion program on rural households. To do so, we combine a randomized control trial with new survey and administrative microdata. In contrast to existing case studies, we find little evidence for income gains to rural producers and workers. Instead, the gains are driven by a reduction in cost of living for a minority of rural households who tend to be younger, richer and in more remote markets. These effects are mainly due to overcoming logistical barriers to e-commerce, rather than to additional investments to adapt e-commerce to the rural population.

II. 从中国进口让美国消费者得到了多大的好处？

Estimating US Consumer Gains from Chinese Imports

by Liang Bai，Sebastian Stumpner

Abstract: We estimate the size of US consumer gains from Chinese imports during 2004–2015. Using barcode-level price and expenditure data, we construct inflation rates under CES preferences, and use Chinese exports to Europe as an instrument. We find significant negative effects of Chinese imports on US prices. This effect is driven by both changes in the prices of existing goods and the entry of new goods, and it is similar across consumer groups by income or region. A simple benchmarking exercise suggests that Chinese imports led to a 0.19 percentage point annual reduction in the price index for consumer tradables.

III. 碰瓷中国：中国的竞争让墨西哥毒贩和暴力犯罪变多

The Violent Consequences of Trade-Induced Worker Displacement in Mexico

by Melissa Dell，Benjamin Feigenberg，Kensuke Teshima

Abstract: Mexican manufacturing job loss induced by competition with China increases cocaine trafficking and violence, particularly in municipalities with transnational criminal organizations. When it becomes more lucrative to traffic drugs because changes in local labor markets lower the opportunity cost of criminal employment, criminal organizations plausibly fight to gain control. The evidence supports a Becker-style model in which the elasticity between legitimate and criminal employment is particularly high where criminal organizations lower illicit job search costs, where the drug trade implies higher pecuniary returns to violent crime, and where unemployment disproportionately affects low-skilled men.

IV.（来自中国的）竞争如何影响美国国内的创新

Foreign Competition and Domestic Innovation: Evidence from US Patents

by David Autor，David Dorn，Gordon H. Hanson，Gary Pisano，Pian Shu

Abstract: Manufacturing accounts for more than three quarters of US corporate patents. The competitive shock to this sector emanating from China’s economic ascent could in theory either augment or stifle US innovation. Using three decades of US patents matched to corporate owners, we quantify how foreign competition affects domestic innovation. Rising import exposure intensifies competitive pressure, reducing sales, profitability, and R&D expenditure at US firms. Accounting for confounding sectoral patenting trends, we find that US patent production declines in sectors facing greater import competition. This adverse effect is larger among initially less profitable and less capital-intensive firms.

附：AER：Insights 所有已发表或接受的论文

Vol. 1 No. 1 June 2019

Vol. 1 No. 2 September 2019

Vol. 1 No. 3 December 2019

Vol. 2 No. 1 March 2020

Vol. 2 No. 2 June 2020

即将发表的论文：