| name | jfi-data-analysis |
| description | Use when planning or stress-testing the analysis behind a Journal of Financial Intermediation (JFI) paper — bank/loan-level panel work, demand-absorbing specifications, and the robustness battery for empirics, or numerical examples and calibrated illustrations for theory. It guides the analysis plan; it does not replace running the code. |
Data Analysis (jfi-data-analysis)
When to trigger
- Building the empirical analysis on bank/firm/loan data, or its robustness battery
- Building a numerical example or calibration that illustrates a model's mechanism
Empirical track (banking data)
- Sample construction: document the universe (e.g., Call Reports / FR Y-9C banks, DealScan loans,
HMDA mortgages), merge keys, and every filter; intermediation samples are sensitive to mergers, charter
changes, and reporting breaks.
- Variables: define balance-sheet and credit quantities precisely (levels vs. growth, winsorizing,
deflation); state timing relative to the shock to avoid mechanical reverse causality.
- Specifications: high-dimensional fixed effects (reghdfe / fixest); for credit-supply questions, use
firm×time effects in matched lender–borrower panels to absorb demand.
- Robustness: alternative samples and windows, placebo periods, leave-one-out by large institutions,
alternative clustering, and a balance/parallel-trends check for DID. The expected battery is substantial
but there is no fixed robustness-table count; keep the main text compact and push secondary checks to
appendices.
Theory track (numerical illustration)
When the paper is a model, "data analysis" is lighter and means reproducible computation:
- A numerical example or calibrated figure showing the mechanism and comparative statics — illustrative,
not estimation.
- Keep the code clean and deterministic (fixed seeds/parameters) so a reader can regenerate every figure.
Data sharing (both tracks)
Prepare a Data Statement and link datasets via Editorial Manager; cite data with the [dataset] tag
(see jfi-replication-and-data-policy). Under Elsevier Option C, deposit/cite/link research data where
possible or explain why sharing is restricted.
Dataset-to-mechanism decision table
Pick data for the intermediation mechanism, not the other way around — JFI referees notice when the
dataset cannot carry the claimed channel:
| Mechanism under study | Workhorse data | What the merge must support |
|---|
| Relationship lending / information capture | Credit register or DealScan loan-level | Multi-bank firms, so firm×time absorption is feasible |
| Capital / regulation transmission | Call Reports, FR Y-9C, stress-test exposures | Bank-level shock measured before announcement |
| Deposit competition / franchise value | FDIC Summary of Deposits, branch-level rates | Market-level (county/MSA) shares and pricing |
| Runs, liquidity, interbank stress | Supervisory or payment-system records (typically restricted) | Daily/weekly frequency around the stress window |
| Fintech displacement of banks | Platform loan tapes plus bank comparators | Comparable borrower-risk controls across lender types |
Worked robustness pass: a capital-shock battery (illustrative)
A hypothetical JFI paper estimates that a 1pp rise in required capital cuts loan growth to the same firm
by 2.1pp (s.e. 0.6, firm×time FE, clustered by bank). The battery a JFI referee expects, each row tied to
a named threat:
- OLS without firm×time FE gives −3.0pp; report both, so the reader sees demand absorption moves the
estimate by roughly a third — evidence the design bites, and a sorting fact worth a paragraph.
- Drop the three largest banking groups: −1.9pp — the channel is not one institution.
- Placebo reform date two years earlier: +0.2pp, insignificant — supports timing.
- Extensive margin (relationship termination) rises 1.4pp — the intermediation mechanism shows up beyond
intensive-margin amounts.
- Few-cluster check: wild-cluster bootstrap p ≈ 0.03 with 31 banks.
- Multi-bank vs. full sample: re-estimate firm-FE-only specs on both, since the within-firm identifying
sample skews toward larger, less bank-dependent borrowers.
Analysis probes specific to this venue
- Referees here routinely ask for the exposure-weighted firm-level aggregation when real outcomes
(investment, employment) are claimed — firm×time FE cannot be used there, so pre-shock bank shares must
carry the identification.
- Magnitude sanity: convert the loan-level coefficient into aggregate credit terms and benchmark it
against the range in the lending-channel literature; an estimate ten times the consensus invites a
measurement question before a citation.
- For the theory track, a calibration table listing every parameter, its value, and its source (moment
matched, literature, normalization) is the JFI-credible substitute for a robustness battery.
Execution bridge (StatsPAI / Stata MCP)
Run the battery, don't just enumerate it. Full map:
execution-with-mcp. JFI is banking and financial intermediation — typically corporate / bank causal designs built around regulation and shocks.
- Many outcomes / specifications:
romano_wolf (step-down FWER, accounts for
cross-test correlation) or benjamini_hochberg — report the adjusted threshold.
- OVB sensitivity:
oster_delta / sensemakr — the confounder strength that would
overturn the headline.
- Inference:
wild_cluster_bootstrap (few clusters), twoway_cluster / conley.
- Re-fit off one handle:
audit_result(result_id) lists the missing checks and the
exact suggest_function for each — no guessing the battery.
- Exhibits:
etable / did_summary_to_latex from the handle — no retyped numbers.
Keep the decisive checks in the body and the exhaustive (now actually-run) battery in
the appendix. See the executed chain in the JF execution walkthrough.
Anti-patterns
- Undocumented sample filters that drive the result
- Mixing credit supply and demand without firm×time absorption
- A theory "calibration" presented as if it were estimation
- Non-reproducible figures (random seeds, manual steps)
Output format
【Track】empirical / theory
【Sample / parameters】<universe + filters, or calibration>
【Core spec / example】<FE structure, or the numerical illustration>
【Robustness】<the battery, or seed/determinism notes>
【Next skill】jfi-contribution-framing
