---
name: popdevr-tables-figures
description: Use when building tables and figures for a Population and Development Review (PDR, Wiley / Population Council) manuscript so exhibits are self-contained, accessible, and legible to a broad demography-and-development readership. Covers distinctive demographic graphics (population pyramids, age schedules, survival curves, projection fans) and cross-country comparative exhibits. Designs exhibits; it does not run the analysis.
---

# Tables & Figures (popdevr-tables-figures)

Exhibits are where an expert reader checks whether the result is real — and, at PDR, where a broad
readership grasps both the population pattern and its development meaning. A figure must carry the
population-and-development point to an economist or environmental scholar, not only a demographer. Keep
the set tight: every exhibit must earn its place and the prose should not need it explained.

## When to trigger

- Designing the main results table/figure or a key descriptive exhibit
- Deciding what belongs in the article vs. the supporting information
- A reviewer found an exhibit unclear, mislabeled, or non-self-contained
- Trimming an exhibit set that has grown past what the argument needs

## Principles

1. **Self-contained.** A reader should understand each exhibit from its title, axis/column labels, and
   note alone. State the population, period, age range, source/vintage, units, and N or exposure.
2. **Carry the development point.** Title and note should make the population-and-development meaning
   legible, not just the demographic quantity — a reader outside demography must see the takeaway.
3. **Use the right demographic graphic for the quantity.** Don't default to a bar chart when the data
   call for an age schedule, a population pyramid, a survival curve, or a projection fan.
4. **Show uncertainty.** Confidence bands on rates, life-expectancy contributions, hazard/survival
   curves, decomposition components, and projection scenarios — not bare lines or point estimates.
5. **Accessible.** Colorblind-safe palettes; legible in grayscale; no chartjunk, no 3D. Reviewers and a
   broad readership must parse it quickly.
6. **Main text vs. supporting information.** Keep the few exhibits that carry the argument in the
   article; move full life tables, sensitivity grids, and supplementary detail to the **supporting
   information**.
7. **Reproducible.** Each exhibit is generated by the master script; numbers match the deposited
   materials (see `popdevr-transparency-and-data`).

## Distinctive demographic and comparative exhibits
- **Population pyramids** for age-sex structure and its change over time (and across development levels).
- **Age schedules** of fertility (ASFR), mortality (mx/qx), and migration; tempo-adjusted curves.
- **Survival and hazard curves** (Kaplan-Meier, cumulative-incidence for competing risks).
- **Decomposition bar/stacked plots** showing component contributions that sum to the total.
- **Projection fans / scenario plots** tied to policy or development futures, with uncertainty.
- **Cross-country scatter / small-multiples** linking a population quantity to a development indicator —
  with comparability caveats in the note.
- Small-multiple **maps** for spatial demographic variation.

## Execution bridge (StatsPAI / Stata MCP)

Generate exhibits from the fitted result, not by retyping numbers (the usual source of
body-vs-supplement drift). Full map: [`execution-with-mcp`](../../../shared-resources/empirical-methods/execution-with-mcp.md). PDR is population studies blending quantitative and policy work; apply the chain to its empirical-causal papers.

- **Tables:** `etable` (multi-model columns) or `did_summary_to_latex` straight from the
  `result_id`.
- **Figures:** `plot_from_result` / `enhanced_event_study_plot` / `event_study_table` —
  axis units and the SE/clustering note baked in.
- **Every note** names the estimator + clustering and states the effect size in
  interpretable units.

See a full fitted-result → exhibit chain in the [JF execution walkthrough](../../../Journal-of-Finance-Skills/resources/worked-examples/02-execution-walkthrough.md).
## Anti-patterns

- Tables that require the prose to be intelligible (not self-contained)
- A generic bar chart where an age schedule, pyramid, or projection fan would reveal the pattern
- Rates, e0 contributions, or projections plotted with no uncertainty
- A cross-country scatter read as a development effect with no comparability caveat
- Exhibit numbers/values that don't match the deposited code output

## Exhibit pass for PDR

Run this as a concrete capability pass. First lock the population process, the development/policy
linkage, the data and time scale, the selection/measurement issue, and the uncertainty; then test
whether the manuscript addresses PDR's broad audience who inspect both the population evidence and its
development meaning.

- **Primary move:** For every table or figure, state the object, sample/case base, uncertainty display,
  and one sentence the exhibit proves about population *and* development for this venue.
- **Decision ledger:** return `claim / evidence / blocker / next edit` rows so the next pass can patch
  the manuscript directly.
- **Sibling comparison:** compare against *Demography* and *Population Studies* (methods-forward),
  *Population Research and Policy Review* (applied policy), and *Studies in Family Planning* (programs);
  if a neighbor has the stronger audience claim, recommend re-routing before polishing.
- **Verification floor:** before submission-ready advice, re-open `resources/official-source-map.md` for
  volatile rules and name the one unresolved fact that could change the recommendation.

## Output format

```
【Main exhibit】what it shows + which graphic + the population-and-development point
【Self-contained?】title + labels + note + population/period/source/N present? [Y/N]
【Uncertainty shown?】bands/intervals on rates/curves/components/projections? [Y/N]
【Accessible?】grayscale-legible + colorblind-safe? [Y/N]
【Article vs SI】split decided, set kept tight?
【Reproducible?】generated by master script, matches package? [Y/N]
【Next】popdevr-writing-style
```

## Supplementary resources

- [`../../resources/external_tools.md`](../../resources/external_tools.md) — plotting, life-table, projection, and mapping packages
- [`../../resources/official-source-map.md`](../../resources/official-source-map.md) — exhibit and supporting-information expectations