It is NOT NOT a top journal.
Rank AER insights
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Editor suggested it, yes. You have the option of forwarding AERI reports when submitting to AEJs, just like with AER reports. In general you can forward reports to AEJs, you can forward reports even if editor doesn't suggest it.
Got rejected twice at AERI. Both times got very useful reports and helpful editor letter, not to mention both submissions were handled in less than two months. For one of the papers, I used the AERI reports for AEJ and ended up getting R&R based only on the original AERI reports. Overall, couldn't be happier with the experience. The bar to publication is definitely set pretty high.
did finkelstein suggest to send it to aej ...aeri to aej fast track or something?
Here is where things can get a bit tricky. Given that it is a shorter paper, it should ideally be forwarded to AEJ Insights.