From \begin to \end
The Complete LaTeX Guide — a 7-day, in-house course that takes a complete beginner with an economics background to independently writing, formatting, citing, and submitting a publication-ready paper. Every concept below is taught the same way it is in the room: the code you write, the output it produces, and a plain-language explanation of why.
Why economists end up learning LaTeX
Four reasons this keeps showing up in every economics program: equations (regressions, production functions, and game-theory payoffs typeset natively and precisely, not pasted in as blurry images), publication-quality tables, reproducibility with plain-text source and version control, and journal requirements — AER, JPE, QJE, and most Elsevier economics journals accept or require LaTeX and provide official templates.
The course runs entirely in Overleaf, a free, browser-based editor — nothing to install. Each of the seven days below builds on the last, using a single running paper draft as the exercise all week, so by Day 7 you're not just following along — you're finishing your own document.
Seven days, one running paper draft
Click any day to jump straight to its interactive walkthrough below.
| Day | Focus | Key Skill Unlocked |
|---|---|---|
| Setup & Document Anatomy | Compile a working .tex file from scratch | |
| Math Mode for Economists | Typeset models, equations, and notation | |
| Tables, Figures & Regression Output | Publication-quality regression tables | |
| Citations & Bibliography | Author-year citations with BibTeX/natbib | |
| Document Structure & Long Documents | Organize a full paper across files | |
| Journal Templates & Formatting | Submission-ready formatting | |
| Troubleshooting & Independent Mastery | Self-debug and finalize the paper |
Try each day for yourself
Every slide in the actual course follows the same triad: the code you write, the compiled output it produces, and a short explanation of why. Pick a day below, then use "See Compiled Output" on the demo to flip between the two — exactly how it plays out in Overleaf.
Setup & Document Anatomy
Get compiling your first document and understand what LaTeX actually is — a markup language, not a word processor. Zero prior exposure assumed.
- What LaTeX is (and isn't)
- Getting started with Overleaf
- Preamble vs. body
- Document class & packages
- The title block
- Sections & subsections
- Bold, italics & comments
- Reading your first compile error
\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
Hello, economics!
\end{document}Hello, economics!
Why & what: every LaTeX file has exactly this skeleton. The preamble (everything before \begin{document}) configures the document. The body is what actually gets typeset — nothing outside document ever appears in your PDF.
Recreate a real title page
Recreate the title page and abstract of a real, published economics paper. Compile at least five times, intentionally breaking and fixing something each time.
Before Day 2
Retype the introduction paragraph of the paper you'll rebuild all week into a new Overleaf project.
Math Mode for Economists
Equations are the single biggest reason economists switch to LaTeX. Typeset models, regression specifications, and notation with full precision — no equation editor required.
- Inline vs. display math
- The amsmath package
- Subscripts & superscripts
- Greek letters & operators
- Fractions & binomials
- Multi-line derivations (align)
- Matrices
- Labeling & referencing equations
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:cobb-douglas}
Y = A K^{\alpha} L^{1-\alpha}
\end{equation}
As shown in Equation~\eqref{eq:cobb-douglas}, output depends on...Y = A Kα L1−α (1)
As shown in Equation (1), output depends on...
Why & what: \label silently tags the equation right after it's numbered. \eqref is what turns that tag into the visible "(1)" — and it stays correct automatically even if you add or remove equations earlier in the paper.
Three equations, one reference
Typeset a labeled Cobb-Douglas production function, a linear regression equation with a subscripted error term, and a 2×2 payoff matrix. Reference the Cobb-Douglas equation by number using \eqref.
Before Day 3
Add the full set of equations from your running paper draft, labeling every numbered equation.
Tables, Figures & Regression Output
Tables are usually the hardest part for anyone switching from Word, Excel, or Stata. Build a repeatable workflow for turning regression output and charts into clean, journal-style tables and figures.
- The tabular environment
- booktabs rules
- multicolumn / cmidrule
- A complete regression table
- figure & includegraphics
- Float placement
- tablesgenerator.com workflow
\usepackage{booktabs}
\begin{tabular}{lcc}
\toprule
Country & GDP Growth & Inflation \\
\midrule
Bangladesh & 6.0\% & 5.4\% \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}| Country | GDP Growth | Inflation |
|---|---|---|
| Bangladesh | 6.0% | 5.4% |
Why & what: \toprule, \midrule, and \bottomrule add clean horizontal rules with no vertical lines — the standard look in economics journals (AER, QJE, JPE). Never mix \hline with booktabs rules in one table.
A real regression table
Reproduce a small regression output table in booktabs style using tablesgenerator.com as a first pass, then hand-edit for captions, labels, and a grouped header with \multicolumn.
Before Day 4
Insert all tables and figures from your running paper draft, with proper captions and labels.
Citations & Bibliography
Economics journals almost universally use author-year citation style. Build a working BibTeX pipeline you can reuse for every future paper — practicing on real published research.
- The .bib file
- natbib & author-year styles
- \citet vs. \citep
- biblatex as an alternative
- Sourcing .bib entries
- Cross-referencing
\citet{nandi2022financial} find a positive link between
financial inclusion and growth.
Financial deepening supports growth
\citep{nandi2022financial}.Nandi et al. (2022) find a positive link between financial inclusion and growth.
Financial deepening supports growth (Nandi et al., 2022).
Why & what: \citet ("textual") makes the authors part of the sentence; \citep ("parenthetical") puts the citation in parentheses instead. Rule of thumb: if the authors are the subject of your sentence, use citet — otherwise citep.
Five sources, one paragraph
Build a five-entry .bib file from real papers (WGI's own published papers work well) and write a short mock literature review citing all five, using citet and citep at least twice each.
Before Day 5
Build the real bibliography for your running paper draft and cite throughout the introduction and literature review. Aim for 8–10 sources.
Document Structure & Long-Document Tools
Move from a single short file to the structure a full paper or thesis-length document needs, with the navigation aids a reader — or a referee — expects.
- Table of contents
- Footnotes
- hyperref clickable references
- Splitting files with \input
- Page numbering & headers
\usepackage{hyperref} % load LAST in the preamble
See Section~\ref{sec:strategy} or visit
\href{https://whiteglobeinitiative.org}{our website}.See Section 2 or visit our website.
Why & what: loading hyperref turns every \ref, \eqref, \cite, and table-of-contents entry into a clickable link in the PDF. Load order matters — put hyperref as the last package in your preamble to avoid conflicts with others.
Split into files
Split your running paper draft into separate files and assemble them into a single main.tex using \input, adding a table of contents and at least one footnote.
Before Day 6
Load hyperref and confirm every cross-reference resolves correctly — fix any stray "??" you find.
Journal Templates & Professional Formatting
You ultimately need to submit to a specific journal or working-paper series. Become fluent in adapting an existing template rather than building formatting from scratch.
- Overleaf template gallery
- AEA-style & Elsevier elsarticle
- Title/abstract/JEL/keyword metadata
- Page size, margins & colour
- Converting a Word draft
\title{Remittances and Consumption Smoothing}
\author{Jane Economist}
\begin{abstract}
This paper examines remittance inflows...
\end{abstract}
\JEL{F24, D14, O15}
\keywords{remittances, migration}Remittances and Consumption Smoothing
Jane Economist
Abstract. This paper examines remittance inflows...
JEL: F24, D14, O15 Keywords: remittances, migration
Why & what: journal templates add fields beyond plain article — abstract, JEL codes, keywords — rendered automatically. JEL codes are economics-specific and expected by nearly every journal.
Migrate end-to-end
Choose one real economics journal template from the Overleaf gallery and migrate your entire running paper draft into it end-to-end.
Before Day 7
Proofread the migrated document for formatting breaks and list everything you find — you'll fix it tomorrow.
Troubleshooting, Polish & Independent Mastery
Not more syntax — self-sufficiency. Leave able to diagnose your own errors and finish a paper without a tutor in the room.
- Reading compile errors like a pro
- TeX StackExchange search strategy
- Pre-submission proofreading checklist
- Exporting the final PDF
- Where to go next
\textb{Significant results} % typo'd command
The share of GDP is 15%. % unescaped percent sign
\begin{itemize} ... \end{document}! Undefined control sequence.
! Missing $ inserted.
! LaTeX Error: \begin{itemize} ended by \end{document}.
Why & what: Undefined control sequence is almost always a typo'd command. Missing $ inserted means a math symbol (or unescaped % or &) was used outside math mode. A mismatched \begin/\end means counting your pairs — the reported line is often after the real mistake, not at it.
Fix it unaided
The instructor injects 3–5 common errors into your document. Diagnose and fix each one unaided, using only Overleaf's error log and TeX StackExchange.
Submission-ready PDF
A submission-ready PDF of the paper built across the week, self-reviewed against Day 6's template requirements.
The reference set behind every day above
| Resource | Best Used For |
|---|---|
| Overleaf — Learn LaTeX in 30 Minutes | Day 1 crash course; first document, structure, math preview |
| Overleaf Documentation | Topic-by-topic reference for every day of the course |
| Wikibooks LaTeX | Free companion textbook; deeper explanations and exercises |
| tablesgenerator.com | Converting Excel/Stata output into LaTeX table code (Day 3) |
| whiteglobeinitiative.org/published-papers | Real published-paper examples for citation practice (Day 4) |
| Overleaf Template Gallery | Economics/AEA/Elsevier journal templates (Day 6) |
| TeX StackExchange | Debugging real compile errors (Day 7 and beyond) |