LaTekonomer Documentation

Quick Links

View the LaTekonomer website or access the repository directly on GitHub

About The Project

Tired of carrying along a hodgepodge of LaTex files with all those settings that you got just right, or wishing ChatGPT could just read your mind? Why not have a template that you can build off for whatever new project you’ve got that contains most of the stuff you reference anyways?

The goal of LaTekonomer is to provide, for me, for you, for your students, for your collaborators, a place to store that code that you spent hours searching StackExchange to finally finagle just right, with pretty default formatting that’ll let your output look nice right from the start.

This is where you can find that code for that three-part long table that stretched across multiple pages with footnotes at the very end with the PDF for just those pages shifted to landscape mode.

This is where students new to LaTex and R and GitHub and research can find easy templates to get going on their homework, so that they’re spending their time thinking about interesting economics rather than playing the eye-watering game of “Where’s the dollar sign I’m missing that’s keeping my LaTex from compiling?” at 11:43pm.

How to Use LaTekonomer

The LaTekonomer repository is linked with an Overleaf Project, so there are many ways you might want to use it on your own machine.

I’ll go over the install steps for a few of the options you may want to pursue and some considerations to help you decide which is right for you right now. There are many, many tutorials out there for different workflows. This is just what has worked well for me.

Option 1: Copy LaTekonomer from Overleaf

I recommend doing this if either of the following apply to you:

You’ve never used LaTex before (but want to learn) and/or have not used GitHub before.
You use Overleaf but don’t keep a local LaTex installation on your computer.

Installing LaTex locally can be a pain. If you’re not sure which to do, try the Overleaf route first. You can always install LaTex locally later.

Once you have an Overleaf project, you can also sync it online with GitHub.

You don’t need to sync to GitHub the same time as you set up Overleaf, so if both are new to you, start with Overleaf.

Get familiar with LaTex formatting, then start building out your Git skills when the limitations of an online-only repository start to bug you.

Option 2: Fork the Git Repository

Forking means that you copy this LaTekonomer Github repository to your own Github repository with a (hopefully) different name, which you then take as the foundation for your own project.

Do this if you:

Already use Github or
Want an excuse to start using Github

You may be wondering… Why would you want to start using GitHub?

GitHub is a standard method for making research inputs, and outputs transparent, replicable, well-documented, and sharable among many fields. Economics is catching up in this trend, but because there’s only so much you can teach in a course, if there’s teaching of something computer-related, it tends to be the use of R or Excel for statistical analyses.
If you’re just starting a research project, starting it with Github allows you to maintain version control throughout your project and clearly monitor the changes you’ve made. Your future self will thank you for your clarity.
If you have any collaborators (or end up getting any collaborators), it’ll allow them to join your project easily. You can work together on the project without stepping on each others’ toes and keep track of each other’s contributions.
You’ll save yourself from possibly losing all your code or output if you run into tech problems.

If you’re planning to just use this with Overleaf and not planning on having the files on your local system, instead follow the steps for copying the Latekonomer Overleaf Template. From there, it’s easy to set up Overleaf with GitHub (if you have a premium account). That way you don’t have to bother with Git bash and the Git terminal.

Option 3: Download the files

You can download either from the LaTekonomer Overleaf Template or from the LaTekonomer Github Repository.

To use these with LaTex, though, you’ll need a local LaTex installation.
Do this if you already use LaTex locally and you’ve already got some way of backing up your files (e.g. all your files live in Dropbox anyways and you don’t plan on having collaborators for this project) and don’t want to invest in GitHub.
If you do not have a way of backing up your files and you want to download locally just because it’s temporarily easier, I highly recommend that you reconsider investing some time into Git, or at the very least building up the practice of starting all your projects in folders that sync automatically to a cloud.

Ideally, you would have for all your important files at least three versions:

a local version,
a cloud version,
an external physical version (e.g. an external hard drive backup).

Technical issues happen all the time, and writing in LaTex can be time intensive. Not having backups means you’re potentially throwing away hours, days, or even months of work if your computer gives up on you.

Eventually, you might want to mix and match the above solutions.

I use a combination of the above. I have Overleaf sync with Github and a local repository on my computer that automatically syncs with my cloud and which has Git set up to also push and pull changes from my local copy to my GitHub repository. An external hard drive backs the local copy up every night. You may think this is overkill, but I once lost a semester’s worth of manual inputting work because I didn’t sync correctly to Dropbox. Don’t be me. Learn the easy way.
If I have a lot of images or tables to change or add, I tend to use the local repository to avoid having to drag and drop files into Overleaf. If I’m mostly editing text, I tend to use Overleaf because it compiles so quickly, the interface is pretty, and it doesn’t generate tons of aux files. You have to be mindful about where you’re pushing and pulling from, though, otherwise you can end up with conflicting files.
GitHub is great about recognizing what lines specifically have changed (this is what makes it such a good collaboration tool!). I just make sure I keep up to date on my pushes and pulls when I switch between the Overleaf and local copy. I don’t tend to edit the files directly in GitHub. There are ways you can set up Overleaf so that it automatically syncs with GitHub, but clicking Menu->GitHub->Push or Menu->GitHub->Pull hasn’t thus far been a great hardship.
While I’ve linked to Mac-specific procedures where I know it’s different, my workflow’s mostly in Windows and these guides are biased towards Windows users. You might have to make platform-specific adjustments that I haven’t accounted for. If you have Mac-specific suggestions, make a feature request.

The Nitty Gritty

Your prerequisites and installation steps will depend on how you’re anticipating you’ll use these templates. Let’s go through the three main ways of doing this. There are tons of tutorials out there; this is just what has worked well for me.

Option 1: Copy the Overleaf Template

You’ll need an Overleaf account .

If you’re at a university, your university email will likely give you access to Overleaf premium, which would allow you to sync Overleaf directly to GitHub.
Once you have your account, log into Overleaf.
Click on this LaTekonomer share link .
Click “Menu” on the top left of the screen with the project showing in Overleaf, and then “Copy Project”

Copy the Overleaf Project

Rename to something like “my-awesome-project.” If this is for International Environmental Economics, something like “ECON-412” would be good.

Rename your project

You’re set up! Easy as that.

Now that you’ve got your project in Overleaf, if you have an Overleaf premium account, you can also set it up to sync with GitHub.

I recommend trying this out if you’re new to GitHub and you want to start getting used to it without having to learn about coding from the command line or dealing with a finicky installation just yet.

To add: Vignette for “Getting started with writing up homework” that’s linked to the “Copy the LaTekonomer Overleaf Template”

To add: pulling a LaTekonomer repository that’s been updated externally when you’ve already made a copy of your awesome project on your own Overleaf.

Option 2: Fork the Repo

You’ll need a GitHub account. I haven’t found there to be an advantage to using an institutional email at this point, unless you’re planning on setting up a private repository.
You’ll need a LaTex installation on your local machine.

If this is your first time with both LaTex and GitHub, I recommend going through Overleaf with the first option above. It allows you to collaborate easily and learn the ropes without worrying about figuring out all the installation nuances of LaTex or GitBash just yet.

If you really like the idea of having a local copy without needing the internet and you’re willing to spend some time tinkering with the installation, then there are a lot of ways you can set up LaTex on your local machine.

I use Sublime Tools (a speedy text editor that’s a lot like VisualStudio) with LaTexTools. You can follow the installation here.

You can find more information about how to set up sublime here.

Here’s a test to see if we can get to a section on a page.

Add link to sublime directions

You’ll need a LaTex installation on your local machine.

To Do: Link to the using-sublime.md file

You’ll need to set Git up on your device.

I set up my GitHub originally to let it version control with R, so followed the book Happy Git and GitHub for the useR.

If you’re thinking of using the complementary ekonomR R package, I highly recommend following the Happy Git book first, and then coming back here to set up this repository through the Git command line. You’ll have installed the Git terminal in Ch. 6: Install Git when you’re following this book, and that’s where you’ll learn what the Git command line is if you don’t already know.

Getting GitHub to link to your computer securely can take a little effort, so give yourself a weekend on the off chance that you need to go deep into the troubleshooting help. Do not try to do any of this late at night when you’re tired. You’ll make yourself miserable and there are lots of little things that can go wrong.

Happy Git is very well written. Start at the beginning and go through chapter 12, “Connect RStudio to Git and GitHub.”

If you haven’t done this before and are using this project as an excuse to learn some GitHub but aren’t planning on using this with R, the Github docs are a good place to get started. I occasionally use Sublime Merge as a Git client.

Assuming you’ve either gone off to Happy Git and come back or figured out your Gitting on your own, you’re ready to fork the LaTekonomer repository using your Git bash terminal. If you don’t know what the Git bash terminal is, you did not successfully complete Step 2.

You can bring up the Git terminal either in RStudio -> Terminal (next to the “Console” tab), or in your Applications go to Git and click on Git Bash, which should open up a free-floating terminal.

You do NOT want the Windows PowerShell terminal or whatever it is that Mac uses (I think? To do: Ask Mac users who use Git how they use the terminal).

Go to the repository page for LaTekonomer.
Under the “Fork” option, click “Create a new fork”

Fork the repository

Change the name of the repository to something for your new project (like ECON 412), edit the description to match your new project, and click the “Create fork” button.

Edit fork details

On the new repository page that pops up in your own repository and click on the green “Code” button. If you’re using HTTPS protocol, click the “copy” icon to copy to URL for your newly created repository.

If you followed Happy Git, you should be using the HTTPS protocol. If you’re using SSH, you’re on your own!

copy new repository URL

In your Git Bash (or RStudio Git) terminal, change the working directory to the folder in which you would like to create this new project.

Putting your project in a folder which is also synced to a cloud (like OneDrive or Dropbox) doubly backs your stuff up and allows you do make local changes from multiple devices. I’ve read that doing this might cause syncing issues but have never run into any myself.

I use the cloud pCloud, which is like Dropbox but with lifetime subscriptions rather than annual, and some other fun bells and whistles.

If you’re at Yale, you have free storage with OneDrive. If you’re doing this in OneDrive, make sure that you’ve opened up the OneDrive app so that your folders register the correct paths.

If you’re on a Windows system, the command might look like the following, where you change [your-username] to be whatever your username on your PC is.

   cd "C:\Users\[your-username]\OneDrive - Yale University"

*[To confirm: What’s the relevant directory for a Mac? Try "~/OneDrive - Yale University" ]

Now clone your newly forked repository with the URL you copied in Step 8. In the Git terminal you’ll do it like this (changing the your-github-username and your-new-project-name as appropriate).

    git clone https://github.com/your-github-username/your-new-project-name.git

You’re now ready to start making changes! There are a couple commands you’ll use over and over from the Git bash terminal, so I’ll put them here for easy reference.

To push changes you’ve made locally from your local machine to GitHub, in a Git terminal, first make sure your directory is the right one with pwd (display the present working directory).

You don’t need to do this if you can just read off the terminal cursor that you’re in the right location.

pwd

If this isn’t the place where you put your fork, then do

    cd "path-to-fork"

where "path-to-fork" is something like "C:/Users/stallman/Projects" or "C:/Users/stallman/OneDrive - Yale University"

Tell git to add everything to the roster of things to update:

git add .

Commit the changes with a message that your future self could read and know what you were changing.

git commit -m "your commit message here"

Push those changes onto your main branch. ```bash git push -u origin main ```

If you made changes online through GitHub or a collaborator made changes so that your GitHub repository is more updated than your local machine, you’ll also want to pull changes.

If you’re not sure you’re in the current working directory where your forked repository lives on your local computer, check it.

pwd

If this isn’t the place where you put your fork, then do

    cd "path-to-fork"

Pull the changes.

git pull

[To add: Now the LaTekonomer repository has been updated, but I’ve already made a fork. Can I do another pull?]

Option 3: Download

I’ve put this last because if you’re not going to Git, you’re not going to Git, but you should really consider it.

Downloading the raw files is super easy. You can either do this via Overleaf or from GitHub.

[To add: Straight-up downloading steps and recommendations]

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Usage

Use this space to show useful examples of how a project can be used. Additional screenshots, code examples and demos work well in this space. You may also link to more resources.

For more examples, please refer to the Documentation

Roadmap

Add vignette for “Getting started with writing up homework” that’s linked to the “Copy the LaTekonomer Overleaf Template”
Pulling a LaTekonomer repository that’s been updated externally when you’ve already made a copy of your awesome project on your own Overleaf
Feature 3
- Nested Feature

See the open issues for a full list of proposed features (and known issues).

Contributing

Contributions are the foundation of the open source community. It’s how we get nice things. Any contributions you make are greatly appreciated.

If you have a suggestion that would make this better, please fork the repo and create a pull request. You can also open an issue with the tag “enhancement”.

Fork the Project
Create your Feature Branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
Commit your Changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
Push to the Branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
Open a Pull Request

License

Distributed under the GNU General Public License v3.0. See LICENSE.txt for more information.

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