Title page

Summary Slide (try to limit yourself to one sentence per bullet). Set the stage: What question is this paper answering and why is it important? How is that question answered? (e.g. The authors answer this question through the lens of X). What is the main result?

Explain the paper’s question and contribution (as many slides as you need, all of these points are usually discussed in the introduction.) What do we learn about topic X that we did not know before? How does the paper relate to economic theory? What is the main economic channel/mechanisms? Which economic problem is an institution addressing/solving? What are the hypotheses that the authors derive from economic theory/the underlying mechanism?

Getting to the details of the paper (as many slides as you need) Circle back to the question ask in the paper. Detail how the authors tackle the question. Specifically: In what context do the authors test the hypotheses? [provide a lot of historical context as most will not be familiar with the details of your paper] Why is this context well-suited to test the hypotheses? Why is this a good experiment?

Data (if applicable) What data do the authors use? What is the source of variation that is used to test hypothesis? (e.g. only x percent of city had an institutions and they are compared with cities without that institution.) How do the data connect to economic theory (e.g. theory predicts strong property right increase investment. What is the measure of “strong” property rights? How is investment measured?)

Methodology What is the empirical strategy (e.g. analytic narrative , difference-in- difference approach (comparing groups with different treatments before and after the treatment), instrumental variable approach)? Why is this method appropriate to answer the question? Can the method be implemented well with the data at hand?

Results (as many slides as you need) Remind the audience of what the hypothesis is. Discuss results (no tables please, a graph can be illuminating). Explain economic magnitude Is the result consistent with economic theory?

Recap What is the big picture question? How was this question studied? What is the main results?

Conclusion What have you learned from the exercise? Are the results context-specific or generally applicable? What are caveats to the findings when trying to develop an economic policy based on these results? What questions are left unanswered? This is the point where you can raise doubts and ask open questions to get the discussion started