Improving your Evaluation Skills Mrs Pennington

Ten strategies – be more critical Make good use of your final paragraph Look for key stem words in the question Put an event, a trend or a government policy decision into a wider context Be familiar with different schools of thought Be aware that a singular economic event never happens in isolation! Question the reliability / accuracy of the data Provide supporting evidence and examples Consider both short and longer term consequences Drop in the “ceteris paribus” assumption Try to challenge traditional views and statements

Key stem words in a question To what extent, if any, is it important for a UK government to restore and maintain a balanced budget? Key stem words?

Evaluate Compare a number of possible views about an economic problem or an issue and come to a reasoned conclusion about which view holds most weight.

Judging the Bank of England

Assess Assess - analyse an economic issue and then weigh up the relative importance of different strands E.g. assess the possible effects of a rise in the external value of the pound against the currencies of our major trading partners

Rise in the exchange rate How big is the appreciation? How long does it last? Demand versus supply-side effects 2nd and 3rd round effects from the change Reactions of businesses and consumers to the ex.rate change

Another example Assess the case for and against the government intervening to raise the disposable income of workers on low pay.

Micro question requiring analysis & evaluation Evaluate the view that, because price discrimination enables firms to make more profit, firms, but not consumers, stand to gain from price discrimination

Importance of evidence in your answer “Supply-side policies have been more effective than demand-side policies in reducing unemployment.” Evaluate this statement with reference to the UK economy in recent years

Evaluation phrases The arguments are finely balanced…. A change in X might cause a change in Y however this depends on Z being held constant….. A possible disadvantage of this strategy / policy is that … The effects of a change in “A” depend on the price elasticity of demand and supply….. and if the elasticity changes, then the analysis can change The argument is contradicted by evidence which shows that…. Although a fall in M should lead to a rise in N, time lags mean that policy changes take time to work through I would argue that policy X is likely to be most effective in the long run. This is because ………….. There may be a conflict involved with this policy because

Developing evaluation skills Add evaluation points into your revision notes Revise in small groups and test and question each other Continue to read around the subject to build up a good awareness of current issues Read comment articles on a regular basis to see how a writer builds and sustains an argument Cover all topics so that you can see how different topics fit together