Internal Assessment

What is an IA? An internal Assessment in Economics is a written commentary based on an economics article that you have chosen. The article you choose should allow you to explain and analyze economic events and to relate theoretical economic concepts to real-life situations. For Economics SL and HL, your portfolio of three commentaries represents 20% of your total IB score.

What to do? Pick an article that will allow you to use what we have learned in class. For your first IA, you mostly need to find an article that will allow you to use the concepts of supply/demand and elasticity. In your internet search, it would be useful to search for the price of a commodity. price of coffee, price of oil, price of cocoa, etc.

Where can I find an article? You might browse New York Times, Reuters, Financial Times, BBC, or Business Today among others. You could buy the Ahram Weekly (on Thursdays), there is a section on the Economy. You can use any article you find anywhere, as long as you have a hard copy to hand in. If you are unsure, you could show me the article you like and I will let you know if it is appropriate.

Teacher’s Feedback “Written feedback should generally be limited to reflecting on and explaining the instructions in the syllabus --define, label, explain, etc. Tell students what doesn’t make sense, etc. Do not give detailed instructions to students about how to improve their IA. But you may ask them, for example, to explain what this paragraph was intended to mean, if a paragraph does not make sense. You may also mention, for example, ‘background theory notes needed here!’

Then What? Once you have picked an article, you need to analyze it. If your article is about a change in the price of a commodity, ask yourself: Why did the price change? Can I use a supply and demand diagram to explain what happened? By how much did quantity change? Who was affected by price change?

Your IA Define economic terms Explain economic theory Write an economics commentary of 650-750 words, where you explain and analyze what happened in the article you have picked. In your commentary, you should: Define economic terms Explain economic theory Use and explain graphs Evaluate Can you detect contradictions/limitations between economic theory and the real world problem at hand? Are there winners and losers? Is there any bias in the way the article was written? Can you predict what will happen in the future based on what happened in this article?

Evaluation… The Validity of Assumptions Most economic theories are based on assumptions. Identify the assumptions in the article and question their validity. For example: “The law of demand theory ignores changes in non-price demand determinants, like income and price of substitutes and compliments; an assumption that if relaxed is likely to give altered outcomes.” “The theory of comparative advantage fails to take transport costs into account (from the producing country to the country buying the good). This is clearly a weakness of the theory.”

Evaluation… Short Term Versus Long Term Examples: “in the short run, demand can be inelastic; however, in the long run, its elasticity increases.” OR “in the short run, it is possible to justify subsidies granted to food suppliers; however, in the long run, this might lead to higher taxes.”

Evaluation… Stakeholders Consider the issue from the points of view of different stakeholders, for example: Domestic producers Consumers Government Foreign producers High income people Low income people

Evaluation… Prioritize the Arguments For example, you might structure your reasoning like this: The most important argument against protectionism is…. The least effective argument against protectionism is…. On balance, the strongest argument in favor of protectionism is…

Generally, Good commentaries make connections between topics Be aware that economic events never occur in isolation Question the reliability of theories. Drop the “ceteris-paribus” assumption and see where it takes you. Challenge views and statements. Remember you’re showing the same skills here that you’re showing in your exam answers.

Assessment There are 5 IB Criteria on which your commentary will be assessed: A: Diagrams [3 marks] B: Terminology [2 marks] C: Application [2 marks] D: Analysis [3 marks] E: Evaluation [4 marks] Total [14 marks] There is 1 IB criterion for the whole portfolio F: Rubric Requirements [3 marks]

Format Commentary coversheet Article Commentary If the article is long, you need to highlight the sections you use Commentary Number your pages as a footer in the middle and write your name and ID number as a header on the top RHS of each page

Rubric Requirements Word Limit: 750 max. The following are not included in the word count: Diagrams Labels of 5 words or fewer Headings on diagrams of 10 word or fewer Tables of statistical data Equations, formulas and calculations Citations and references Your articles have to be recent. They should be published no earlier than ONE YEAR before the writing of the commentary.

Rubric Requirements You must use a different source for each commentary. Each commentary must be based on a different section of the syllabus. Contents Each portfolio must contain: A summary portfolio coversheet A commentary coversheet for each commentary Three commentaries accompanied by the relevant articles.

Help!! I cannot choose an article for you, but for your first IA, you could show me the article and I will tell you whether it is appropriate or not. You will get feedback on the first version and will be allowed to make changes once. The second version you submit will be your final version. Your IB Score will be based on this version.

Good Luck!