IB Economics Paper 1: essay technique for parts (a) and (b)

What each part asks for

Time split is a common teaching suggestion, not an IB rule. Use five minutes at the start to choose the question and plan both parts.

Part (a): explain the theory cleanly

Part (a) rewards precise definitions of the key terms in the question, a relevant diagram that is fully labelled (axes, curves, equilibrium points, shifts and the direction of change), and a step-by-step explanation that refers to the diagram. Think of it as teaching the examiner one mechanism: what changes, why the curve moves, and what happens to price, output or the variable in the question.

Two diagrams are not automatically better than one. Use a second only when the question needs it, for example when it asks you to distinguish between two kinds of tax or two kinds of unemployment. A real-world example is not needed in (a), so spend the time on accuracy.

Part (b): apply, then evaluate

Part (b) is where the marks separate. It asks for synthesis and evaluation: competing arguments, relevant real-world examples, the assumptions and limitations of the theory, and a reasoned judgement that answers the exact question. A strong answer names a specific example (a country, a policy, a year, a figure if you know it), explains how the theory applies to it, and then weighs it.

Good evaluation uses a small set of lenses: short run against long run, different stakeholders, the size and elasticity of the effect, the assumptions of the model, and alternative policies. Pick the two or three that matter most for your example rather than listing all of them. Finish with a conclusion that takes a position, for example "in the case of X, the policy is likely to be effective in the short run, but only if Y".

A model plan for an invented question

Invented question: (a) Explain how a subsidy affects a market for a merit good. (b) Using a real-world example, evaluate the use of subsidies to increase the consumption of merit goods. This is a plan, not a finished answer.

1. (a) Define merit good and subsidy. State that merit goods are under-consumed because consumers underestimate their benefits (information failure) and because they create positive externalities.
2. (a) Diagram: positive consumption externality, with marginal social benefit above marginal private benefit; show the subsidy shifting supply right, quantity rising towards the socially optimal level and the price paid by consumers falling.
3. (a) Explain the diagram in three or four sentences, including the welfare loss reduced by the subsidy.
4. (b) Example: a government subsidy for a specific merit good, such as public funding that lowers the cost of school places, vaccinations or public transport in a named country. Choose an example you know well and can describe with dates or figures.
5. (b) Arguments for: higher consumption, positive spillovers, equity gains for lower-income households.
6. (b) Arguments against and limitations: opportunity cost to the budget, the size of the effect depends on price elasticity of demand, the subsidy may go partly to producers, information failure is not fixed by price alone, and alternatives such as regulation or information campaigns.
7. (b) Judgement: subsidies are most effective where demand is price elastic and where cost is the main barrier; combined with information provision when the problem is mainly awareness.

Where Paper 1 marks are lost

• Diagrams with missing labels or shifts that are not explained in the text.
• "For example, a country..." instead of a named, specific case.
• Evaluation that is a single "however" paragraph at the end with no judgement.
• Answering the topic instead of the question: writing everything you know about subsidies when (b) asked about merit goods specifically.
• Running out of time on (b), which carries more marks than (a).

How one-to-one lessons help with Paper 1

A tutor who teaches IB Economics uses lessons to make diagrams automatic: the student draws each core diagram on the shared whiteboard from memory and explains it aloud, and the tutor corrects labels and logic on the spot. Alongside that, the student builds an example bank by unit, with Gulf and international cases, each with a date and a source.

Later lessons are timed: the student plans a past question in five minutes, writes one part, and the tutor marks it against the markbands and shows exactly which band descriptor the answer met and what would lift it.