Economics subject report · May 2018

May 2018 extended essay reports Page 1 Economics EE Overall grade boundaries Grade: E D C B A Mark range: 0-6 7-13 14-20 21-26 27-34 The range and suitability of the work submitted As always, there was a wide range in terms of the quality of the essays. Students who wrote about an appropriate topic, with a clearly -focused research question were more likely to be able to build an argument and earn higher marks. There were fewer market structure essays, which was a good thing. With few exceptions, those students that pursued market structure investigations were unable to carry out appropriate analysis, but tended to rely on replicating very basic textbook material with extra padding from superficial consumer surveys. As demonetisation in India was a very topical issue, there were a lot of essays on this topic. However, the majority were far too broad to be effective. The ‘sharing economy’, particularly ride- sharing, was also a popular topic, but as this is a rather recent economic phenomenon, it is difficult for students to carry out meaningful analysis, and the essays were largely descriptive, or ineffective attempts at applying market structure theory. It would appear that most schools are aware of the five- year rule, as relatively few students breached the rule. Nonetheless, it is valuable to clarify the meaning of this ‘rule’. The five- year rule was designed to prevent students from writing an economic history essay about a policy/issue/event that occurred more than five years ago. Students should choose a policy/issue/event that has taken place within the last five years, but in order to build a good argument, it may be necessary to research and use information from before as well as after the event.