Plan an Economics IA commentary around one event

Choose an event you can analyse

The current Economics IA portfolio contains three commentaries based on published news extracts from different relevant syllabus units and analysed using different key concepts. Start each commentary with an article describing a specific economic event: a policy change, a market development or a shift in economic conditions. Check the article's suitability with your teacher before drafting.

Save the complete article and its title, publication, date and URL. Record when you write the commentary, and verify the article-age and portfolio requirements in your current course guidance. Confirm source variety across the whole portfolio.

Extract the event, evidence and question

On a planning sheet, separate what happened from what you want to explain. Identify the affected market or economy, the policy mechanism, relevant figures and stakeholder statements. Then write a working question that links the event to theory. Keep that planning question narrow enough for the commentary's maximum of 800 words.

In an illustrative fictional news report, a government introduces a per-unit tax on sugary drinks. A useful focus would be how the tax could change consumption and how the burden may be shared. Your actual commentary needs a real published article.

Build a diagram with an analytical job

Choose a diagram that explains the event you selected. For the fictional tax example, label axes, curves, initial and new quantities, and the distinction between the price consumers pay and producers receive. Explain the mechanism in words using the article's context. If the article does not provide enough information to locate an exact equilibrium, make the diagram's illustrative nature clear.

Draw the diagram before writing the full analysis. Check that the movement or shift matches the policy and that the direction of each effect matches your explanation. A decorative diagram cannot replace a causal chain.

Trace the mechanism step by step

Build a short sequence: the policy changes an incentive or constraint; producers or consumers respond; this alters an outcome; that outcome affects stakeholders. Use economic terminology where it clarifies the sequence, and define a term briefly when the analysis needs it. Apply the chosen key concept to the actual issue rather than mentioning it once as a label.

For the tax example, the size of the consumption response depends partly on demand elasticity. Avoid inventing an elasticity value. Use relevant article evidence or explain the implication conditionally.

Evaluate the condition that changes the judgment

Choose a small number of relevant considerations and develop them. A tax might reduce consumption more when close substitutes exist, but substitution could also weaken the intended wider outcome. Lower-income consumers, producers and the government may experience different effects. Decide which considerations the article can support and where uncertainty remains.

• Distinguish immediate effects from possible longer-term responses.
• Use specific evidence to compare stakeholder effects.
• Explain a limitation of the economic model in this context.
• Make a qualified judgment about the issue analysed.

Edit for economic value per sentence

Read the draft and mark sentences that only retell the article. Keep the context necessary to understand the analysis and use the remaining space for explanation and evaluation. Check every diagram label against the prose, verify citations and apply your teacher's word-count guidance. Across the portfolio, revisit unit, source and key-concept choices before final submission.