Commentary Planning Sheet

IB Economics

Internal assessment enables students to apply their knowledge of economic theory to realworld situations. The overall aim is to use your economics knowledge to explain an event or
change in the world around us
The main economic theory/ concept being discussed here is:
TitleofArticle:
Source of the Article:
Date the article was published:
Three terms in the article or related to the article that would require definitions:
1.
2.
3.
You now need to analyse your solution
What problemis being
insolution,
the article?
could you draw and
If therediscussed
is a policy
is it What
likely diagram(s)
to solve the problem?
explain to illustrate this problem?

What are the likely effects, both positive and negative, on various stakeholders?

What are the long run and short run effects of this solution?
What is the solution to the problem? What diagram(s) could you draw and explain for the
suggested policy
. solution?

Now, evaluate this change

You can evaluate by doing the following things:

How does this instance reflect on economic theory itself?

From your analysis can you suggest an alternative solution

Does what happened or what is suggested in your news article accord with what
economic theory suggests should happen? If not, why not?

Evaluation implies a judgment of a theory and an application of the theory to a given

situation, with awareness that the theory may not provide an accurate description.
Evaluation can take many forms.

Students could identify the most important reasons or factors relating to an economic
issue, and support this with reasoned arguments and justifications for their choice.
When advantages and disadvantages are relevant, students could attempt to identify
the most important advantage (or disadvantage) and then justify the reason for the
choice.
When strategies are presented, students could attempt to assess the short-term and
long-term implications.
When data is present, students may question its validity, in terms of whether it is
appropriate, reliable or relevant.
When considering a theory, students may question its validity, in terms of whether it is
appropriate, reliable or relevant.
Judgments about real-world effectiveness of policies could include limitations of noneconomic constraints upon specific economic theory in reality.