IB Economics IA Guide | How to Write High-Scoring Commentaries
The IB Economics IA requires three commentaries that test your ability to apply economic theory to real-world events. Understanding what examiners actually reward—and avoiding the most common mistakes—can make a significant difference in your final mark.
IB Economics IA: What Does a High-Scoring Commentary Actually Look Like?
The short answer: a high-scoring IB Economics Internal Assessment (IA) commentary does not summarise a news article—it uses a news article as a launching pad for precise economic analysis, well-constructed diagrams, and genuinely evaluative thinking. Your examiner already knows the news; what they are marking is your ability to apply economic theory to a real-world event and then critically assess the implications.
Each commentary you submit should draw on a different section of the syllabus—typically microeconomics, macroeconomics, and international economics—though the exact distribution requirements are set out in the current Subject Guide. Always confirm the precise requirements with your teacher and the latest official documentation before you begin.
How Do You Choose the Right News Article?
Article selection is arguably the most important early decision in your IA process. A weak article makes everything harder; a well-chosen one practically writes the structure for you.
What to look for in a strong article
- A clear economic event: a policy announcement, a price change, a market shock, a trade dispute, a tax reform, a subsidy introduction. The event must be identifiable and dateable.
- Sufficient detail to analyse: the article should give you enough context to explain why the event occurred and what its effects are, not just that it happened.
- Relevance to a specific syllabus section: before you commit, mentally map the article to at least one major concept and one diagram. If you cannot do this within a few minutes, the article is probably not the right choice.
- Recency: articles must fall within the timeframe specified in the Subject Guide. Check the exact window with your teacher.
What to avoid
| Article type | Why it is problematic |
|---|---|
| Opinion columns or editorials | Hard to separate the economic event from the journalist's argument |
| Very short news briefs | Insufficient context for analysis and evaluation |
| Articles covering too many simultaneous events | Makes it difficult to isolate one clear market mechanism |
| Articles with no clear market or policy context | Limits which diagrams and concepts apply |
How Should You Structure Each Commentary?
There is no single mandated structure, but the following flow consistently produces well-organised commentaries that score well across the assessment criteria.
1. Introduction (brief)
Identify the economic issue and its real-world context in two or three sentences. Name the market or sector, the country, and the approximate period. Do not spend more than a short paragraph here—the examiner wants to reach your analysis quickly.
2. Diagram presentation and explanation
Insert your diagram and then explain it in the written text. Every element you draw must be referenced in your writing. If you draw a shift in supply, your text must explain what caused that shift and what it represents in the context of the article. A diagram that sits orphaned on the page, unexplained, contributes nothing to your mark.
- Label all axes, curves, and key points clearly (P, Q, equilibrium, welfare areas if relevant).
- Use standard IB conventions for whatever topic your commentary covers.
- Colour-code shifts if it aids clarity (e.g., original curve in one colour, new curve in another).
3. Analysis
This is where you apply theory. Explain the mechanism: how does the event described in the article cause the change you have illustrated? Walk the reader through the economic logic step by step—cause, mechanism, effect. This section should demonstrate that you understand why the market behaves as it does, not just that it does.
4. Evaluation
Evaluation is where most students lose marks. Listing pros and cons is not evaluation. True evaluation involves:
- Prioritising: explaining which effects are likely to matter most and why
- Conditioning: identifying circumstances under which the predicted outcome might not occur (e.g., price elasticity, time horizon, stakeholder behaviour)
- Questioning assumptions: the diagram assumes ceteris paribus; real markets rarely cooperate. What else might be happening?
- Reaching a judgment: a conclusion that follows logically from your evaluation, not just a restatement of the analysis
What Are the Most Common Mistakes That Lose Marks?
Understanding where marks are typically lost is as useful as knowing what earns them.
Diagrams that contradict the written analysis
This is surprisingly common. A student writes that price increases, but the diagram shows it falling. Or supply shifts when demand should shift. These contradictions signal to the examiner that the diagram was drawn separately from the analysis rather than as part of it. Always draw your diagram after you have planned your analysis, and then re-read both together before submitting.
Commentary that remains at the descriptive level
Describing what happened in the article—even accurately—is not analysis. "The government raised the minimum wage, which affected workers and firms" tells the examiner nothing about economic mechanisms. "The increase in the wage floor above the market equilibrium wage creates a situation where quantity of labour supplied exceeds quantity demanded, resulting in a surplus of labour in that market" begins to do the analytical work the criteria are looking for.
Evaluation that lists rather than argues
A bullet list of "advantages" and "disadvantages" is not evaluation in the IB sense. Evaluation requires you to weigh, prioritise, and ultimately reach a reasoned position. Think of it as structured argument rather than inventory.
Diagrams without proper labels or market specification
An unlabelled axis or a curve identified only as "S" without specifying supply of what loses you marks and makes the diagram harder for the examiner to follow.
Ignoring the assessment criteria
The IA assessment criteria are public and available in the Subject Guide. Read them carefully. Structure your commentary with the criteria in mind. If a criterion asks for evaluation, make sure evaluation is present and clearly identifiable.
How Do Diagrams and Written Analysis Work Together?
The relationship between your diagram and your written commentary is the technical core of a strong IA. They are not separate elements—they are two representations of the same economic argument.
Referencing your diagram in-text
Use explicit references: "As shown in Figure 1, the introduction of the per-unit tax shifts the supply curve upward from S₁ to S₂, raising the equilibrium price from P₁ to P₂ and reducing equilibrium quantity from Q₁ to Q₂." This makes the connection between the diagram and the analysis unmistakable.
Choosing the right diagram
| Economic event type | Likely diagram(s) |
|---|---|
| Government tax or subsidy | Supply-and-demand with tax/subsidy shift; welfare analysis |
| Price floor or ceiling | Supply-and-demand showing surplus or shortage |
| Monopoly or market power | Monopoly diagram with MR, MC, AC |
| Externality | Social cost/benefit diagram, welfare loss triangle |
| Macroeconomic policy | AD-AS diagram |
| Exchange rate change | Currency market supply-and-demand |
| Trade policy (tariff/quota) | Trade diagram with domestic and world price |
This table is a starting guide only. The appropriate diagram depends on the specific event and the syllabus section your commentary covers. When in doubt, ask your teacher.
Drawing tips for clarity
- Use a ruler for axes.
- Keep diagrams clean—do not add concepts that are not directly relevant to the argument you are making.
- If you are working digitally, use a tool that allows consistent labelling (many students use Google Drawings or dedicated diagram software).
How Should You Manage Your Time Across Three Commentaries?
The IA is not a one-sitting task. Three commentaries, each requiring article selection, planning, diagramming, drafting, and revision, represent a significant workload that benefits from early and consistent attention.
A suggested timeline (adjust to your school's deadlines)
| Phase | What to do |
|---|---|
| Early in the course | Begin reading economics news regularly (FT, BBC Business, The Economist, Reuters) so that article selection later feels natural rather than panicked |
| When each syllabus section is taught | Identify candidate articles while the theory is fresh in your mind |
| First draft | Write to get ideas down; do not self-edit too heavily at this stage |
| Revision | Check diagram–analysis consistency; apply the evaluation test above |
| Peer and teacher feedback | Use it specifically; address each comment before finalising |
| Final check | Word count, formatting, source citation, diagram labels |
For more on managing the competing demands of coursework, exams, and the Extended Essay across your Diploma years, the IB Diploma time management guide offers practical frameworks that apply directly to the IA process.
What Does Strong Evaluation Look Like in Practice?
Because evaluation is where many students plateau, it is worth looking at what distinguishes superficial evaluation from genuinely high-level critical thinking.
Weak evaluation
"This policy has advantages and disadvantages. On one hand, it may reduce unemployment. On the other hand, it could increase government spending."
This tells the examiner nothing they could not have inferred without reading your commentary.
Stronger evaluation
"The extent to which the subsidy reduces unemployment in the short run depends critically on the price elasticity of demand for labour in this sector. If demand is inelastic—as tends to be the case in industries with limited substitutability between labour and capital—the employment effect may be modest even if the subsidy is substantial. In the medium term, however, firms may adjust their capital-to-labour ratios in response to the changed relative price, potentially eroding the initial employment gains. The government's own projections, cited in the article, appear to assume elastic demand, which may overstate the expected benefit."
This evaluation is specific to the article, applies a named concept (price elasticity of demand for labour), considers a time dimension, and explicitly questions an assumption embedded in the source. That is the kind of critical engagement the IA criteria reward.
The skills involved in this kind of structured evaluation are also central to the longer-form responses in Economics exams. The IB Economics HL complete guide covers how these skills transfer across the IA and Paper 1 extended responses.
What Are the Practical Submission Requirements?
Word limits, submission formats, and the number of commentaries required are all specified in the current Subject Guide and may be updated between cohorts. Do not rely on information from students who completed their IA in previous years—requirements can and do change.
What remains constant is the expectation that:
- Each commentary covers a distinct section of the syllabus
- Diagrams are original work (not copied from the article or another source)
- Articles are properly cited with the publication name, date, and URL or print reference
- Word counts are accurately recorded and respected
Confirm every practical detail with your teacher and the current official documentation.
Final Thoughts
The IB Economics IA rewards the same skills that make Economics a genuinely useful subject: the ability to look at a real event, identify the mechanisms at work, represent them precisely, and then think critically about what might go wrong with a simple model. Students who approach the IA as a box-ticking exercise tend to produce commentaries that describe; students who approach it as an opportunity to think tend to produce commentaries that analyse and evaluate.
If you are working through your commentaries and finding that a particular concept or diagram type is giving you trouble, that is often a signal that the underlying theory needs more attention before the writing begins. For students who want to work through these gaps with an IB-experienced tutor, Quick IB's individual guidance is designed exactly for that kind of targeted support.