How many diagrams should I include in an Economics commentary?

The IB does not prescribe a fixed number of diagrams for each commentary. One fully relevant and thoroughly explained diagram is better than several repetitive or inaccurate diagrams. A second diagram is useful when it adds a distinct stage of analysis, such as showing both the original market failure and the effects of a corrective tax. Every diagram should be contextualised, accurately labelled, and explicitly explained in the written commentary. Do not include a diagram unless you can show how it advances the economic argument.

What is the best key concept for an IB Economics IA?

There is no universally best key concept because the choice must fit the article and your argument. Intervention often works for taxes, subsidies, regulation, and monetary or fiscal policy, while equity suits questions about the distribution of income or policy burdens. Interdependence is especially useful for trade, exchange rates, and international policy transmission. Choose the concept that creates opportunities for analysis and evaluation rather than the concept that is easiest to mention. Remember that each of the three commentaries must use a different key concept.

Can I use the same news website for two Economics IA commentaries?

No, the three articles must come from different appropriate sources if you want to satisfy the source requirement under Criterion F. Different articles published by the same newspaper or website still count as the same source. Record each article's publication, publication date, access details where required, and the date on which you wrote the commentary. Check the sources across the complete portfolio before beginning your second and third commentaries. This simple administrative check protects a mark that economic analysis cannot recover.

What is the difference between analysis and evaluation in the Economics IA?

Analysis explains how and why an economic change produces particular consequences. It usually develops a causal chain using theory, a diagram, and details from the article. Evaluation tests that chain by considering assumptions, elasticities, stakeholder differences, time periods, unintended effects, and alternative policies. Strong evaluation then weighs these considerations instead of listing them independently. The final judgement should state the conditions under which the policy or outcome is likely to be effective.

Can I use AI to help write my IB Economics IA?

Any submitted commentary must represent your own understanding and authentic work. AI may be useful for practising concepts, identifying questions to investigate, or checking whether you understand a diagram, subject to your school's rules. You should not submit AI-generated analysis as though you wrote it yourself. The IB requires transparent acknowledgement when AI-generated text, images, or graphs are included in assessed work. Ask your teacher how the IB's academic-integrity guidance and your school's policy apply before using an AI tool during the IA process.

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How to Write an IB Economics IA for Full Marks

Q: How many words should an IB Economics IA commentary contain?

Each IB Economics IA commentary has an official maximum of 800 words. There is no advantage in reaching exactly 800 words, but most strong commentaries need enough space for analysis and evaluation. Diagrams, qualifying diagram labels and headings, statistical tables, equations, calculations, citations, and references are excluded from the count. Definitions and quotations are included, so use them selectively. Moderators do not read beyond the limit, which means an overlong conclusion or evaluation may effectively disappear from the assessed work.

IB Economics Internal Assessment IB IA

• 30 Sept 2026•10

How to Write an IB Economics IA for Full Marks

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How to Write an IB Economics IA for Full Marks | RevisionDojo

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How to Write an IB Economics IA for Full Marks

IB Economics Internal Assessment IB IA

• 30 Sept 2026•10

The IB Economics IA is a portfolio of three commentaries that apply economic theory to published news articles. To approach full marks, each commentary needs accurate diagrams, precise terminology, sustained application, meaningful use of a key concept, and balanced evaluation leading to a supported judgement.

This guide explains the official requirements, an effective structure, and the mistakes that commonly limit marks. The overall assessment model is outlined on the official IB Economics course page and in the IB Economics SL subject brief.

What the IB Economics IA requires

Both SL and HL students submit three commentaries, each with a maximum of 800 words. The portfolio contributes 30% of the final grade at SL and 20% at HL.

The commentaries must cover:

Unit 2: Microeconomics
Unit 3: Macroeconomics
Unit 4: The global economy

Each commentary uses a published news-media extract, and all three articles must come from different appropriate sources. An article must have been published no earlier than one year before the commentary was written. This is measured from the writing date, not the final portfolio submission date.

Each commentary must also use a different prescribed key concept: scarcity, choice, efficiency, equity, economic well-being, sustainability, change, interdependence, or intervention. The concept should shape the analysis rather than appear only in the introduction.

How the IB Economics IA is marked

Criteria A-E apply separately to each commentary, giving 14 marks per commentary. Criterion F applies once to the complete portfolio, producing 45 marks overall.

Criterion	Marks	What strong work demonstrates
A: Diagrams	3	Relevant, accurate, labelled diagrams that are fully explained
B: Terminology	2	Economic terminology used accurately throughout
C: Application and analysis	3	Theory applied effectively to the article's circumstances
D: Key concept	3	A fully explained relationship between the concept and article
E: Evaluation	3	Balanced reasoning supporting clear judgements
F: Rubric requirements	3	Different units, sources, and appropriately dated articles

Criterion F specifically concerns units, sources, and article dates. Different concepts and the 800-word maximum remain official requirements, but they are not its three descriptors. See the RevisionDojo Economics IA essentials guide and Hachette Learning internal assessment guidance for further criteria explanations.

Choose an article with analytical potential

Select a focused article about a specific economic event, problem, or policy. A useful article provides:

A suitable model, such as taxation, externalities, AD-AS, exchange rates, or protectionism
A change that can be represented diagrammatically
Identifiable stakeholders who gain or lose
Numerical evidence or precise contextual details
A policy whose effectiveness can be evaluated

For example, an article announcing a sugary-drink tax supports analysis of market failure, indirect taxation, elasticity, government revenue, health outcomes, and equity. A general article explaining inflation provides fewer opportunities for original analysis.

Avoid articles that already contain extensive economic analysis because your task is to construct the reasoning. The RevisionDojo Economics IA tips include a practical article-selection checklist.

A practical IB Economics commentary structure

The IB does not prescribe headings or word allocations. This recommended structure protects enough space for analysis and evaluation.

Section	Suggested words	Main purpose
Context and concept	60-80	Identify the issue, policy, evidence, and conceptual lens
Theory and diagrams	180-220	Establish and explain the relevant model
Applied analysis	200-230	Develop case-specific economic consequences
Evaluation	220-260	Assess limitations, stakeholders, and alternatives
Judgement	40-60	Reach a qualified conclusion

Context and key concept

Briefly identify the issue and relevant policy. Introduce the concept by explaining its relationship to the case. For example, an indirect tax represents intervention because the government changes market incentives to reduce overconsumption associated with external costs.

Do not spend a long paragraph summarising the article. Select only the evidence needed to establish the economic problem and support later analysis.

Diagrams and applied analysis

Every diagram should advance the argument. Give it a contextual title, label both axes, identify curves and equilibria, and show relevant shifts, tax wedges, welfare areas, or trade quantities accurately.

Explain the mechanism in prose. For a sugar tax, the tax raises firms' costs, shifts supply left, raises the consumer price, lowers the producer price, and reduces equilibrium quantity. The scale of these changes depends on the price elasticities of demand and supply.

A useful analytical chain is:

policy change → incentive or cost change → curve shift → new equilibrium → stakeholder effect → economic objective

Application requires article-specific evidence throughout. Countries, industries, tax rates, inflation figures, dates, and affected groups should appear in the reasoning rather than only in the opening paragraph.

Evaluation and judgement

Evaluation tests the strength of your analysis. It should consider:

Stakeholders: Who gains, who loses, and how significantly?
Time: Will short-run and long-run outcomes differ?
Elasticity: How strongly will consumers and firms respond?
Assumptions: Does the model rely on effective enforcement or good information?
Unintended effects: Could avoidance, unemployment, retaliation, or informal markets develop?
Alternatives: Would education, regulation, subsidies, or cooperation work better?
Trade-offs: Does the policy improve efficiency but weaken equity?

End with a conditional judgement. A sugar tax, for example, may reduce consumption substantially only if demand becomes more elastic over time and affordable substitutes exist. This is stronger than declaring that the policy is simply effective.

How to improve each criterion

Use the key concept repeatedly as an analytical lens. With equity, examine how costs and benefits are distributed between income groups. With interdependence, trace effects on foreign producers, consumers, currencies, or trading partners.

Use terminology accurately rather than defining every term. Expressions such as allocative efficiency, tax incidence, and inflationary pressure demonstrate understanding when integrated into analysis. Remember that movement along a demand curve is not a shift in demand.

Control the word count carefully. Moderators do not read beyond 800 words. Diagrams, qualifying diagram labels and headings, statistical tables, equations, calculations, citations, and references are excluded, while definitions and quotations count. Cut summary, repetition, and long quotations before removing applied analysis or evaluation.

Common scoring pitfalls

Frequent weaknesses include:

Summarising the article instead of applying theory
Including correct but unexplained diagrams
Making generic claims without evidence or causal reasoning
Naming a key concept without using it to interpret the case
Listing evaluation points without weighing their significance
Reaching a conclusion unsupported by earlier analysis
Drawing inaccurate shifts, welfare areas, or tax wedges
Reusing a source or selecting an article outside the permitted period

The RevisionDojo Economics IA examples library shows how commentaries at different levels connect diagrams, evidence, and judgements. Use examples to understand quality, not to copy wording or arguments.

Final submission checklist

Before submission, confirm that:

The portfolio covers all three required units.
Every source is different and every article satisfies the one-year rule.
Each commentary uses a different key concept meaningfully.
Diagrams are accurate, contextualised, labelled, and explained.
Article evidence appears throughout the analysis.
Evaluation supports a balanced, qualified judgement.
No commentary exceeds 800 words.
The attached extracts and identifying details are complete.
The work follows your school's academic-integrity procedures.

Use the RevisionDojo Economics IA checklist for a final audit. If AI supports planning or feedback, submitted work must remain authentic, with AI-generated material acknowledged according to the IB's guidance on AI in assessment.

Conclusion

A full-mark IB Economics IA requires accurate economics applied closely to a suitable article. Build diagrams that advance the argument, use a key concept as a genuine lens, and evaluate until you can reach a qualified judgement.

Plan from the criteria and review all three commentaries as one portfolio. RevisionDojo's IA guides, examples, checklist, and Coursework Review can help identify weaknesses while keeping the final reasoning and writing your own.

Sources and referenced URLs

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