The best IB Economics IA topics involve a recent economic event, a clear policy or market change, an appropriate diagram, identifiable stakeholders, and enough evidence for balanced evaluation. Indirect taxes, subsidies, interest-rate decisions, tariffs, exchange-rate movements, and focused development policies often work because their economic mechanisms are visible and sourceable.
Your IA is not an extended research project. It is a portfolio of three concise commentaries applying economic theory to published news extracts. This guide explains which topics are feasible, how to select an article, and which ideas usually become unmanageable within the word limit.
What the IB Economics IA requires
The requirements are the same at SL and HL. According to the official IB Economics subject brief, students produce three commentaries based on different syllabus units, excluding Unit 1. Each commentary must analyse a different article through a different key concept.
The official requirements include:
- One commentary on Unit 2: Microeconomics
- One commentary on Unit 3: Macroeconomics
- One commentary on Unit 4: The global economy
- A maximum of 800 words per commentary
- One published news-media extract per commentary
- A different news source and key concept for each commentary
- An article published no earlier than one year before the commentary is written
The nine key concepts are scarcity, choice, efficiency, equity, economic well-being, sustainability, change, interdependence, and intervention. The portfolio contributes 30% at SL and 20% at HL.
These are requirements, unlike advice about using two diagrams or writing 750-790 words. The IB does not prescribe one universal structure or a mandatory number of diagrams.
What makes an IA topic workable?
A workable topic can usually be expressed as:
economic problem or change + policy or market response + measurable consequences
For example, “pollution” is too broad. “A new per-unit tax on petrol intended to reduce consumption and emissions” is workable because it supports analysis of market failure, taxation, equilibrium, tax incidence, government revenue, and welfare effects.
Before selecting an article, ask:
- Can I identify one central economic issue?
- Can I explain it with a syllabus model and relevant diagram?
- Does the article provide a policy, statistic, or clear market change?
- Can I identify winners, losers, limitations, and time-dependent effects?
- Does an unused key concept genuinely shape the analysis?
If several answers are unclear, find another article. The RevisionDojo Economics IA tips provide an additional selection and drafting checklist.
Microeconomics IA topic ideas
Microeconomics articles should focus on individual markets, consumers, producers, market power, government intervention, or market failure. Policy changes are useful because they create a clear before-and-after mechanism.
| Topic | Useful theory | Strong evaluation angles |
|---|---|---|
| Taxes on cigarettes, sugar, fuel, or plastic | Negative externalities, indirect tax, PED | Regressiveness, addiction, tax revenue, black markets |
| Subsidies for transport, vaccines, or renewable energy | Positive externalities, merit goods, subsidy | Fiscal cost, targeting, demand responsiveness |
| Rent or energy-price ceilings | Maximum price, shortages, welfare | Supply, quality, informal markets, non-price allocation |
| Agricultural price floors | Minimum price, surplus | Producer income, consumer costs, government purchases |
| Competition policy | Monopoly power, allocative efficiency | Innovation, economies of scale, regulatory delay |
An indirect tax on a demerit good is particularly manageable. The analysis can move from overconsumption and external costs to the tax-induced supply shift, higher price, lower quantity, and possible movement toward the socially efficient output.
Evaluation should consider price elasticity, tax size, enforcement, stakeholder effects, and unintended consequences. Do not automatically select intervention as the key concept. Efficiency, equity, or sustainability may provide a more meaningful lens.
Macroeconomics IA topic ideas
Macroeconomics commentaries work best when a government or central bank responds to inflation, unemployment, weak growth, or instability.
| Topic | Main model | Evaluation possibilities |
|---|---|---|
| Interest-rate increase | AD-AS and monetary transmission | Time lags, debt, exchange rates, cost-push inflation |
| Interest-rate cut | AD-AS and expansionary monetary policy | Confidence, liquidity constraints, inflation risk |
| Expansionary fiscal policy | AD-AS and multiplier | Deficit, crowding out, implementation lag |
| Contractionary fiscal policy | AD-AS | Distribution, recession risk, debt sustainability |
| Supply-side policy | LRAS and productive capacity | Fiscal cost, access, long implementation period |
An article announcing an interest-rate change is generally stronger than one merely reporting inflation. A rate increase provides a causal mechanism: borrowing becomes more expensive, consumption and investment may fall, aggregate demand contracts, and demand-pull inflation may ease.
Evaluation must use the article's context. If energy costs caused inflation, lower aggregate demand cannot remove the original supply shock. It may limit secondary pressure, but could weaken output and employment. Suitable concepts include change, economic well-being, intervention, and equity.
Global economy IA topic ideas
Unit 4 covers international trade, exchange rates, integration, development, inequality, and sustainability. Choose one manageable event rather than an entire country's development experience.
| Topic | Useful theory | Evaluation angles |
|---|---|---|
| Tariff on a named product | Tariff diagram, protectionism | Consumers, firms, revenue, retaliation, efficiency |
| Currency depreciation | Currency demand and supply | Competitiveness, imported inflation, PED, time lags |
| Trade agreement | Integration and interdependence | Sectoral gains, standards, adjustment costs |
| Development assistance | Development strategies and indicators | Governance, conditionality, sustainability |
| Cash transfers | Poverty, inequality, development | Targeting, incentives, fiscal sustainability |
| Climate investment | Sustainability and externalities | Debt, technology access, intergenerational equity |
A tariff on a named imported good is highly workable. You can show the rise from the world price to the tariff-inclusive price, increased domestic production, reduced consumption and imports, government revenue, and welfare losses.
Avoid a generic list of advantages and disadvantages. Evaluate the tariff's size, industry conditions, possible retaliation, supply responsiveness, and whether protected firms can become competitive. Interdependence is often effective because protection affects consumers, foreign producers, supply chains, and trading partners.
How to find a sourceable article
Search reputable news outlets and financial publications using policy verbs, such as “government introduces tax”, “central bank raises interest rate”, “country imposes tariff”, or “government expands cash transfers”. The strongest article normally includes a named policy, implementation date, numerical evidence, stated objective, and comments about likely effects.
A factual news report is usually safer than an editorial that has already completed much of the economic analysis. Save a stable PDF or screenshot showing the headline, source, author, and publication date. Review the RevisionDojo Economics IA checklist before committing to an article.
Common topic choices that fail
Avoid articles that are:
- Too broad, such as the global cost-of-living crisis
- Purely descriptive, with no causal mechanism
- Theory-heavy opinion pieces, leaving little original analysis
- Based on several unrelated policies
- Older than one year when the commentary is written
- Missing a clear publication date
- About Unit 1 alone
- Dependent on advanced theory outside the syllabus
A short local report about a transport subsidy may support stronger analysis than a complex international article covering several crises.
Turning an article into a focused commentary
Write a one-sentence plan before drafting:
This commentary will analyse how [policy or event] affects [market or objective] using [model], through the key concept of [concept].
Then map the causal chain. For a renewable-energy subsidy, lower production costs shift supply right, reducing price and increasing quantity. Greater consumption may move output toward the socially efficient level, although the outcome depends on subsidy size, demand, financing, and other external costs.
If you cannot create a precise chain, connect evidence to a diagram, and form a qualified judgement, continue searching. The RevisionDojo Economics IA guide and annotated Economics coursework examples can help you study diagram explanation and contextual evaluation without copying arguments.
Sources and referenced URLs
- International Baccalaureate Economics subject page
- Official IB Economics SL subject brief
- RevisionDojo IB Economics IA guide
- RevisionDojo Economics internal assessment tips
- RevisionDojo Economics IA writing tips
- RevisionDojo IB Economics coursework examples
- RevisionDojo Economics IA checklist
Conclusion
The most dependable IB Economics IA topics involve a recent, clearly reported policy or market change that can be explained through one main model. Check article age, unit coverage, source variety, and key-concept variety, then test the idea with a diagram and causal chain. RevisionDojo's Economics IA Guide, coursework examples, and Coursework Review tools can help you keep the final commentary focused and aligned with the assessment criteria.