IB DP ECONOMICS (HL/SL)

Course Description

• Economics is a two year IB course designed to give students an understanding of economic concepts, theories, principles, practices and skills. A fundamental feature of the course is based on integrating and linking the material in order to give students a holistic overview. In addition, the economics course encourages students to develop international perspectives, fosters a concern for global issues, and raises students’ awareness of their own responsibilities at a local, national and international level. The course also seeks to develop values and attitudes that will enable students to achieve a degree of personal commitment in trying to resolve these issues, appreciating our shared responsibility as citizens of an increasingly interdependent world.
• The course will be taught through 9 key concepts: scarcity, choice, efficiency, equity, economic well-being, sustainability, change, interdependence and intervention.

Objectives:

• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of current economic issues and data.
• Apply economic concepts and theories to real-world situation, identify and interpret economic data, demonstrate the extent to which economic information is used effectively in particular contexts.
• Demonstrate synthesis and evaluation by examining economic concepts, theories and examples to construct and present and arguments.
• Discuss and evaluate economic information and theories by selecting, interpreting and analysing appropriate extracts from the news media.
• Develop an understanding of microeconomic and macroeconomic theories and concepts and their real-world application.
• Develop an appreciation of the impact on individuals and societies of economic interactions between nations.
• Develop an awareness of development issues facing nations as they undergo the process of change.

Topics to be Covered:

Unit 1: Introduction to Economics

• What is economics?
• How do economists approach the world?

Unit 2: Microeconomics

• Competitive markets: demand and supply
• Elasticity
• Government intervention Market failure
• Economics of the Environment (HL only)
• Theory of the firm and market structures (HL only)

Unit 2: Macroeconomics

• The level of overall economic activity
• Aggregate demand and aggregate supply
• Macroeconomic objectives Fiscal policy
• Monetary policy
• Supply-side policies
• Economics of inequality and poverty

Unit 3: The Global Economy

• International trade
• Exchange rates
• The balance of payments
• Economic integration Terms of trade (HL only)
• Development and Sustainability

ATL Skills:

Thinking: Developing critical thought, posing problems, asking questions, implementing strategies, evaluating, analysing, integrating material.

Communication: The ability to evaluate, analyse and discuss in written form, to interpret economic issues clearly, and use technical and analytical tools to present a problem.

Social: Collaborative work through teams and class discussions.

Self-management: Setting goals, keeping up, managing time and tasks effectively

Research: Through the Internal Assessment, media articles, are analyzed and evaluated; recommendations are made and limitations of the research considered.

Assessment Objectives:

1. Knowledge and understanding (AO1)

• Command terms: Define, Describe, List, Outline, State
• These terms require students to learn and comprehend the meaning of information.

• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of specified content

• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the common SL/HL syllabus

• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of current economic issues and data

• At HL only: demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the extension topics

2. Application and analysis (AO2)

• Command terms: Apply, Comment, Distinguish, Explain, Suggest

• These terms require students to use their knowledge and skills to break down ideas into simpler parts and to see how the parts relate.
• Apply economic concepts and theories to real-world situations

• Identify and interpret economic data

• Analyse how economic information is used effectively in particular contexts

• In the internal assessment task: explain the link between key economic concepts and economic commentaries

• At HL only: demonstrate application and analysis of the extension topics

3. Synthesis and evaluation (AO3)

• Command terms: Compare and Contrast, Discuss, Evaluate, Examine, Justify, Recommend, To what extend

• These terms require students to rearrange component ideas into a new whole and make judgments based on evidence or a set of criteria.

• Use economic concepts and examples to construct and present an argument

• Discuss and evaluate economic information and theories

• At HL only:

▪ demonstrate economic synthesis and evaluation of the extension topics

▪ select and use economic data using economic theory to make policy recommendations.

4. Use and application of appropriate skills (AO4)

• • Command terms: Calculate, Construct, Derive, Determine, Draw, Identify, Label, Measure,Plot, Show, Show that, Sketch, Solve
• These terms require students to demonstrate the selection and use of subject-specific skills and techniques.
• Produce well-structured written material, using appropriate economic theory, concepts and terminology

• Produce and use diagrams to help explain economic theory, concepts and real-world issues

• Select, interpret and analyse appropriate extracts from the news media

• Interpret appropriate data sets

• Use quantitative techniques to identify, explain and analyse economic relationships

Assessment

IB Assessment (Exams are externally assessed, research project/commentary are internally assessed)