IB Economics Paper 1 November 2024

IB Economics November 2024 Paper 1 Topic by Topic

This is my personal analysis of every topic area tested in the IB Economics May 2025 SL Paper 1 - what the examiner was in my opinion really looking for, the content you need to master, and step-by-step instructions on how to structure a high-scoring response.

Lawrence's note 1: I don't reproduce IB copyrighted exam papers or materials, as this would be unauthorised use, reproduction, distribution, or display of copyrighted material, and therefore, would violate the exclusive rights of the IB Institution. I just make a summary from a teacher's point of view, of everything you actually need to prepare in order to be successful at a paper 1 similar to this one.

1 hour 15 minutes - 25 marks total - Choose One question and answer - Three sets of questions available each containing 1 (10 marks) + 1 (15 marks) questions.

Lawrence's Note 2:

What follows is not a set of predicted questions or a likely topics list. This would not be realistic and be wary of websites and sources that sell "predicted questions" for IB Economics. This is a topic-by-topic breakdown of what the IB Economics Board actually tested in May 2025, written to help my students understand the depth of knowledge required in each area of the IB Economics paper, and teach them how to approach this particular paper and papers similar to this one.

Unlike other exam boards, the IB rarely / never rewards memory reproduction / memorising alone.

Every topic here was examined in a way that required genuine economic reasoning, and that is what this page prepares you for IB Economics Evaluation + reasoning + Critical thinking.

Question 1 - Microeconomics

The Price Mechanism & Public Goods

Core demand and supply theory followed by a major government intervention debate

1A- Explain [10 Marks] The price mechanism - demand shifts, price signals, and the law of demand

Topics Needed: Demand & Supply, Price Mechanism, Microeconomics

What the command term "Explain" Requires for 10 marks

An explain question at 10 marks needs more than a definition and a diagram. You need to show the chain of causation - step by step, one thing leading logically to the next. Two distinct mechanisms were being tested here:

1- what happens to price when demand increases, and separately

2- what happens to quantity demanded when price rises.

Both mechanisms needed equal treatment to score well.

Core Content You Need To Master

• The distinction between a shift in demand (caused by a non-price factor) and a movement along the demand curve (caused by a price change)

• What causes demand to increase - income, consumer preferences, prices of substitutes or complements, population, expectations

• How a rightward demand shift creates a shortage at the original price - this shortage is the trigger for price to rise

• How producers respond to excess demand by raising price until the market clears at a new, higher equilibrium

• The law of demand - the inverse relationship between price and quantity demanded - and why it holds: the income effect and the substitution effect

• That a price rise causes a movement along the existing demand curve - not a new shift of the curve

• Exceptions to the law of demand - Giffen goods and Veblen goods. The word "normally" in this type of question is the examiner's cue for you to acknowledge these exist

Diagrams You Must be Able to Draw

• A fully labelled demand and supply diagram showing D₁ shifting to D₂, price rising from P₁ to P₂, quantity rising from Q₁ to Q₂

• The shortage clearly marked at the original price P₁ - this is the mechanism that drives the price rise

• A clear indication that the second part of the answer shows movement along the demand curve, not a new shift

How to Structure Your Answer

1. Define demand and identify one non-price factor that could cause it to increase

2. Explain how the rightward shift creates excess demand - a shortage - at the original equilibrium price

3. Explain how producers respond to the shortage by raising price as buyers compete for limited supply

4. Show how rising price eliminates the shortage and restores equilibrium at P₂, Q₂ - draw the diagram here

5. Now address the second mechanism: define the law of demand and explain why quantity demanded falls as price rises

6. Clarify this is a movement along the existing demand curve, not a new shift - reinforce with diagram annotation

7. Brief acknowledgement of exceptions (Giffen, Veblen) to show the word "normally" has been noticed and understood

Where Did Most Of My students Lose Marks?

Maximum 6 marks if only one of the two mechanisms is addressed. The most common error was treating this as a single mechanism question rather than two. Students who explained the demand shift and price rise - and then stopped - answered only half of the question. The second mechanism needed its own explanation and similar elaboration. Students who drew one diagram and tried to show both mechanisms on it frequently confused the examiner in the process.

Master These topics at the IB Trainer:

IB Economics Demand

IB Economics Supply

IB Economics Market Equilibrium

1B- Evaluate - 15 [Marks] - Public goods and the case for government provision - testing the limits of "always"

Public Goods - Market Failure - Government Intervention - Microeconomics

What does Evaluate Require? - And Why "Always" is a vital word in this question

Evaluate means argue both sides and reach a justified conclusion. The real challenge here was the word "always." That single word transforms the question. Students who only argued for government provision answered a different - easier - question. To reach the top mark band you had to identify conditions under which government provision is not the right answer, or where the case for government provision breaks down.

Core Content You Need To Master

• The definition of a public good - non-excludable (impossible to prevent non-payers consuming) and non-rival (one person's consumption does not reduce availability for others)

• The free-rider problem - why rational individuals have no incentive to pay voluntarily, leading to market under-provision or complete market failure

• Classic examples of genuine public goods: national defence, street lighting, flood defences, public health surveillance

• The case for government provision: market failure means the good would not be produced at the socially optimal level without intervention; government funds provision through taxation and ensures universal access

• The case against "always" - government failure: provision can be inefficient, politically distorted, or poorly targeted to genuine public goods

• Historical private provision: Ronald Coase's lighthouse argument demonstrates that private provision is not categorically impossible even for non-excludable goods

• Private security services, commercial GPS, and private toll roads as real examples of goods with public-good characteristics that are partially or fully privately provided today

• The quasi-public goods classification problem - a congested road is no longer fully non-rival, which weakens the automatic case for government provision

Diagrams That Strengthen Your Answer

• Market failure diagram showing zero or below-optimal private provision due to the free-rider problem

• A diagram showing MSB > MPB for a public good, with government provision closing the gap to the socially optimal quantity

Having said that, a diagram is not expected for this question. Strong responses earn full marks through well-developed written explanation, synthesis, and real-world examples alone. Spending time drawing diagrams here takes time away from the evaluation part that actually earns marks. If you want to take the diagram approach do so, students may take a different approach which, if appropriate, should be rewarded.

How to Structure Your 15 Mark Answer

1. Define public good clearly - non-excludable and non-rival - and give one strong real-world example

2. Explain the free-rider problem and why it causes market failure - the market produces zero or below the socially optimal level

3. For government provision: only government can guarantee provision through compulsory taxation - national defence, flood barriers (Netherlands Delta Works) as evidence

4. Against "always" - government failure: provision is not always efficient; political priorities may distort resource allocation; bureaucratic costs can be significant

5. Against "always" - opportunity cost of government spending: funding public goods through taxation means resources diverted from other uses - healthcare, education, infrastructure. The decision of which public goods to provide and in what quantities is a genuine resource allocation problem with no market signal to guide it

6. Against "always" - difficulty estimating future benefits: government must estimate the long-run social benefits of a public good before committing expenditure - these estimates are uncertain and subject to political pressure. Misjudgement leads to over- or under-provision

7. Against "always" - contracting out to the private sector: even where a public good must be funded by government, provision can be contracted to private firms - separating public funding from public production. Private contractors may deliver more efficiently than direct government provision

8. Against "always" - private provision exists: Coase's lighthouse argument; private security and commercial GPS show non-excludability is not an absolute barrier to markets

9. Against "always" - classification matters: congested roads lose their non-rival characteristic; the case for compulsory government provision weakens for quasi-public goods

10. Justified conclusion: government provision is generally the most appropriate response to genuine public goods - but "always" overstates the case; government failure, technological change in excludability, and mixed-characteristic goods all create legitimate exceptions

Where Did Some Of My students Lose Marks?

High scorers engaged directly with "always" in their conclusion and throughout the text - not just in a separate paragraph. A conclusion that says "government provision is usually justified, but the term always is too strong because X" earns those marks that a vague "it depends on the situation" never will. Students who wrote everything they knew about public goods without challenging the absolute claim did not reach Level 4.

Master These topics at the IB Trainer:

IB Economics Public Goods

IB Economics Market Failure

IB Economics Government Intervention

Question 2 - Macroeconomics

Economic Growth - Causes and Conflicts

Distinguishing short-run from long-run growth, then evaluating growth trade-offs

2A- Explain [10 Marks] Short-term vs long-term economic growth - causes, mechanisms, and the fundamental distinction

Economic Growth - AD/AS - LRAS - Module 2 - Macroeconomics

Why This was a Comparative Question All the Way

The word "difference" meant there were not two separate descriptions stapled together. The examiner wanted to see explicit contrast throughout: one type of growth is demand-driven and moves the economy toward its existing potential output; the other is supply-driven and expands that potential itself. The distinction between actual and potential output was the central concept.

Core Content You Need To Master

• Definition of economic growth - an increase in real GDP over time

• Short-term growth is caused by increases in aggregate demand - consumer spending, investment, government expenditure, net exports. AD shifts rightward

• Short-term growth closes an existing negative output gap - it moves the economy toward its productive capacity, not beyond it

• Short-term growth is cyclical - it can be reversed; it does not change what the economy is fundamentally capable of producing

• Long-term growth is caused by increases in productive capacity - the LRAS curve shifts rightward

• Causes of long-term growth (LRAS shifts): improvements in technology, investment in physical capital, education and training, better resource allocation, institutional improvements

• Long-term growth raises potential output - it expands what the economy can produce, not just how close to that frontier it is operating

• The PPC model reinforces the distinction: moving toward the frontier (short-run) vs. an outward shift of the frontier (long-run)

Diagrams You Must Be Able To Draw

• Diagram 1: AD/AS showing a rightward AD shift closing an output gap - real GDP rises from Y₁ toward potential Y*. Price level rises slightly

• Diagram 2: AD/AS showing a rightward LRAS shift - potential output expands from Y* to Y₂. This is sustainable, non-inflationary long-term growth

• A PPC diagram complements AD/AS: movement toward the frontier (short-run) vs. outward shift of the frontier (long-run)

How to Structure Your Answer

1. Define economic growth and introduce the distinction between actual and potential output

2. Explain short-term growth - name two or three AD components; explain how an increase shifts AD rightward (e.g. post-pandemic consumer spending recovery 2021–22)

3. Draw Diagram 1 - AD shift closing an output gap; explain how actual output rises without changing potential

4. Explain long-term growth - name two or three supply-side causes with a real-world example (South Korea's education-driven growth; Germany's productivity investment)

5. Draw Diagram 2 - LRAS shifts rightward; explain how productive capacity itself expands

6. Explicitly contrast the two throughout: one is cyclical and demand-driven; the other is structural and supply-driven. One uses existing capacity; the other creates new capacity

Where Did Some Of My students Lose Marks?

Maximum 6 marks if only one type of growth is addressed. Both short-term and long-term growth needed to be explained and contrasted - covering only one type, it doesn't matter how well, cannot exceed 6 marks. Drawing a single AD/AS diagram and trying to illustrate both growth types does not work well and confuses the examiner. Two clearly labelled, separate diagrams scored significantly better. Students who described each type correctly but never explicitly compared them also dropped marks: the word "difference" required contrast work throughout the response, not just a brief concluding sentence.

Master These topics at the IB Trainer:

IB Economics Economic Growth

IB Economics Aggregate Demand

IB Economics Aggregate Supply

IB Economics Macroeconomic Equilibrium

2B- Discuss [15 marks] High Economic Growth and Macroeconomic Objectives - Does conflict always occur?

Macroeconomic Objectives - Inflation Trade-Offs - Module 3 Macroeconomics

What does Discuss Require? - And Why "Always" is again a vital word

Discuss requires a two-sided argument and a conclusion. The word "always" signals that unconditional agreement earns low marks. The strongest responses made a credible case that growth often creates trade-offs - then showed with real evidence that this is not inevitable. The type of growth, the pace of expansion, and the policy environment all determine whether conflicts actually take place.

Core Content You Need To Master

• The four main macroeconomic objectives: low and stable inflation, low unemployment, sustainable growth, environmental sustainability and here we can also include balance of payments equilibrium

• Growth and inflation: when AD-driven growth pushes output beyond potential, demand-pull inflation results - the US post-pandemic boom (2021–22) drove CPI above 8%

• Growth and the environment: rapid growth historically involves fossil fuel use and rising carbon emissions - India and China's growth trajectories illustrate the tension with climate commitments

• Growth and income distribution: growth does not automatically reduce inequality - in many cases rapid growth increases inequality as capital owners gain disproportionately relative to wage earners. A Lorenz curve shifting outward alongside GDP growth illustrates this distributional conflict

• Growth and the current account: fast-growing economies typically suck in more imports, widening the current account deficit

• Growth and unemployment (complementary): expanding output creates labour demand - the UK's sustained growth 2013–2019 drove unemployment from above 8% to below 4%

• Supply-side growth is non-inflationary: when LRAS shifts rightward, growth occurs without price pressure because productive capacity expands alongside output - Germany's productivity-led to significant growth in the 2000s

• The short-run Phillips Curve - useful for illustrating the growth-inflation-unemployment relationship visually

Diagrams That Strengthen Your Answer

• AD/AS showing AD-driven growth beyond potential output - AD shifts past Y*, price level rises significantly

• Phillips Curve - the short-run trade-off between unemployment and inflation as the economy overheats

• AD/AS showing LRAS-driven growth - output rises without inflationary pressure because potential output expands simultaneously

How to Structure Your 15 Mark Answer

1. Identify the macroeconomic objectives and frame the main issue - rapid growth may trigger trade-offs with other goals

2. Conflict 1 - Growth and inflation: AD growth beyond potential growth creates demand-pull inflation. Use specific data (US 2021–22; China's 2000s growth and subsequent price pressures)

3. Conflict 2 - Growth and environment: fossil-fuel-dependent growth increases emissions - India's rapid industrialisation vs. climate commitments

4. Conflict 3 - Growth and current account: import-intensive growth widens trade deficits in many fast-growing emerging economies

5. Counter - Growth supports low unemployment: the UK's 2013–2019 expansion shows these objectives can align, not conflict

6. Counter - Supply-side growth avoids inflation: LRAS-driven growth raises potential output without price pressure - draw and explain the non-inflationary growth diagram

7. Conclusion: conflict is real and common, particularly with demand-driven growth - but "always" overstates the case; the type, pace, and policy management of growth determine whether trade-offs emerge or not.

Where Did Some Of My students Lose Marks?

Generic country references without economic context scored poorly. "China grew fast" is not evidence. "China's GDP growth above 10% annually during 2003–2007 was accompanied by CPI rising to 8% in 2008" is evidence. The instruction to use real-world examples is not accidental - it carries real marks. Two well-developed examples consistently outperform six surface-level name-drops.

Master These topics at the IB Trainer:

IB Economics Inflation

IB Economics Low Unemployment

IB Economics Phillips Curve

IB Economics Economic Growth

Question 3 - Development Economics

Foreign Aid, Inequality as a Development Barrier

How aid promotes development in ELDCs, then inequality weighed against competing barriers

3A-

Explain [10 marks] Foreign Aid and economic development in ELDCs - Channels, Mechanisms, and Outcomes

Critical Approach: Don't list benefits, focus your answer on explaining the mechanism

The phrasing "can help to promote" asks you to explain the mechanisms through which aid generates development outcomes - not to list reasons why aid is beneficial. This means tracing the causal chain at each step: aid type → specific use → development indicator improved. Students who wrote lists of aid advantages without following this chain of reasoning, were assessed as "descriptive" and scored in the middle bands, not the top.

Core Content You Need To Master

• Types of foreign aid: bilateral (government-to-government), multilateral (via IMF, World Bank, UN agencies), NGO-delivered humanitarian and development aid

• Infrastructure channel: aid-funded roads, ports, energy grids, and water systems reduce production costs, connect remote communities to markets, and attract private investment. World Bank infrastructure investment in Ethiopia is a concrete example

• Human capital channel: education and healthcare aid raises labour productivity and workforce participation over the long run. The PEPFAR HIV/AIDS programme in Uganda reduced adult mortality with significant knock-on effects for the labour market

• Institutional capacity channel: aid directed at governance, rule of law, financial systems, and public administration creates the conditions for sustainable private investment and effective policy

• Emergency and humanitarian channel: disaster relief and food aid prevents development backsliding - without it, health and education indicators can collapse rapidly following conflict or natural disaster

• Link outcomes to development indicators beyond GDP: HDI, life expectancy, literacy rates, infant mortality, poverty headcount ratio

• The specific characteristics of ELDCs that make aid particularly relevant: extreme poverty traps, weak domestic tax bases, commodity export dependence, limited access to international capital markets

Diagrams / Graphs That Strengthen Your Answer

• AD/AS - aid-funded infrastructure investment shifts LRAS rightward, raising potential output sustainably

• The poverty cycle - showing how aid can break specific constraints (lack of capital → low investment → low productivity → low income → low savings → lack of capital)

How to Structure Your Response

1. Briefly define economic development (broader than GDP growth - improvements in human welfare measured by HDI, literacy, life expectancy) and note what makes ELDCs distinct from developing countries generally

2. Channel 1 - Infrastructure: trace the mechanism from aid to reduced transport costs to market integration to income growth; name a specific programme or country

3. Channel 2 - Human capital: explain how health and education aid raises productivity over time; reference a specific ELDC-focused programme

4. Channel 3 - Institutional capacity: explain how aid for governance and financial systems creates conditions for private investment and effective public spending

5. Channel 4 - Emergency aid: note how humanitarian aid prevents development regression during crises - development is not just about advancing, but about not sliding back

6. For each channel, link explicitly to a development indicator - not just "growth improves" but "life expectancy rises," "literacy increases," "poverty headcount falls"

Where Did Some Of My students Lose Marks?

This question specified ELDCs - not developing countries generally. Examples from middle-income economies like Brazil, Mexico, or Thailand were only marginally relevant. ELDCs face specific constraints - extreme poverty, absent institutions, commodity dependence - and your examples should reflect this. Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Pacific Island nations are the appropriate contexts here.

Master These topics at the IB Trainer:

IB Economics Economic Development

IB Economics Sustainable Development

IB Economics Poverty

IB Economics 10 Roadblocks to Prosperity

IB Economics 10 Epic Strategies for Economic Growth

3B- Discuss [15 Marks] Income Inequality as a barrier to growth and development - Is it the most important one?

Income Inequality - Barriers to Development - Economic Growth - Development Economics

Why "most important" is the real challenge in this question

Maximum 9 marks if only growth OR only development is discussed - both must be addressed. Maximum 12 marks if no other barriers are considered. To reach 13 marks or above, at least some mention of alternative barriers was required. Simply explaining how inequality harms growth addressed only half of what was being asked. The stronger answer engaged with the competition: why might weak institutions, debt, or commodity dependence be a more fundamental barrier? The best conclusions made a clear concrete judgement - inequality matters significantly, but here is why it may not be the primary constraint in the most extreme cases.

Core Content You Need To Master

• How to measure income inequality: the Gini coefficient (0 = perfect equality, 1 = perfect inequality) and income share ratios (e.g. share of top 10% vs bottom 40%)

• Barrier 1 - Demand constraint: extreme inequality concentrates income among high-saving wealthy households; lower MPC overall depresses aggregate demand and slows growth - relevant to high-Gini Latin American economies such as Brazil and Colombia

• Barrier 2 - Human capital underinvestment: inequality limits access to education and healthcare for lower-income groups, reducing long-run productive capacity and perpetuating the poverty cycle

• Barrier 3 - Political instability: high inequality increases social unrest and policy uncertainty, deterring private investment - Venezuela and Zimbabwe as extreme examples

• Competing barrier - Weak institutions: corruption, absence of rule of law, and poor property rights may be a more fundamental constraint - a more equal society with dysfunctional governance still cannot develop sustainably

• Competing barrier - Debt and commodity dependence: many ELDCs face debt traps and commodity price volatility that constrain policy space regardless of domestic inequality

• Competing barrier - Infrastructure deficit: lack of transport, energy, and communications infrastructure may be the most immediate constraint in some ELDCs, preceding any inequality consideration

• Competing barrier - Geography, climate, and disease: landlocked countries, tropical disease burdens, and climate vulnerability impose structural constraints on growth and development that inequality reduction alone cannot address

• Counter-argument - inequality may sometimes promote growth: the trickle-down argument suggests that higher saving rates among wealthy households can fund investment; the Kuznets curve predicts inequality rises initially with development before eventually falling. This must be acknowledged and weighed, not ignored

• South Africa as a case study: Gini coefficient of approximately 0.63, one of the world's highest - demonstrably linked to a 32% unemployment rate and persistent educational underinvestment

How to Structure Your 15 Mark Answer

1. Define income inequality using the Gini coefficient and note the trend - inequality has risen in many developing economies over recent decades

2. Inequality as barrier 1: demand-side constraint; MPC differences reduce aggregate demand; South Africa or Latin America as evidence

3. Inequality as barrier 2: unequal access to education and health reduces long-run productivity - the human capital channel

4. Inequality as barrier 3: political instability and investment deterrence; high inequality increases social conflict and policy unpredictability

5. Competing barrier - weak institutions: argue that without rule of law and functional governance, even a more equal economy cannot develop sustainably; institutional quality may be the deeper root cause

6. Competing barrier - debt and commodity dependence: external constraints may bind more tightly than internal distribution patterns in the most extreme ELDCs

7. Justified conclusion: inequality is a serious and self-reinforcing barrier - but in the most extreme ELDCs it is often a symptom of deeper institutional failures rather than the primary cause; the relative weight of each barrier depends heavily on country context

Where Did Some Of My students Lose Marks?

Referencing the Gini coefficient without explaining it earned no extra marks. Referencing South Africa's Gini of approximately 0.63 and linking it to a specific, observable outcome - high youth unemployment, poor educational attainment, persistent social instability - is the level of precision that earns top-band marks. A conclusion that said "inequality is important but so are other things" without a comparative judgement also missed the mark: the question asked which barrier is most important, and your answer needs a view on that.

Master These topics at the IB Trainer:

IB Economics Inequality

IB Economics Economic Growth

IB Economics Poverty

IB Economics 10 Roadblocks to Prosperity

IB Economics 10 Epic Strategies for Economic Growth

Exam at First Glance

• Paper: Paper 1 SL

• Date: 11 Nov 2024

• Duration: 1h 15m

• Total marks: 25

• Structure: Choose 1 question out of 3

• Part (a) 10 marks - Explain

• Part (b) 15 marks - Evaluate/Discuss

Topics Tested

• Q1a Price mechanism & demand - 10marks

• Q1b Public goods & govt provision - 15marks

• Q2a Short vs long-run growth - 10marks

• Q2b Growth & macro objectives - 15marks

• Q3a Foreign aid in ELDCs - 10marks

• Q3b Inequality as growth barrier - 15marks

Key Command Words

• Explain - the links that bind cause and effect together; diagrams essential; two mechanisms need separate explanation and evaluation

• Evaluate - both sides; challenge absolute claims; reach a clear verdict

• Discuss - two-sided; real-world examples required; justified conclusion

Frequently Asked Questions About this Paper

Honest, direct answers to the questions my students asked me about the November 2024 SL Paper 1 session.

Which of the three questions was most approachable for a well-prepared SL student?

Question 2 covering economic growth tends to suit students who have spent time on macroeconomics, because AD/AS is a framework they use repeatedly across the course. Question 1 Part (a) was technically core Year 1 content, but Part (b) required genuine evaluation of the word "always," which many students underestimated. Question 3 was the most specialised, requiring strong development economics knowledge and ELDC-specific examples rather than general developing country knowledge.

How many diagrams should I draw in a 10-mark explain question?

As many as the question genuinely needs - no more, no less. For the price mechanism question, two diagrams were appropriate: one showing the demand shift and new equilibrium, one reinforcing the movement along the curve. For the economic growth question, two AD/AS diagrams plus an optional PPC diagram all added value. A diagram only earns marks if it is fully labelled and directly integrated into your written explanation. A diagram that sits alongside your text without being referred to earns nothing.

Do qualifier words like "always," "most important," and "can help" actually affect marking?

Significantly. These words define the evaluation task. "Always" requires you to find conditions under which the claim fails. "Most important" requires comparative ranking, not just a list of factors. "Can help" requires you to trace a causal mechanism, not simply assert a positive outcome. The examiner reads the question with these words foregrounded. Your response - especially your conclusion - should engage directly with them.

For development economics questions, how specific do real-world examples need to be?

Specific enough to demonstrate genuine knowledge rather than obvious surface knowledge. A country name alone is not an example. "South Africa has high inequality" is a label. "South Africa's Gini coefficient of approximately 0.63 is one of the world's highest, linked to a 32% unemployment rate and persistent under-investment in schools serving lower-income communities" is an example. The difference in marks between these two is substantial.

Is it better to choose the topic I know well, or the topic I think the examiner wants?

Always choose the question where you can produce the strongest answer - the topic you understand most deeply, can draw accurate diagrams for, and have genuine real-world examples ready for both Part (a) and Part (b). There is no inherently easier question on a well-constructed IB Economics paper. The mark scheme rewards quality of economic reasoning, not topic selection.

Stay well,

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