First Step: Choose your article
- The article can’t be written by an economist.
It relates to course concepts, but doesn’t explain or understand the economic reasons behind what’s going on. It might say something like, “apples are more expensive than they were before the drought, but no one can figure out why.” So you get to come in and be a hero.
- The articlerelates to theories that you have covered in class.
If it’s about development, but you haven’t covered development yet, save that article for a later IA and find something you’re sure you can nail.
- The articlecan be sufficiently explained using two related theories.
For example it might be explainable using (1) supply and demand, and (2) elasticity. It isn’t always necessary that two concepts be involved in your analysis to achieve full marks, but it allows you to show how theories interrelate (and that you know more than one concept).
- Make sure the article isnot from a source or a country that you have covered in a previous IA.
Using several different online sources are fine. But several articles from the same news organisation (i.e. all from the BBC, or all from the New York Times) is not okay.
- The article must be published within the last 12 months.
This isn’t 12 months from the start (or the end) of the course, but from the time you write that specific commentary.
- Finally,the article will be a slam-dunk, perfect example of the concept you want to discuss.
You don’t want to have to waste words trying to justify why you think a certain product has negative externalities of consumption. It needs to be obvious. For example, vaccinations obviously have positive externalities of consumption. Wheat, while good for you (because if you don’t eat anything you’ll die) is a much worse choice. So you’d much rather go with the subsidising vaccinations article, if market failure is your concept of the concept of choice.
Google news is obviously a great source. Once you’ve chosen your concept you can go a long way doing simple searches like “cotton subsidy shortage,” or “vaccination price africa.” And then test the articles you find against the criteria above. It should take you too long if you know what you need. However, even if it does take you a couple of hours that’s time well spent. The next post will lay out a step-by-step approach that get you top marks on your IA’s every time.