Ultimate Guide to the IB Economics Extended Essay (EE)

The IB Economics Extended Essay (EE) is a highly beneficial project to undertake. Although it comes with its challenges and hardships, it is an opportunity to hone your essay writing skills, analytical skills, and research skills that will surely positively impact your studies in economics and other subjects. The brief purpose of the Economics EE is to analyse/evaluate a real world example in depth. Remember that the EE is above all an investigation, there must be a research question and strong debate on both sides of the argument in an attempt to most holistically answer the research question. The EEs will be externally assessed by examiners appointed by the IB. They are marked on a scale from 0 to 34 and the score a student receives relates to a band ranging from A – work of an excellent standard to E – work of an elementary standard. Obviously, a very strong theoretical foundation achieved through our IB Economics Tuition is critical to achieving top grade for the Economics EE.

Outline of Economics EE

Content needed in an Economics EE and rough word count for each as follows:

Introduction: 250 words

Methodology: 350 words

Main body: 2800 words 

Conclusion: 600 words

Bibliography (not in word count but should have multiple primary and secondary sources)

Appendices (optional to include in EE and examiners may skip over them, but helps to show the hard work in securing primary sources like interviews or questionnaire results)

If you are just starting out your EE process, here is the rough timeline that you should be aiming to follow:

2 months – start researching EE topics

1 month – Finalise EE topic with supervisor

1 month – Begin reading books, research papers, articles, to better inform and shape your research question

1 month – Finalise your research question, and finish writing the introduction rough draft to improve your mental guideline of how your EE will shape up. Start finding secondary data sources and formulate questionnaires for primary data collection

1 month – Finish writing the methodology and background. Collect primary data and start extrapolating the data to see if they line up with your question

1 month – Try to complete a rough draft (2500 words) with analysis of graphs and data

1 month – Work on completing the full draft (3500-4000 words) with more analysis and evaluation, along with the conclusion. Send it for review

2 months – Complete revised draft and send it back for another round of edits

Submit

This is the ideal timeline, but does not need to be exactly followed given different circumstances. You should model this timeline to your school’s deadlines and what works for you. Do not rush the process of the EE, for good quality work to come together, every step needs to be thoughtfully appreciated to help meld the big picture. 

Research Question

To find a good research question, the topic must require enough economics theory and be within the past 5 years. Also, the topic must be layered in different perspectives. There should be numerous arguments and counterarguments, which can be achieved through having a major policy that is substantiated by other minor policies. For instance, a possible way to discuss a wage model could be to discuss the other policies implemented to substantiate the wage model like skills training or unemployment benefits.

Your question also needs to naturally be able to fit into your sources. This means that your question should essentially invite the necessity to conduct a survey, or have an interview with a professor, policy-maker or industry leader. If this does not hold, then your reasoning for the primary source collection seems superficial and the evidence gained may not be entirely relevant. 

Finally, be flexible with your research question. You have to be open to continuously tweaking and improving your research question even after your introduction and half your content is planned. Remember that the research question provides the guideline for your extended essay, if your content does not fit within these guidelines, either the content is irrelevant or the guideline needs to be reimagined. Thus, if there are better points to be made that do not fit your current research question, carefully restructure your research question so that the better content becomes relevant. 

Methodology

This is where you give the overview and reasoning for your sources. Remember that there is no limit to how many sources you should have, but more sources could highlight to your examiner the dedication towards your EE. Sources are either secondary or primary. Secondary sources means research that is not collected by you, while primary sources means self-collected research. A good EE should have a mixture of both kinds of sources and usually has more secondary sources than primary. 

When arguing why you have chosen the sources, it is good to be self-critical of your research method. Is this the most optimal way to gather information, and if not why have you chosen this method instead? Explain why a source is fitting towards your topic, but also explain where the source is weaker and how you will improve upon this weakness. The common argument is that primary sources make up for the information that secondary sources lack. 

Be concise in your wording, as examiners are different in their opinion of the methodology section. Some examiners prefer a full literature review like universities have, while others simply require a description of the research method. Remember to discuss with your EE counsellor, and it is better to keep the information jam-packed and straight-forward to satisfy both kinds of views on the methodology. 

Analysis and Research

Research and analysis will make up all of your 2800 words for your body paragraphs. Analysis includes evaluation, and peeling away the pros, cons, and other implications of the topic. 

The best way to split the main body of the EE is to have a theoretical backdrop, and a research and application. The theoretical backdrop is simply the theory the topic is referring to. Figure out the theory that you will be applying from the economic curriculum, and explain the theory well in-depth. The main skill required here is applying it contextually, meaning that the theory needs to be substantiated with the context of your topic. Instead of saying that cigarettes are a market failure, explain that there are 2000 deaths in Singapore per year due to cigarettes. Only having theoretical content will barely get you a quarter of the required marks. 

Next, the application is the main star of your EE. Here the goal is to link the research to the theory, and see where the contradictions and evaluations lie. For instance, if the theory states that a tax will decrease smoking, use surveys to highlight the actual extent that taxes prevent smoking habits. Explain why the extent is not as theoretically predicted, and thus link this to a pro or con of a tax.

Use of Calculations and Diagrams

Incorporating calculations and diagrams where needed is important to illustrate the real world situation and your ability to conceive economic theory. For instance, if the point about a tax is its not effective due to a price-inelastic demand, try to find statistics where you can calculate the exact Price Elasticity of Demand (PED) of the good yourself. Or, if the topic is about buying out an agricultural surplus due to a price floor, shade in the welfare loss on your diagram to show the change when the government intervenes. However, you must ensure that you are explaining your diagrams and calculations through logic. Explain why the formula is crafted this way and why the diagram is drawn this way, along with why you find the formula or diagram to be fitting for this topic. Diagrams are also great for showing the secondary policies of the topic, for instance if the topic is about a minimum wage and the government employing the surplus labour, it helps to first draw and evaluate the minimum wage solely, and then draw and evaluate the government employing surplus labour.  

How to Start

For a successful EE, it needs to be stream-lined, consistent with the research question, and clear in its overall argument. This highlights the necessity of a well-thought out and planned EE. 

The recommended way to go about this is to first complete the research, and then start writing only after the research is done. This way, you will understand what your final argument will shape up to be, and can help write the build up to this argument. Do the research on a separate doc, and then comment, annotate, or use sticky notes to jot down a few points of analysis about the research. Here is a chance to show yourself the links between different secondary and primary sources, thus helping for a more comprehensive view. 

Then create a framework of your EE. What will be your body paragraphs and main points be in your EE, and which pieces of research can you use from your sources to fit in here. An extremely strong plan would be the headlines of your body paragraphs, followed by multiple quotes of sources with comments explaining why you are using this piece of evidence and what it shows. Therefore, when you start writing, you simply need to refer to your comments to understand what analysis you are including. This also helps with repetition to avoid a high word count.

Managing Word Count

Yes, 4000 words seems daunting. But you will soon come to realise that if you have chosen a good and focused research question, 4000 words will be a struggle to fit all your content into. 

When starting the first draft, just write. Using your well thought-out plan, put all your words and analysis onto paper without caring about the word count. Only after you have finished your complete extended essay—introduction, body paragraphs, conclusion and all—then you check the word count if you are shy of 4000 words or exceeding this limit. If there are too few words, go over what you have written and spot out the weak points. Are there claims being made that have not yet been substantiated? Is there another layer of analysis that could be said here? Is my conclusion, introduction, and methodology comprehensive enough to provide the overview of my EE? If there are too many words, then cut down the less relevant and important parts of your EE. This way, you are ensuring that your good thoughts are not being held back by the word count, or that you are not waffling your way to 4000 words. 

If you have trouble cutting down to 4000 words, it always helps to ask your EE supervisor which parts he/she deems to be less important. Also, re-read all the sentences to see if there are times where you can cut words out or restructure the sentence to be shorter. For instance, making nouns possessive is a consistent way to cut down words, e.g., “The firm’s profits…” instead of “The profits of the firm…”.

Conclusion

Overall, the IB Economics EE is a valuable opportunity to develop critical academic skills that will serve you well beyond the subject itself. By engaging deeply with a real-world economic issue, you enhance your ability to think analytically, apply theory effectively, and evaluate different perspectives in a structured manner. The key to accomplishing this milestone successfully rests almost entirely on planning ahead. Knowing your internal deadlines and overall message of the extended essay helps you avoid pitfalls like changing the research question after 2000 words have been written, or stressing about having too little or too many words a day before the final deadline. Ultimately, the EE is not just about achieving a high grade but about cultivating a deeper understanding of Economic principles and their practical applications, preparing you for future academic and professional challenges.

Every EE will be challenging. We hear that Economics EE tends to be more score-able and with less work needed that for other subjects, for example, Chemistry, which may require many laboratory experiments to be undertaken. If you have chosen to do an Economics EE, we hope this guide will be useful for you. Feel free to also enrol in our IB Econs Tuition and book private consult sessions with our Economics Tutors to discuss how you may improve on your Economics EE. Those who have done so have scored very well for their EEs.