Justify in IB Economics

What your response needs

Decision → criteria → supporting analysis/evidence → why alternatives are less suitable.

• A clear decision or conclusion
• Economic criteria for making it
• Evidence and reasoning supporting the choice
• Recognition of the strongest trade-off

A worked economics example

Question: Justify one policy to reduce structural unemployment.

An incomplete response: The government should provide training because it helps workers.

A more complete response:

Targeted retraining is appropriate when vacancies exist but unemployed workers lack the required skills.

It directly improves occupational mobility and can shift labour supply toward expanding industries.

Although costly and slow, it addresses the mismatch more directly than general demand stimulus.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Describing a policy without defending its selection
• Ignoring opportunity cost or alternatives

Try it yourself

Read the question and its mark allocation before deciding how much detail to include. A response structure helps you organise your answer; it is not a script to memorise.

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About this guidance

These explanations and examples are original Econograms study guidance. They are not official IB questions or markschemes, and Econograms is not endorsed by the International Baccalaureate. Follow the wording and requirements of the question set by your teacher or examination.