Stage 2a

Finding your micro article

Unit 2: Microeconomics

What counts as a micro article

Your article must be from the microeconomics unit, not macroeconomics, not international economics, not development economics. A microeconomics article focuses on a specific market: a particular good or service, its price, the behaviour of buyers and sellers, and what happens when governments intervene or when the market fails. If the article is about economy-wide output, inflation, unemployment, or interest rates, it belongs in Unit 3.

The sweet spot is an article where something has happened in a specific market (a price has changed, a government has stepped in, or a problem with the market has become visible) and there is enough detail to analyse and evaluate. You are looking for one clear market story, not a broad survey of an industry.

You need two diagrams: look for two moments

Your commentary requires two diagrams. That means you need an article that contains two separate economic moments worth graphing. The most common structure for micro is a market failure and a policy response: for example, a negative externality and then a tax to correct it, or a shortage in a market and then a price control introduced to address it. Both moments must be present in the article, not just implied but actually described.

If the article only describes one thing (say, that pollution levels are high) without any policy dimension or consequence, you will not have material for two distinct diagrams. Check this before you commit.

Simple is better. A sugar tax article is not less impressive than an article about fisheries management and international regulatory frameworks. The simpler the intervention and the cleaner the market, the better your commentary will be. Unusual or complex article topics tend to create problems at every subsequent stage. Choose the most straightforward article that clearly fits the unit.

Topic areas to look for

These areas consistently produce strong commentaries.

Indirect taxes: sugar taxes, tobacco levies, alcohol duties, carbon taxes on fuel, plastic bag charges. Look for articles where the tax is announced, debated, or assessed for its effects.
Subsidies: agricultural subsidies, renewable energy support schemes, public transport subsidies, housing subsidies. Look for an announcement or a debate about whether the subsidy is working.
Price controls: rent ceilings, energy price caps, minimum wage debates, price floors for agricultural goods. Government policy announcements work particularly well here.
Negative externalities: pollution from industry or transport, noise, congestion, deforestation. Look for articles where the harm to third parties is the story and a policy response is discussed.
Positive externalities: education funding, public health programmes, vaccination schemes, public transport subsidies. Look for cases where underprovision is the problem and intervention is the response.
Common access resources: overfishing, water scarcity, deforestation, but only where the article explicitly describes the overuse problem and a regulatory or property rights response.

Avoid articles about a single company's profits, stock price movements, or vague references to the cost of living with no specific market or policy angle.

Only what is in the article. You can only analyse what the article actually says. If the article reports that a sugar tax was introduced but gives no price or quantity figures, you cannot invent them. If it mentions that low-income households are affected but gives no detail, you cannot expand on that beyond what is written. The article is the boundary of your analysis. Choose one with enough detail inside it.

The checklist

Ask these five questions. A strong article answers yes to all five.

Is there a specific market with a price or quantity changing, or a market failure occurring?

A micro article needs an identifiable market: the market for sugar-sweetened drinks, the rental housing market, the market for solar panels. If the article jumps between several unrelated markets or describes the economy broadly, move on.
Is there a cause explained in the article?

You need to know why the price or quantity is changing, or why the market is failing. An article that says fish stocks are declining is weaker than one that explains the cause is open-access fishing with no property rights. If there is no cause in the article, your diagram has nothing to show.
Is there an intervention, or a debate about one?

A tax, subsidy, price control, regulation, or tradeable permit scheme, or a debate about whether one is needed, or whether one that already exists is working. If there is no policy angle at all, your commentary will be purely descriptive.
Is there a trade-off, unintended consequence, or evaluation angle?

For example: a rent ceiling reduces rents short-term but may reduce housing supply over time; a sugar tax raises revenue but is regressive; a fishing quota protects stocks but harms fishing communities. You need something to evaluate, not just describe.
Can you identify two separate moments to diagram?

The first is usually the market failure or the problem. The second is the policy response or its consequence. Both must be present in the article. Standard micro models (supply and demand, welfare analysis, externality diagrams) must be applicable to what the article describes.

Score your article out of five. Aim for five out of five. Consider very carefully at four. Do not proceed at three or below.

Sample articles

Samples to come.

Recommended sources

Reuters, BBC News, CNBC Economics, Associated Press, The Guardian economics section. For micro topics specifically, government policy announcements work well: budget coverage, new regulations announced, court decisions on price controls. These tend to give you the clean intervention-plus-debate structure you need.

The school has subscriptions to the Financial Times and the New York Times. You can log in using your school credentials. Both frequently cover specific interventions in identifiable markets and are widely used by IB students.

Your task

Find two candidate articles from the topic areas above. For each one:

Write five bullet points answering the checklist questions:
- What specific market does this article focus on?
- What cause or reason does the article give for the market outcome or failure?
- What is the intervention, or the debate about one?
- What trade-off, unintended consequence, or evaluation angle does the article contain?
- What are the two moments you would diagram, and what models would you use?
Draw at least two diagrams reflecting the economic events in your article. Label all curves and axes clearly, and mark the initial and new equilibrium. Write two or three sentences explaining what each diagram shows.

Bring both articles, your bullet points, and your diagrams to the first lesson back.

Next: Plan →