Thursday 5 November 2015

How to Write A Good Economics Paragraph for Economics Essays

How to write a good Economics paragraph for an Economics examination is one of the hardest tasks for students of Economics or finance. The thing is, how do you get a lot of information synthesised and ready for a paragraph that you are supposed to write within a short a period of time, which will convince the examiner to give you a high grade? In this article, I tell you some major secrets to writing a good, solid Economics paragraph that will wow your examiner in an Economics examination.
First, always have a topic sentence that makes a key argument. For instance, tariffs are bad for the economy - that is a topic sentence and it makes an argument. Always have an argument in an Economics examination for each and every paragraph.
Second, substantiate your claim that you made by doing two things - either you explain or you draw a diagram, and then explain it.
Why do you need to do that? It's quite clear that no one will believe you if you merely tell them that tariffs are bad - you have to prove what you say. One more time: you have to prove what you say. In Economics, the main ways are verbal explanation, or diagrammatic (or mathematical) expression. So do that. Diagrams are best because this is Economics! For instance, draw the small country case to show that there is deadweight loss due to tariffs being imposed on foreign goods.
Third, give a relevant real life example. Explain the example too. Examiners want to see if you really know what you are talking about and can apply the knowledge that you have to the real world context. It is no use just drawing a couple of diagrams and then leaving it as that. Talk about ISI in Latin America in those dark ages of little international trade.
Fourth, you need to conclude and wrap up your argument - and link it to the question. That is so important but ignored often by students - linking back to the question.
Now let me show you an example which I often use:
"Tariffs hurt the local economy. (Then you draw a beautiful diagram). The diagram shows that for a small country putting a tariff on an imported good increases the price of the good, making quantity demanded fall and quantity supplied by local sellers to rise, thus causing deadweight. There is also an increase in the overall price and less quantity of that good is consumed. For example, a tariff on cars will make the price of imported cars rise and thus consumers will buy more locally-produced cars, like the Proton Saga in Malaysia. Consumers lose out because they pay more and consume less numbers of cars overall, but local producers and the government win. Deadweight loss is not efficient as losses from consumer surplus do not accrue to the government, producers, or consumers, but are lost. Thus, tariffs hurt the local economy via Pareto inefficiency."
The secrets are out, and they are simple - make an argument, then explain it using a diagram, then give an example which you must explain, and then come to a reasoned conclusion - for each and every paragraph.
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