Nov 21 2012
IB Economics Podcast Assignment – Market Failure Commentary
As IB SL and HL students, you will be required to write, record and post one podcast written and performed by you and a classmate. The purpose of this project will be to strengthen and enhance your ability to explain economic theory, apply it to current real-world issues and evaluate the effectiveness of economic theory to explain what is occurring.As these skills are required to write a successful IB Economic Internal Assessment, the process of producing the podcasts will strengthen the performance of students on their IAs.
Before reading the rest of the assignment details, listen to the three podcasts below. The first is an introduction to the IB Internal Assessment and this podcast assignment from Mr. Hauet. The second is an example of the type of analysis you may do in an IB Economics podcast from me. The third is a podcast by a Digital Journalism student in which she investigates the negative externalities of the meat industry.
Students will work in pairs and sign up to produce a podcast on a real world market failure.
For example, you may choose to do your story on an industry you are aware of that creates water pollution:
- Research the industry and find examples how it creates water pollution.
- Investigate the external costs imposed by this industry on the environment and human health.
- Gather data from studies that have already been conducted on industry’s contributions to water pollution.
- Interview individuals or find others’ written or audio/visual accounts of the social, environmental, or health impacts of water pollution.
- Investigate solutions to water pollution that have been implemented in different communities or nations.
- Propose solutions to the specific examples of water pollution you have investigated.
Any audio editing program may be used to produce your podcast. You may find the following recommendations useful:
- On your tablet: Audacity (A guide to using Audacity for audio editing)
- On a Mac: Garage Band
- On an iPad (can be provided by your teacher): Garage Band or other downloadable audio recording programs.
- An intro accompanied by music – the intro should be a hook such as a section from an interview or a clip from a news program. The music should not be copyrighted and therefore must be taken from sites such as Jamendo or produced by yourself (Garage Band is great for this)
- An brief introduction to the topic of the podcast
- A fact, economic indicator or story that happened recently that may interest your listeners.This is your “hook”.
- Summarize the issue. This should include the cause of the market failure, what it means for the economy, the environment, society or human health, and what is being done about it.
- Application – How can economic theory inform our understanding of the market failure you have chosen to research.
- Analysis– Does economic theory support the findings from your research and what is said in the interview? Why or why not? In a written commentary, diagrams would be a crucial part of analysis. Since this is audio, you can describe the concepts that the diagram you could use illustrate.
- Interview – The podcast must include at least one interview with someone who can provide additional insight into the market you have chosen to research. You may interview someone yourself, or you may use an excerpt from an interview you found in your research (perhaps on YouTube).
Part 3 – Evaluation
- Evaluation – What are the short and long run implications of the market failure on society, the environment or human health. What are the possible solutions to your market failure? How are different stakeholders effected? Is one solution better than another and why?
- Conclusions – Bring the podcast to a close by discussing the implications of the issue in other areas. Can this issue be fixed and if so what are the future implications? Be sure to end just as you started, with some nice music that suits the topic.
Bibliography: As this assignment will involve original research, you are required to produce a bibliography. It should be formatted properly. You may use EasyBib to help you with the formatting of our bibliography.
Examples:
Here are some examples of economics podcasts from Planet Money. Your podcast should be similar in its production to these.
- The effect of the Strong CHF on the swiss economy
- Market Failure – The role of government in fixing market failures
- Gold – Why is Gold so valued (supply and demand)
- The Great Stimulus Experiment – Demand Side Policies
Samples of last year’s student podcasts:
- Mats and Andrew – Traffic as a Market Failure
- Sofia and Julian – China’s Toy Industry as a Market Failure
Your final product will be assessed using similar criteria for the internal assessment and will include the following:
- Terminology – Terminology appropriate to the topic is used throughout the podcast – 2 marks
- Application – Relevant economic theories are applied throughout the podcast – 2 marks
- Analysis – There is effective economic analysis within the context of the topic and interview – 3 marks
- Evaluation – Judgments are made using sound evidence and appropriate reasoning – 4 marks
- Podcast Requirements – The podcast is presented in a highly effective manner, including a clear introduction with music, clear audio, at least one interview, a conclusion with music, and a bibliography formatted in MLA style. – 3 marks
Total – 14 marks
