The 99 Best Economics Resources

IB Economics General Websites

• Welker’s Wikinomics - A website created by an IB economics teacher containing useful IB lecture notes as well as a blog
• Tutor2U - A resource for AS, A2 and IB economics revision
• Biz/ed - A general resource for learning economics, listed by topic.
• Essentials of Economics - Summaries, online quizzes and case studies relating to the textbook “Essentials of Economics”
• Economic Policy Debate - Is a place for online debates regarding current controversial ideas in economics. For IB Econ students, it’s a good place to review key concepts and evaluate.
• Vizala.com - Has a lot of great economics data. It's a database for country, demographic, social, and economic information.  

Videos

• Khan academy has produced some great videos on Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, and current issues in Econ Recommended
• Some really good video lessons from EconClassroom.com
• Paj Holden's YouTube page is also full of great IB Econ-specific videos
• Econ Stories - A funny rap video showing the different economic philosophies of Keynes and Hayek

Podcasts

• Planet Money. One of my favourite podcasts. They do a great job of making sense of complicated concepts. Very entertaining. (Just add it to your podcasts in iTunes). Highly recommended
• The Economist Magazine - Editor’s Highlights. Useful if you don’t have time to read the Economist. Key sections of the weekly audio edition are read to you. (Just add it to your podcasts in iTunes).
• Motley Fool Money is a stock exchange podcast, but it is a rich source of insights. Very intelligent and easy to listen to.

Articles, Blogs and Blog Posts

• Some student notes on the IB Economics course, by section. Not the best notes in the world, but useful for a quick review.
• Paul Krugman’s Blog “The Conscience of a Liberal” - A blog written by the Nobel Laureate, from a Keynesian perspective. Definitely worth a read a read a few times a year. 

Internal Assessment (IA)

• How to Start your IB Economics IA (Article choice, etc)
• An explanation of How to structure an IB Economics IA (IBMastery)
• Help checking your Econ IAs against the rubric requirements
• Tim is also available for online Economics IA, EE and theory (test and Exam prep) tutoring. 

Extended Essay (EE)

• The 4 Questions You Need to Answer at the Start of Your Extended Essay process. Avoid common mistakes and set yourself up for a successful Extended Essay.
• Extended Essays in Economics. Andrew McCarthy’s post on EE’s in Economics An excellent example of an Economics Extended Essay, from a student in Hong Kong.
• Four steps to help you choose a perfect EE question (for International Baccalaureate students)
• How to make your good extended essay great (Advanced research tips, made simple)
• How to write International Baccalaureate Extended Essay reflections (from IBMastery)

IB Economics Research Resources

• Gapminder is a great source for statistics and videos explaining the state of the world. Recommended
• The Economist - Arguably the most influential and important publication in the world
• Asian Development Bank - Economics and statistics resources of the multilateral, Asian-oriented development finance institution that promotes economic and social progress
• Bank of England - The website of the Bank of England, the UK’s Central Bank
• CIA World Factbook - An online resource on the history, people, government, and economies of every country in the world.
• Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean - The UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. Some very interesting real life examples.
• Federal Reserve - The website of the US Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States
• Goldman Sachs’ Global Economic Outlook - Global economic research put out by one of the leading investment banks, Goldman Sachs
• International Monetary Fund - The website of the International Monetary Fund - the “central banker’s central bank”
• UN human Development Reports - The website of the UN’s Development Program
• World Bank - The website of the world bank, the world’s pre-eminent (and often controversial) development bank
• World Trade Organization - The World Trade Organization’s website, containing a wealth of economics research and information

Useful Links and Videos by Topic

Microeconomics

• Video - An introduction to opportunity cost. (From Paj Holden)
• Video - An explanation of the Production Possiblity Curve (aka the Production Possibility Frontier). From (Bryn Jones) Video - Watch a quick clip on oil scarcity
• Flash - An interactive lesson on types of economies. (Watch out though, they've done the spectrum diagram backwards to the way we do it). (From www.cba.edu.kw)
• Video - A documentary on the financial crisis (From PBS). This isn't something we have time to really go into during class. But if you're interested in it, it's a good case study.

Markets (Supply, Demand and Price Controls)

• A supply and demand review lesson, here.
• Video - Case study of the demand for oil increasing in China. Fairly in depth, but good if you have a few minutes. (From CBC News)

Elasticities

• Video - Watch these two videos on PED this one and this one. 
• Video - Here's another video on PES.
• Flash - A self-directed lesson on Elasticity.
• Video - Elasticity and total revenue. (From Bryn Jones) Video - An explanation of cross price elasticity of demand (aka cross elasticity of demand, or XED). (From Phil Holden)
• Text - Some good examples of elasticities (scroll down a bit) and an overview of elasticity in general.

Theory of the Firm

• Video - An explanation of cost curves. (Phil Holden)
• Flash - a quick overview of market types. (Turn down your speakers. This is loud for some reason).
• Video - An explanation of monopolistic competition.
• Video - Consumer and producer surplus. (from Bryn Jones)
• Video - Economics and Diseconomics of Scale. A video that is a bit on the dull and slowside, but it's a good review (or preview of the LRAC curve).

Market Failure

• Video - A short clip on externalities, from the documentary, "The Corporation".
• Video - Positive and negative exernalities. (from Bryn Jones)
• Video - Another take on diagraming negative externalities.
• Macroeconomics
• Video - Ray Dalio gives a good overview of how the macroeconomy works. 
• Documentary - This is the Commanding Heights documentary series. It's about three hours long and explains the history of western economic thinking. 
• Test - A very quick overview of the macroeconomic objectives and (some of) the major interventions available to governments. (From Economics Help). 
• Blog - A quick introduction into the differences between Macro and Micro. (From Jason Welker)
• An hour long documentary about the Crash of 1929 and the similarities to the recession of 2008 (From PBS).

Measuring National Income

• Video - Joseph Stiglitz explaining the limits of GDP as a measure for economic achievement. It's interesting to think about how we measure economic success (i.e very often simply as GDP growth) considerably influences us.
• Video - A video on the circular flow of income (from Paj Holden, on YouTube) We'll cover this in class, but if you're keen to get ahead, or would like to review, this is a good one.
• Application - Have some fun with this tool from Gapminder. See what you can learn about all the different indicators and how country's have developed over time
• Video - A quick lesson on the diffrences between GDP and GNP. (From Paj Holden)

Macroeconomic Models

• Video- Here is a video we use in class, on the 5 essential diagrams for AS and AD. It's very good.

Demand-Side and Supply-Side Policies

• Flash Game - A monetary policy game where you use interest rates as a tool for controlling inflation. Pretty cool. --Look, I'm an Economics teacher, this is what excites me! :-)
• Video - A review of fiscal policy and the multiplier effect (from Paj Holden, on YouTube), incase you'd like to review this.
• Flash - An interactive lesson on monetary policy. (From www.cba.edu.kw) Video - The Philips Curve and NAIRU explained.
• Video - A news program discussing how Australia is the first G20 country to raise interest rates following the recession. Just watch the few 5 minutes. (From PBS) Video - A discussion of the current American fiscal deficit. Again, rather lengthy. You may simply want to watch the first 5 minutes to get a sense of the situation. (From Charlie Rose).
• Video - Intro to Fiscal Policy. (From Bryn Jones) Video - A couple of clips on Monetary policy here is Part 1 and here is Part 2. (From Bryn Jones).

Unemployment and Inflation

• Flash - An interactive lesson on types of unemployment. (From www.cba.edu.kw)
• Flash - An interactive graph, showing the differences in how different groups have been effected by the recession. (From the New York Times)
• Video - Three reasons deflation is so bad for economies. (from Paj Holden)
• Flash/Audio - A very good history of US government responses to recessions since the 1960s. Listen to the audio clips for each section, to hear how the government tried to balance inflation, fiscal responsibility and unemployment. (From the New York Times).
• International Economics

Reasons for Trade

• Watch this about how the world is changing (from Shift Happens)
• Read this: Is Globalization a Force for Evil in the World and answer the questions at the bottom.
• Video - A review of the differences between comparative and absolute advantage.
• Video - Milton Friedman on the wonders of the pencil (really it's an explanation of the free market and the ideology that free trade promotes peace).

Free Trade and Protectionism

• Flash - See some examples of protectionism here.
• Flash - A great walk through a World Trade and Tarrifs Graph. (from cba.edu.kw)
• Video - A very good discussion on protectionism at the moment (2009). (From Charlie Rose) Video - How governments use tarrifs and quotas to restrict trade (From Bryn Jones)

World Trade Organization (WTO)

• Video - From a few years ago, a WTO Ruling on Softwood Lumber exports from Canada to the US - Protectionism (From CBC). Video - Some more history. Canadians protesting APEC in 1997. A good reminder of where our current protest movement comes from. (From CBC)
• Video - Some insight into the anti-WTO movement. A bit lefty, but still pretty insightful. They make some good points. (From WTO Turn Around.org) Video - WTO and the challenges of trade justice. (from Trade Aid)

Balance of Payments

• On Balance of Payments, please read this. Flash- An interactive lesson on Balance of Payments. (From cba.edu.kw)
• Video - Current account deficits and exchange rates (the Marshall-Lerner condition). (From Phil Holden)
• Exchange Rates
• Flash - A basic introduction lesson on exchange rates. (From cba.edu.kw)
• Site - See how the Big Mac Index looks after you factor in today's exchange rates. (From oanda.com)

Development Economics

• Web page - A good explanation of the differences between LDCs and MDCs.
• Here is a great list of Ted Talks that help students to understand and evaluate aspects of development.   

If you know if any great resources to help your fellow IB Economics students, please either email me via the "contact" page or link to them in the comments.