4.9.4—Significance of barriers
- Syllabus
- First assessment 2022
- Objective
- 4.9.4
- Level
- HL
The significance of a barrier depends on scale and alternatives
The significance of a barrier depends on scale and alternatives.
Evaluate a barrier by its effect on growth and well-being, the groups affected, time horizon, feasibility of reform and possible trade-offs.
Example
Removing a port bottleneck may lower export costs quickly, while reforming school quality improves productivity more slowly but broadly.
Compare mechanism, reach, reversibility and evidence rather than ranking barriers by rhetoric.
A policy can remove one bottleneck while creating fiscal or environmental costs elsewhere.