IB Economics HL 4.3.3 Free trade versus protection
IB Economics HL 4.3.3 Free trade versus protection
Students practise evaluating real-world trade protection decisions—like US-China tariffs or South African corn quotas—using diagrams, stakeholder analysis, and welfare outcomes.
How this is tested
- evaluate tariffs or quotas using a labelled diagram of surplus changes and deadweight loss
- explain how protection changes jobs in protected industries and export sectors
- compare short-run job gains with long-run inefficiency and retaliation risks