Economic Development Strategies: two questions to try now
Real questions, the answer key from the mark scheme, and the explanation that goes with it. No account needed to answer them.
Cross-board concept practice · originally a CIE 9708 question, used here because the concept is the same. It is not IB Economics past-paper material.
Question 1
Economists have proposed that the best policy to promote development is ‘trade not aid’.
What is implied by this proposal?
Answer: B.
Cross-board concept practice · originally a CIE 9708 question, used here because the concept is the same. It is not IB Economics past-paper material.
Question 2
In a recent year, Japanese car manufacturers agreed to limit exports of cars to the USA. Which form of protectionism is this?
Answer: D.
Explanation: Voluntary export restraint (VER) is a form of trade barrier by which a country agrees with exporting countries to limit the quantity of specific goods being exported to the former country for a specified period. In this case, Japanese car manufacturers agreed voluntarily to limit exports of cars to the USA, which aligns with the concept of voluntary export restraint. This is a common strategy used by exporting countries to avoid being subjected to more severe forms of trade barriers, such as tariffs or quotas. VERs are considered protectionist measures aimed at protecting domestic industries from foreign competition.
What this practice covers
These questions are drawn from past Cambridge papers, mapped across to this topic because the concept is the same. You answer, you find out immediately whether you were right, and you get the reasoning for the correct option and for each distractor. Wrong answers go to a mistakes locker so you can come back to exactly those.
Practice is free. You need an account only so your progress and your mistakes are still there next time.
What examiners see students get wrong here
These are the errors that cost marks on economic development strategies, taken from our own topic notes. Read them before you practise and you will recognise the traps in the questions.
- Recommending a strategy without reference to the barrier it is supposed to remove.
- Treating aid as automatically good or automatically harmful instead of stating the conditions under which it works.
- Forgetting profit repatriation when evaluating foreign direct investment.
- Presenting import substitution and export promotion as evenly balanced without engaging with the historical record.
Revise it first
If any of the above is unfamiliar, work through the notes before practising: Economic Development Strategies revision notes.