The 5-year rule in Economics
Teacher notes
The current extended essay guide includes specific references to the '5-year rule'.
Topics should focus on contemporary economic issues, policies, or events that are current or have occurred within the last five years. Overly retrospective topics, such as “What was the impact of the global financial crisis on government debt in Country Y from 2007–2010?” tend to become descriptive and should be avoided.
How the 5-year rule impacts on the individual criteria
Criterion A
If the topic relates to a specific event, issue or policy, it should date from within the past five years. It should not concern a future or hypothetical event. If the topic or research question is deemed inappropriate for the subject in which the essay is registered, no more than four marks can be awarded for this criterion. This applies to economics essays that breach the 5-year rule.
Criterion B
If the topic or research question is deemed inappropriate for the subject in which the essay is registered, no more than four marks can be awarded for this criterion. This applies to economics essays that breach the 5-year rule.
Criterion C
Failure to follow the five-year rule will limit the grade in this criterion to a maximum of three. Given that this criterion is marked out of 12, then a ceiling of 3/12 is particularly prohibitive. If the topic or research question is deemed inappropriate for the subject in which the essay is registered, no more than three marks can be awarded for this criterion. This applies to economics essays that breach the five-year rule.
Overall
In the case of a particularly strong paper it would appear that there could be as much as a 13 mark penalty, though it might not hurt a mediocre paper as much.
The 2018 extended essay guide can be accessed at: MYIB