Criddle said:
With eco essays, the structure doesn't really matter, because it's not english and they're not assessing your ability to write an essay, you can write the whole thing in point form and still get band 6; what matters is the content. You prolly know all of this, but yeh, just in case... and you can chuck in diagrams wherever the hell you like, like a business cycle diagram for fiscal or monetary policy and demand and supply curves for monetary too. The most important thing is that it has all the relevant bits and pieces, your facts are correct and that it makes sense. Following the syllabus is an awesome idea, cos it'll help you organise it all and not miss chunks, sounds like you have an awesome plan 
As for your query about the short answers, your friend is talking out their arse, all that is expected of you is to answer the question...they aren't going to ask a specific question and expect you to do something else, that's just stupid, but if you're not sure of an answer, then yeh knock yourself out, put other stuff down as well. They won't mark you down for putting more stuff than they ask for.
Good Luck
This sounds like it's on the right path. Economic essays are definately not like english essays. You want to write an english essay you may as well slap a 0 on ure page (maybe not that extreme but you get the gist).
My teacher taught us an extremely simple and easy plan.
*Never make a statement without an explanation.
Paragraph Format:
---------------------------Statement (1 sentence)
---------------------------Explanation
---------------------------Example
---------------------------Diagram
* Within each paragraph add relevant facts and figures
* Each paragraph only talks about one idea. New paragraph = new topic (inflation, Micro/macro, Unemployment etc etc etc)
* This seems obvious but MAKE SURE YOU DO WHAT THE QUESTION ASKS! So many people dont!
*Diagrams
MUST have a commentary explaining what it is illustrating. Without a commentary it is pretty much useless. (to an extent)
From what i have seen and have been told (feel free to correct me) I have never seen a band six essay without diagrams. Diagrams are a MUST for the top marks in an essay.
As you can see that plan is sooo simple it seems wrong but if you stick to that small guide you should be covering everything you need to answer the question AND cement your ideas with examples and diagrams.
Learn as much jargon as you can because this will really tip the scale in your favour from a beginner student to a pro! =)
have fun
You guys rock!
