Economics and finance writing can affect decision making for individuals, companies and governments. Economics and finance writing must provide readers with a balanced and careful view, grounded in real-world applications.

Economics and finance writers should provide a flexible view, where possible, with room for different assumptions and scenarios, and a careful description of the risks associated with these assumptions and the ultimate outcome. You will need to outline both pros and cons of any course of action.

Many economic and financial theories and models can only be tested in the real world. Careful writers can still conduct scenario analysis with a range of assumptions, and test their model using historical data.

The evidence for economics and finance writing can be both quantitative and qualitative. Always evaluate the quality, methodology and diversity of your sources, and communicate their strengths and weaknesses clearly. Even when the evidence is not as quantitative, precise and unequivocal as might be desired, it can still be presented in a clear way that sets out its strengths and limitations, and clearly differentiates between reliable conclusions, interpretation and supposition.

See Writing about evidence for advice on types of evidence, and how to use clear and unbiased language when writing about evidence.