Course overview and specification

Economics is a study of scarce resources and how they are allocated with the interactions of producers, consumers and governments in an economy. The course will allow students to develop an understanding of how markets work and how prices in these markets are determined. Students will use their economic knowledge and skills to investigate national and global economic situations and issues from the last 15 years. They’ll learn the prescriptive policies in which the government have used to try and manage these situations and the economic impacts that they have had on society. 

Economic impacts on the UK have been very significant in recent years from: Brexit, fuel shortages, food shortages and coronavirus just to begin with. An understanding and insight in these topic areas allow students to become well-rounded individuals ready for the working world. 

Microeconomics: The operation of markets and market failure. 

Microeconomic models such as demand and supply, the operation of the price mechanism and causes of market failure are central to this part of AS study. Students will be provided with plentiful opportunities to use these models to explore current economic behaviour. 

Topics covered are: 

• Economic methodology and the economic problem 

• Price determination in a competitive market 

• Production, costs and revenue 

• Competitive and concentrated markets 

• The market mechanism, market failure and government intervention in markets 

Macroeconomics: The national economy in a global context. 

This section of the course focuses on the economy as a whole whereas microeconomics studies particular markets. During this element of the course, students will gain a good knowledge of developments in the UK economy and government policies over the past fifteen years. They should also be aware that the performance of the United Kingdom economy is influenced by its membership of the European Union (EU) and by external events in the international economy. 

Topics covered are: 

• The measurement of macroeconomic performance 

• How the macro-economy works, the circular flow of income, AD/AS analysis, and related concepts 

• Economic performance 

• Macroeconomic policy 

Year 2 

A2 study continues to build upon the AS micro and macroeconomic principals but builds in a much more synoptic approach to learning so that the two topic areas are brought together in order for students to make an informed judgement based on critical analysis. 

Microeconomics 

• Individuals, firms, markets and market failure 

• Economic methodology and the economic problem 

• Individual economic decision making 

• Price determination in a competitive market 

• Production, costs and revenue 

• Perfect competition, imperfectly competitive markets and monopoly 

• The labour market 

• The distribution of income and wealth: poverty and inequality 

• The market mechanism, market failure and government intervention in markets 

Macroeconomics 

• The national and international economy 

• The measurement of macroeconomic performance 

• How the macro-economy works: the circular flow of income, AD/AS analysis, and related concepts 

• Economic performance 

• Financial markets and monetary policy Fiscal policy and supply-side policies 

• The international economy 

The course is designed as an entry level into Economics and therefore, no prior knowledge is expected upon commencing study. 

A Level Economics is examined over 3 assessments in the final year of study. Paper 1 primarily focuses on the principles of microeconomics whilst Paper 2 assesses knowledge of macroeconomics. Paper 3 combines the understanding from the previous two papers to form more of an investigative approach to tackling an economic or business issue.