Economics can be boiled down to one fundamental question – the world contains a limited quantity of resources, but how do we balance that against the infinite wants and needs of humanity? This subject explores the interactions of households, firms and governments as they seek to balance competing demands on our scarce resources. Theme 1: Introduction to markets and market failure focuses on micro economics, building an understanding the concept of economics and its status as a social science, how markets work, what causes them to fail and how governments can intervene to resolve market failure. Theme 2: The UK economy –performance and policies focuses on macro economics, considering how economic performance can be measured at the national level, how economic growth occurs, the consequences of growth and the government objectives for the macro economy and the policies they use to influence it. Theme 3: Business behaviour and the, labour market examines advanced microeconomic theory. Initially examining firms, how and why they grow and the objectives they aim to achieve, the focus then shifts to the structure of markets and the issues these can create before focusing on the economics of the labour market, exploring influences on the supply of and demand for labour, before concluding with an examination of the ways that governments may intervene in labour markets. Theme 4: A global perspective focuses on macro economics at the global level, exploring globalisation, poverty and inequality, economic development, banking and finance, before concluding with an examination of macro policies at the global level.