Should the UK government regulate Google and other ‘tech giants’? Why do so many people sign up for expensive gym memberships but then never attend? Should the Bank of England cut or raise interest rates? And how will the latest government budget announcements affect our prospects as individuals and as an economy? At heart, Economics is the study of decision-making. Because economic resources are scarce, every economy faces three key types of questions. First, what should an economy choose to do? For example, should the UK economy continue to specialise in financial services or move its resources towards a different sector? Secondly, once an objective has been set, how should we manage our resources to achieve our desired aims? How should you manage your time at school, for example, to best achieve your academic and extra-curricular objectives? Finally, who receives the rewards of economic activity and how are these distributed? Would a change to income taxation policy increase or reduce inequality (and what might the effects of this be upon an economy)? Economists have developed an entire framework and way of thinking to answer these core questions. Learning these techniques and the economist’s mindset is perhaps the greatest benefit to studying Economics – as you can see from the range of questions listed above, such techniques can be applied to any number of interesting contexts, helping to explain why the subject is so influential in modern life. It is important to note that Economics is a social science: social, in its study of the behaviour of people, and a science in terms of both its analytical approach to model-building and its use of empirical data. A good economist strives to be politically neutral and to use analytical models to offer insight - if not definitive answers - to crucially important matters such as trade and globalisation, the extent of government influence on our lives, and the impact of climate change on economies and the people living in them. In both years of the A level, pupils study the two main areas of economic theory: macroeconomics and microeconomics. Macroeconomics is concerned with how economies operate on a large scale, and how the government and the central bank can attempt to correct economic problems. In microeconomics, we evaluate the importance of markets in allocating resources, and what happens when free market systems are allowed to exacerbate problems such as inequality, monopoly power and pollution. After the first year, you will be able not only to understand the issues which politicians are discussing in the news but also to critically evaluate the arguments they put forward to justify their actions (or inaction!). Pupils will sit two internal exams (microeconomics and macroeconomics) at the end of the first year. A predicted grade, which must be submitted as part of a university application, will be based largely on these exams. Year 13 Economics builds on the core knowledge from Year 12 to examine issues in greater detail and so is normally the highlight of the course for pupils and teachers alike. In macroeconomics, we delve into questions of international trade, development and financial markets, whilst the microeconomics course focuses on how firms behave in different market structures, but also gives pupils time to consider labour markets and the appropriate scope for government intervention in markets. The A-level exams comprise 3 papers with data response questions, multiple choice questions and essays. Writing skills combined with the ability to think logically and precisely become more important as the course goes on; informed pupils will learn to debate issues and to ‘think like an economist’.