Economics

Course summary

We have finite resources. What should we produce? How should we produce it? For whom should it be produced? Economics seeks to answer these basic but profound questions about the creation and allocation of goods. The familiar and dominant paradigm today is the market. Where there is free trade and a free flow of information, the laws of supply and demand will ensure optimum pricing. Such is the theory. Some would argue that the manifest disparities between rich and poor across the world show that it does not work in practice. Nor too, they would add, does it address the ‘side effects’ of production and consumption. The phone maker may find a happy market of phone buyers but what should be done about the pollution the phone factory produces? Ought governments to intervene? If so, to what degree? By studying Economics at A level, you will consider issues such as these in depth. You will look at the operation of markets on a national and international scale and think about their virtues and vices. You will consider how businesses function and the role of the financial sector in society. The course will leave you with a clear understanding of the complex forces that shape our society in the context of wider social and political themes. In the first year, you will look at two themes. Theme 1 (Markets and Market Failure) focuses on microeconomic concepts. You will look at: the nature of economics; how markets work; market failure; and government intervention. Theme 2 (UK Economy – Performance & Policies) focuses on macroeconomic concepts. You will examine: measures of economic performance; aggregate demand; aggregate supply; national income; economic growth; and macroeconomic objectives and policy. In the second year, you will look at two more themes. In Theme 3 (Business Behaviour and the Labour Market) you will look at business growth and objectives; revenues, costs and profits; market structures; the labour market; and government intervention. In Theme 4 (A Global Perspective) you will look at: international economics; poverty and inequality; emerging & developing economies; the financial sector; and the role of the state in the macro economy.