Economics

Course summary

The aims of A Level Economics are to enable curious students to appreciate fully the economic world that surrounds them thereby allowing them to fully analyse and thoroughly evaluate a wide variety of economic ideas, arguments and policies which directly influence their lives. Successful students will discover the strong relationship between Economics and other academic subjects with either complementary knowledge (History, Politics, Geography) or complementary skills (Physics, Mathematics, Philosophy). They will also develop wider academic abilities including independent research, discussion and presentation skills. Students who most enjoy the course will equip themselves with a working knowledge of current economic affairs. Students can expect to incorporate a wide range of mathematical techniques and graphical interpretations of theories into their powerfully persuasive evaluative essays. The subject is divided into Microeconomics and Macroeconomics although a substantial amount is synoptic in nature. Microeconomics explains how individual markets function and provides an insight into the behaviour of businesses. At the start we do this by using simple models, such as supply and demand, but the course covers far more challenging concepts such as collusive oligopolies and behavioural economics in an attempt to answer questions such as: • Should we pay to see a doctor? • Why are London house prices rising so rapidly? • Do people make rational decisions? • Should there be a minimum price for alcohol? Macroeconomics analyses the performance of whole economies and their interactions with each other. The focus is on key indicators such as GDP, unemployment and inflation. Typical questions might include: • What are the implications of record low rates of UK unemployment? • Is a low rate of inflation in the UK good or bad? • Should the UK government increase spending to assist in economic recovery or is austerity working? • Would more regulation of banks help prevent future financial crises?