Economics

Course summary

The aim of Economics is to understand the world around us and to provide students with tools to interpret society’s decisions. The course equips students with the literary and numerical skills to collect empirical evidence about how the economy is performing, and to make judgments on policy. The course offers a broad, rigorous choice for students with an innate intellectual curiosity. The basic question Economics seeks to answer is how resources should be allocated, arising from the problem of scarcity. The course seeks to answer questions such as: ‘Why does the price of crude oil rise when an oil pipeline is damaged?’ ‘Is measuring ‘economic development’ more important than GDP?’ and ‘How should the Government intervene in the market to prevent air pollution?’ Standard Level and Higher Level students of Economics are presented with a common syllabus, with a Higher Level extension in some topics.