Economics

Course summary

Course Outline This two year A Level course broadly divides into two sections: microeconomics, which studies the various parts of the economy and macroeconomics, which focuses on the national and international economy. Microeconomics – we study the behaviour of individuals and firms, and we learn about how markets work and how sometimes they fail, requiring government intervention to put things right. We will be answering questions such as: • What determines the way we spend our money? • Do firms always try to maximise profits and how are prices determined? • Why are houses, energy and food so expensive? • Why are income and wealth so unevenly distributed? • Why are pop stars and footballers paid so much? • Should we be worried about the power of big business? • Do government policies work or just make things worse? Macroeconomics – we focus on the UK economy in both the European and the global context. We will be answering questions such as: • How can we make our economy grow to improve our standard of living? • What are the best ways to bring down unemployment? • Should we be worried about inflation? • Do we need to improve our banks to avoid another “credit crunch”? • Why does the UK export so little and import so much? • Are we right to be leaving the European Union? • Why is the rise of China and India such a threat to us? • What can be done to reduce poverty in developing countries? • Is the government right to be cutting people’s benefits? • Will house buyers be able to afford their mortgages when interest rates rise?