Specification

 

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Specification
(PDF), Last Updated: 05 March 2012
For first teaching from September 2008. For first award of AS Level in Summer 2009. For first award of A Level in Summer 2010.

The revised GCE Economics specification is available at two levels: AS and A Level. Students can take the AS course as a final qualification or as the first half of the A Level qualification. Students who wish to obtain a full A level qualification must also complete the second half of the course, which is referred to as A2.

The course comprises four units: two at AS level and two at A2 level. These are outlined in the table below:


Unit Summary of Content

AS 1: Markets and Prices

  • Scarcity, choice, opportunity cost and rational decision-making
  • The benefits of specialisation
  • Markets, demand, supply, price determination and elasticity
  • Consumer surplus and producer surplus
  • Economic rent and transfer earnings
  • Allocative and productive efficiency
  • Why markets may fail, government intervention and government failure
AS 2: The National Economy
  • The scope of macroeconomics
  • The circular flow of income
  • Macroeconomic policy objectives of government
  • Measures of economic performance
  • Aggregate demand, aggregate supply and macroeconomic equilibrium
  • The operation of government economic policy
A2 1: Business Economics
  • The nature of production
  • Decision-making in the short and long runs
  • The growth of the firm
  • The objectives of the firm
  • The competitive environment
  • Market dominance and competition policy
  • Business and the environment
A2 2: The Global Economy
  • Reasons for international trade
  • Free trade and protection
  • The United Kingdom balance of payments
  • Exchange rates
  • The European Union
  • Globalisation, trade, aid and economic development
  • Government macroeconomic policy in an open economy