Years 12 and 13
Economics as a subject has been reinvigorated this year to have a healthy Year 12 cohort, having proved a popular choice amongst students. Economics is not offered at HGS at GCSE level and is a subject which can be chosen by an array of students, whether they are numerically or analytically inclined. Economics is a social science and “Economics is concerned with how society sets about meeting people’s demands for things they want to consume. It looks at the production, consumption and sale of goods and services, both at the level of individual products, firms and consumers and at the level of the total production and consumption by countries. It also compares alternative ways of using limited resources that countries and individuals possess and considers how efficient and/or fair such alternatives are.”
Students learn about the workings of individual choices, choices made by firms and why governments make the decisions they do for the macroeconomic outlook of their nation. Students will develop key skills during the course that will benefit them in all areas of their life including the ability to communicate with people both with and without an economics background. Numerical skills allowing them to understand key data and how this influences policy makers, along with problem solving, because we consider the impact of choices on real world situations. Students will also develop analytical and evaluative skills along with a greater cultural awareness due to the perceived impact policies have on different communities.
Students will develop their knowledge and understanding of real world, current situations as well as the impact of previous crisis’. Throughout the course we will look at the government’s role in protecting the environment, the response to the 2008 financial crisis, the monetary and fiscal response to COVID-19 as well as the choices made by firms in competition with each other, Students will be able to analyse these situations and consider alternatives to the policies that actually occurred.
The course considers different economic theorists throughout including the work of John Maynard Keynes, Adam Smith, Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek. Through further reading other economists can be considered and bought into the course to show greater depth of talent and economic viewpoints.
Edexcel Economics A, is the exam board, there is no coursework and the students study the following themes with 3 exams at the end of the course.
Theme 1- Introduction to markets and market failure
Theme 2- The UK economy- performance and policies
Theme 3- Business behaviour and the labour market
Theme 4- A Global Perspective
Year 12
| Term 1 | Term 2 | Term 3 | Term 4 | Term 5 | Term 6 |
|---|
| Economics as a Social Science, Positive and Normative Statements, The economic Problem, Production Possibility Frontiers, Specialisation and the Division of Labour, Rational Decision Making, Alternative views of consumer behaviour, Demand, Supply, Price determination, Price mechanism, Price, income and cross elasticities of demand | Elasticity of supply, Price determination, consumer and producer surplus, price income and cross elasticities of demand, Free market economies mixed economy and command economy, Types of market failure, Externalities, Public goods, Information gaps, Government intervention in markets, Government failure | Sizes and types of firms, business growth, demergers, revenue, costs, economies and diseconomies of scale and normal supernormal profits and losses | Business objectives, Efficiency, Perfect competiton, Monopoly, Monopolistic competition, Oligopoly | Contestability, Monopsony, Government intervention, The impact of government intervention, Supply of labour, Demand for labour, Wage determination | Index numbers, reading graphs and charts, real vs nominal work, Inflation, Economic Growth, Employment and Unemployment, Balance of Payments, The characteristics of AD, Consumption, Investment, Government expenditure, Net trade, The characteristics of AS, SRAS, LRAS |
Year 13
| Term 1 | Term 2 | Term 3 | Term 4 | Term 5 | Term 6 |
|---|
| National income, Injections and Withdrawals, Equilibrium level of real national output, The multiplier, Inflation, Employment and Unemployment, Balance of Payments, Economic Growth | Causes of growth, Output gaps, Trade cycle, The impact of economic growth, Possible macroeconomic objectives, Demand side policies, supply side policies, policy and objective conflicts | Globalisation, Specialisation and trade, patterns of trade, terms of trade, Trading blocs and the WTO, Restrictions on free trade, Balance of Payments, Exchange rates, International Competitiveness, Macroeconomic policies in a global context | Absolute and relative poverty, Inequality, Macroeconomic policies in a global context, Measures of development, Factors influencing growth and development, Strategies influencing growth and development, Public expenditure, Taxation, Public sector finances, Macroeconomic policies in a global context, Role of Financal Markets, Market failure in the financial sector, Role of Central Banks, Macroeconomic Policies in a global context | Revision/ Exam Practice/ Exams | Revision/ Exam Practice/ Exams |
