Teacher of economics and business across five international schools for last twelve years having spent the 16 years prior employed as a Bank Manager with Lloyds Banking Group (UK)
Examiner with CIE - economics (6 years)
Teacher of economics and business across five international schools for last twelve years having spent the 16 years prior employed as a Bank Manager with Lloyds Banking Group (UK)
Examiner with CIE - economics (6 years)
8.1 Government policies to achieve efficient resource allocation and correct market failure
8.2 Equity and redistribution of income and wealth
8.3 Labour market forces and government intervention
7.1 Utility
7.2 Indifference curves and budget lines
7.3 Efficiency and market failure
7.4 Private costs and benefits, externalities and social costs and benefits
7.5 Types of cost, revenue and profit, short-run and long-run production
7.6 Different market structures
7.7 Growth and survival of firms
PPT covering content of Unit 8.3:
8.3 Labour market forces and government intervention
8.3.1 demand for labour as a derived demand
8.3.2 factors affecting demand for labour in a firm or an occupation
8.3.3 causes of shifts in and movement along the demand curve for labour in a firm or an occupation
8.3.4 marginal revenue product (MRP) theory:
• definition and calculation of marginal revenue product
• derivation of an individual firm’s demand for labour using marginal revenue product
8.3.5 factors affecting the supply of labour to a firm or to an occupation:
• wage and non-wage factors
8.3.6 causes of shifts in and movement along the supply curve of labour to a firm or an occupation
8.3.7 wage determination in perfect markets:
• equilibrium wage rate and employment in a labour market
8.3.8 wage determination in imperfect markets:
• influence of trade unions on wage determination and employment in a labour market
• influence of government on wage determination and employment in a labour market using a national
minimum wage
• influence of monopsony employers on wage determination and employment in a labour market
8.3.9 determination of wage differentials by labour market forces
8.3.10 transfer earnings and economic rent:
• definition of transfer earnings
• definition of economic rent
• factors affecting transfer earnings and economic rent in an occupation
Plus video links to key topics
PPT covering unit 8.2
8.2 Equity and redistribution of income and wealth
8.2.1 difference between equity and equality
8.2.2 difference between equity and efficiency
8.2.3 distinction between absolute poverty and relative poverty
8.2.4 the poverty trap
8.2.5 policies towards equity and equality, for example:
• negative income tax
• universal benefits and means-tested benefits
• universal basic income
video links to key topics
PPT covering:
8.1 Government policies to achieve efficient resource allocation and correct market failure continued
8.1.2 government failure in microeconomic intervention:
• definition of government failure
• causes of government failure
• consequences of government failure
8.2 Equity and redistribution of income and wealth
8.2.1 difference between equity and equality
8.2.2 difference between equity and efficiency
8.2.3 distinction between absolute poverty and relative poverty
8.2.4 the poverty trap
8.2.5 policies towards equity and equality, for example:
• negative income tax
• universal benefits and means-tested benefits
• universal basic income
Links to relevant videos
7.7 Growth and survival of firms
7.7.1 reasons for different sizes of firms
7.7.2 internal growth of firms: organic growth and diversification
7.7.3 external growth of firms – integration (mergers and takeovers):
• methods of integration:
– horizontal
– vertical (forwards and backwards)
– conglomerate
• reasons for integration
• consequences of integration
7.7.4 cartels:
• conditions for an effective cartel
• consequences of a cartel
7.7.5 principal–agent problem arising from differing objectives of shareholders/owners and managers
7.8 Differing objectives and policies of firms
7.8.1 traditional profit-maximising objective of firms
7.8.2 an understanding of other objectives of firms:
• survival
• profit satisficing
• sales maximisation
• revenue maximisation
7.8.3 price discrimination – first, second and third degree:
• conditions for effective price discrimination
• consequences of price discrimination
7.8.4 other pricing policies:
• limit pricing
• predatory pricing
• price leadership
7.8.5 relationship between price elasticity of demand and a firm’s revenue:
• in a normal downward sloping demand curve
• in a kinked demand curve
video links to key topics
PPT covering Unit 7.6:
7.6 Different market structures
7.6.1 perfect competition and imperfect competition: monopoly, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, natural
monopoly
7.6.2 structure of the listed markets as explained by number of buyers and sellers, product differentiation,
degree of freedom of entry and availability of information
7.6.3 barriers to entry and exit:
• legal barriers
• market barriers
• cost barriers
• physical barriers
7.6.4 performance of firms in different market structures:
• revenues and revenue curves
• output in the short run and the long run
• profits in the short run and the long run
• shutdown price in the short run and the long run
• derivation of a firm’s supply curve in a perfectly competitive market
• efficiency and X-inefficiency in the short run and the long run
• contestable markets: features and implications
• price competition and non-price competition
• collusion and the Prisoner’s Dilemma in oligopolistic markets, including a two-player pay-off matrix
7.6.5 definition and calculation of the concentration ratio
video links to key topics
PPT covering Unit 7.5:
7.5 Types of cost, revenue and profit, short-run and long-run production
7.5.1 short-run production function:
• fixed and variable factors of production
• definition and calculation of total product, average product and marginal product
• law of diminishing returns (law of variable proportions)
7.5.2 short-run cost function:
• definition and calculation of fixed costs (FC) and variable costs (VC)
• definition and calculation of total, average and marginal costs (TC, AC, MC), including average total
cost (ATC), total and average fixed costs (TFC, AFC) and total and average variable costs (TVC, AVC)
• explanation of shape of short-run average cost and marginal cost curves
7.5.3 long-run production function:
• no fixed factors of production
• returns to scale
7.5.4 long-run cost function:
• explanation of shape of long-run average cost curve
• concept of minimum efficient scale
7.5.5 relationship between economies of scale and decreasing average costs
7.5.6 internal and external economies of scale
7.5.7 internal and external diseconomies of scale
7.5.8 definition and calculation of revenue: total, average and marginal revenue (TR, AR, MR)
7.5.9 definition of normal, subnormal and supernormal profit
7.5.10 calculation of supernormal and subnormal profit
video links to key topics
PPT covering Unit 7.4:
7.4 Private costs and benefits, externalities and social costs and benefits
7.4.1 definition and calculation of social costs (SC) as the sum of private costs (PC) and external costs (EC),
including marginal social costs (MSC), marginal private costs (MPC) and marginal external costs (MEC)
7.4.2 definition and calculation of social benefits (SB) as the sum of private benefits (PB) and external benefits
(EB), including marginal social benefits (MSB), marginal private benefits (MPB) and marginal external
benefits (MEB)
7.4.3 definition of positive externality and negative externality
7.4.4 positive and negative externalities of both consumption and production
7.4.5 deadweight welfare losses arising from positive and negative externalities
7.4.6 asymmetric information and moral hazard
7.4.7 use of costs and benefits in analysing decisions (knowledge of net present value is not required)
video links to key topics
PPT covering Unit 7.3
7.3 Efficiency and market failure
7.3.1 definitions of productive efficiency and allocative efficiency
7.3.2 conditions for productive efficiency and allocative efficiency
7.3.3 Pareto optimality
7.3.4 definition of dynamic efficiency
7.3.5 definition of market failure
7.3.6 reasons for market failure
PPT covering the topics of Utility and indifference curves.
Each page is question based to determine prior knowledge - good for flipped learning.
7.1 Utility
7.1.1 definition and calculation of total utility and marginal utility
7.1.2 diminishing marginal utility
7.1.3 equi-marginal principle
7.1.4 derivation of an individual demand curve
7.1.5 limitations of marginal utility theory and its assumptions of rational behaviour
7.2 Indifference curves and budget lines
7.2.1 meaning of an indifference curve and a budget line
7.2.2 causes of a shift in the budget line
7.2.3 income, substitution and price effects for normal, inferior and Giffen goods
7.2.4 limitations of the model of indifference curve
IGCSE Econ - 8 mark past paper questions and structured answers.
77 past paper questions (8 mark) across the syllabus with detailed answers providing clear “discuss…” points with evident evaluation.
Ideal for revision purposes or end of chapter review.
6.3.1 The importance of globalisation:
• The concept of globalisation and the reasons for it
• Opportunities and threats of globalisation for businesses
• Why governments might introduce import tariffs and import quotas
6.3.2 Reasons for the importance and growth of multinational companies (MNCs):
• Benefits to a business of becoming a multinational and the impact on its stakeholders
• Potential benefits to a country and/or economy where a MNC is located, e.g. jobs, exports, increased choice, investment
• Potential drawbacks to a country and/or economy where a MNC is located, e.g. reduced sales of local businesses, repatriation of profits
6.3.3 The impact of exchange rate changes: • Depreciation and appreciation of an exchange rate
• How exchange rate changes can affect businesses as importers and exporters of products, e.g. prices, competitiveness, profitability
Questions and suggested answers
6.2.1 Environmental concerns and ethical issues as both opportunities and constraints for businesses:
• How business activity can impact on the environment, e.g. global warming
• The concept of externalities: possible external costs and external benefits of business decisions
• Sustainable development; how business activity can contribute to this
• How and why business might respond to environmental pressures and opportunities, e.g. pressure groups
• The role of legal controls over business activity affecting the environment, e.g. pollution controls
• Ethical issues a business might face: conflicts between profits and ethics
• How business might react and respond to ethical issues, e.g. child labour
“including questions and suggested answers”
5.1 Business finance: needs and sources
5.2 Cash-flow forecasting and working capital
5.3 Income statements
5.4 Statement of financial position
5.5 Analysis of accounts