A Level Economics

Why Study Economics?

A-level Economics will give you an excellent understanding of how economies allocate their scarce resources to meet the needs and wants of their citizens. You will develop a greater understanding of the economic problems which face individuals, firms and governments on a local, national and global level and the alternative ways these problems can be resolved.

You will investigate microeconomic topics such as how individual decisions impact economic outcomes, the importance of competition, how markets operate and why they fail and how the distribution of income and wealth is affected. At the same time you will learn about macroeconomics, looking at the ‘big picture’ of how our national economy fits into the global context, the global impact of financial markets and monetary policy and the operation of the international economy.

What are the Career Opportunities?

An A-level in Economics will benefit you if you are looking to go on to study economics, business or finance at university. The skills you acquire will help you no matter what degree course you choose.

You may choose to pursue a career in a directly related field such as banking or finance. The A-level course in Economics will stand you in good stead by giving you an insight and understanding of the economic forces that impact your day to day activities.

Alternatively, you may decide to follow a career path which isn’t directly related to your course of study. The analytical and evaluation skills that you will have developed will be useful whatever path you choose in the future.

Course Outline

Over this two year course, you will study areas and topics drawn from both micro and macroeconomics.

Microeconomics:

• the economic problem and economic methodology
• individual economic decision making
• price determination in a competitive market
• production, costs and revenue
• perfect competition, imperfectly competitive markets and monopoly
• the labour market
• the distribution of income and wealth: poverty and inequality
• the market mechanism, market failure and government intervention in markets.

Macroeconomics:

• the measurement of macroeconomic performance
• how the macroeconomy works
• economic performance
• financial markets and monetary policy
• fiscal policy and supply-side policies
• the international economy.