A2 exam tip: "On the Global Economy"

"On the Global Economy" - when you see this in an exam question it is usually useful to compare the effects on an LEDC and a developed country, they are usually linked and it provides an opportunity for deeper analysis and evaluation.

A2 - Agricultural subsidies June 2014 Q2b

Worth spending some time on this one as you need to blend your context learning of specific LEDC countries and EU, USA, New Zealand with some A2 and AS  knowledge, good resource link here on the latter - Tutor2U:

http://www.tutor2u.net/economics/reference/government-intervention-producer-subsidies

A2: FDI is more important than trade (trade patterns), discuss?

Good article here on why less trade may not be a cause for concern. Trade patterns in the rcenet past may have appeared to have changed from imports from USA, Germany or Japan to imports from China but often 'Made in China' meant low assembly costs in China but value added in USA for example. Today 'Made in China' more often means what is says as China moves up the production line to include value added; this is further aided by FDI deals that have been secured between US/EU governments and firms with China. For more read here:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/48299f58-7176-11e4-b178-00144feabdc0.html#axzz49fVzAFxU 

A2: What is the WTO?

Despite de-globalization the WTO remains a powerful institution in the world and one you need to be fully aware of:

https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/whatis_e.htm

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-22/u-s-commerce-department-to-put-256-tariff-on-chinese-steel

A2: using corruption as an example

Just looking through one of your practice essays and reminded me corruption is not always well explained - so please do use the following Tutor2 resource to sharpen up on this:

http://www.tutor2u.net/economics/blog/corruption-should-you-use-it-as-an-example-in-a-question-on-development-economics

6EC04 Revision

Couple of reminders here:

Take some time familiarising yourself with International Competiveness data and what it means for at least two countries of your choice: http://reports.weforum.org/global-competitiveness-report-2015-2016/

Try out these tricky essay questions, can just be plans at this late stage:

Q1a, Q2a, Q3a and 3b

http://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/International%20Advanced%20Level/Economics/2013/Exam%20materials/WEC04_01_que_20150123.pdf

AS Micro economics quizzes

http://www.tutor2u.net/economics/blog/unit-1-micro-revision-quiz-and-game-on-market-prices

http://www.tutor2u.net/economics/blog/as-micro-weekly-revision-quiz-week-1

http://www.tutor2u.net/economics/quizzes/as/basiceconomicproblem1/quiz.html


http://www.tutor2u.net/economics/quizzes/as/ped1/quiz.html


http://www.tutor2u.net/economics/blog/unit-1-micro-10-questions-on-government-intervention scroll down for quiz


http://www.tutor2u.net/economics/blog/unit-1-micro-revision-on-the-price-mechanism scroll down for quiz

http://www.tutor2u.net/economics/blog/unit-1-micro-key-term-glossary-markets-and-market-failure scroll down for quiz

http://www.tutor2u.net/economics/blog/unit-1-micro-revision-presentation-on-externalities scroll down for quiz

Strengths and weaknesses of regulation

Price capping - http://www.tutor2u.net/economics/blog/a2-economics-revision-efficiency-and-price-intervention-in-markets

Performance targets - consider problems with targets in the NHS and train service regarding punctuality.

Evaluating competition policy - http://www.economicsonline.co.uk/Business_economics/Evaluation_of_competition_policy.html

- http://www.tutor2u.net/economics/reference/government-intervention-regulations

Sample Assessment Material new AS and A Level

The link is here:

http://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/A%20Level/economics-a/2015/specification-and-sample-assessment-materials/Economics_AS_Collated_SAM.pdf

New A Level case studies

Economic thinkers

National happiness

Rational or irrational consumers

The Great Depression

Global Financial Crisis

Financial Sector

What is Quantitative Easing?

Worth remembering that the key tip with QE is ensuring you have a straightforward explanation. QE has been used by the Bank of England to increase the money supply by pumping £375 billion into banks and other financial institutions. This increase in the money supply will eventually, it is hoped, result in credit easing thus ensuring households and firms will be able to borrow cheaply. With a resulting increase in Consumption and Investment the UK should be experiencing demand pull inflation and thus avoiding deflation which is associated with recession and rising unemployment.

The side effects associated with QE in the short term:

Rising inequality and increased money supply washes into rising demand for assets - house price boom, vintage car prices soaring and rising commodity prices makining those owning these assets better off.

The pound depreciating given the rise in the supply of sterling.

Whilst remembering to keep it simple - the following links provide some useful background knowledge:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15198789

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetarypolicy/pages/qe/default.aspx