ECONOMICS A LEVEL
Brief Description
Students who study economics will find it a fascinating subject because it enables them to reflect on what is going on in the world around them. One Economist said that Economics ‘is a study of mankind in the everyday business of life’. It has a high status with top universities.
Economics revolves around the central economic problem; that is, our infinite wants compared to our scarce resources. Scarcity of resources means that we have to make decisions about what to produce with our resources, how to produce the goods that we have decided to produce and how to distribute what we have produced; who gets what?
Advanced level Economics introduces students to the different branches and to the different schools of thought that exist within the discipline. Students will be introduced to microeconomics and macroeconomics. Microeconomics focuses on how individual markets allocate resources, and also how they sometimes fail to do this. Macroeconomics is the study of the bigger economic picture focusing on issues such as inflation and unemployment and how various institutions, such as national governments, try to manipulate the macro economy for the benefit of us all.
There are 2 units at AS and a further 2 units at A2.
Unit 1: Markets and market failure:
Unit 2: The National Economy
Unit 3: Business Economics and the Distribution of
Income
Unit 4: The National and International Economy
All of the units are assessed by examination. For more detailed information about this course go to www.aqa.org.uk/qual/gceasa/eco.html
Specific Entry Requirements
Grade B in Mathematics and English