G3 Economics notes

G3 Economics - syllabus K343, 2027

• The basic economic problem

  Scarcity, the factors of production, opportunity cost and production possibility curves.

• Demand, supply and price

  How markets work, what shifts demand and supply, equilibrium, and why prices change.

• Price elasticity of demand and supply

  Calculate and interpret PED and PES, explain what affects them, and use PED to predict revenue.

• Market and mixed economies, market failure and intervention

  How market and mixed economies work, why markets fail, and the tools governments use to correct them.

• Money, banking and households

  What money is, how central and commercial banks work, and why households spend, save and borrow.

• Workers and wages

  How people choose jobs, how wages are set and why they differ, labour mobility and division of labour.

• Firms and production

  Types and sizes of firms, mergers, economies of scale, and how firms choose and use factors of production.

• Costs, revenue, objectives and markets

  Calculate costs and revenue, explain what firms aim for, and compare competitive and monopoly markets.

• Macroeconomic aims and fiscal policy

  What governments aim for, how aims conflict, the budget, taxation, and how fiscal policy works.

• Monetary and supply-side policy

  How interest rates, the money supply and the exchange rate steer the economy, and how supply-side policies raise capacity.

• Economic growth

  How growth is measured with real GDP, what causes it, its costs and benefits, recessions, and policies to promote growth.

• Employment and unemployment

  How unemployment is measured, its types and consequences, and policies to reduce it.

• Inflation

  How inflation is measured with the CPI, its causes and consequences, and policies to control it.

• Living standards and poverty

  Measuring living standards with GDP per head and the HDI, why they differ, and the causes of and policies against poverty.

• Population and development

  What drives population change, the effects of size and age structure, and why countries differ in development.

• Specialisation, free trade and globalisation

  Why countries specialise and trade, globalisation and MNCs, and the methods, reasons and consequences of protection.

• Foreign exchange rates

  What exchange rates are, how a floating rate is determined, why it changes, and how it affects exports and imports.

• The current account of the balance of payments

  The four parts of the current account, why deficits and surpluses arise, their effects, and policies for stability.