H2 Economics notes

H2 Economics - syllabus 9570, 2026

• Scarcity as the Central Economic Problem

  See why scarcity forces choices, measure opportunity cost, read a production possibility curve and understand how consumers, firms and governments make decisions.

• Price Mechanism and its Functions / Demand and Supply Analysis and its Applications

  Explain how changes in demand and supply move prices, quantities, wages and revenue, with the diagrams JC exams expect.

• Price elasticities of demand and supply, income and cross elasticities of demand

  Measure how strongly buyers and sellers respond to changes in price, income and related prices, and use elasticity to explain revenue, price changes and policy.

• Government Intervention in Markets

  Explain how taxes, subsidies, price controls and quotas change prices, quantities and who gains, and judge whether they work.

• Objectives of Firms / Cost and Revenue

  Explain how firms' costs and revenues change with output, how they choose output and price, and why they may pursue goals other than profit.

• Firms' Decisions and Strategies

  Explain how firms compete: on price, through differentiation and innovation, by growing or colluding, and how their strategies affect consumers, rivals and efficiency.

• Microeconomic Objectives and Policies

  Explain why markets fail through externalities, public goods and information failure, and judge the policies governments use to correct them.

• Introduction to Macroeconomics

  Explain how total spending (AD) and total production (AS) determine a country's real output and price level, and why spending has a multiplied effect.

• Standard of Living and Macroeconomics Indicators

  Measure living standards with real GDP and GNI per capita, prices, unemployment, inequality and HDI, and judge what the indicators do and do not show.

• Macroeconomic Issues

  Explain the main macroeconomic problems: weak or unbalanced growth, unemployment, inflation, deflation and trade imbalances, and their effects on living standards.

• Macroeconomic Policies

  Explain and evaluate fiscal, monetary (including Singapore's exchange rate policy) and supply-side policies, and how governments handle conflicts between objectives.

• Globalisation, International Trade and Economic Co-operation

  Explain globalisation, why countries trade, the effects of trade on consumers, producers and the economy, and evaluate protectionism and trade agreements.

Original teaching notes