Unit 1 Micro: Using the Cost-Benefit Principle
Updated: 2012-04-30 16:08:43
I always ask of my students that they try to put policy issues and decisions into context. The effective use of context - either in a domestic or external setting or using recent history as a guide can greatly improve evaluation marks in exam essays. Our aim in a revision session today was to build some of that context with respect to some of the key issues facing the UK economy.
A starting point was the short and medium-term impact of the recession and how this is shaping the strength and pattern of recovery as we head through 2011 and into 2012. As befits an open economy heavily integrated into the European and global economic and financial system, many key recent developments on growth, jobs, inflation and trade are impacted by external demand and supply-side shocks and headwinds.
I have to confess that I don’t actually know any One Direction songs but given that they have just completed a sell out tour of New Zealand and reduced teenage girls to levels of hysteria not seen since The Beatles, I thought I would use them to review elasticity as we approach our school exams.
Yesterday I spent a fascinating evening in the company of Aidan Heavey, Founder and CEO of Tullow Oil plc, Africa’s leading independent oil exploration business and the top performer among FTSE-100 listed businesses on the UK stock exchange. It has approximately 100 production and exploration licenses in 22 countries.
Here is a revision blog on some of the key economic challenges facing the seventeen member nations of the Euro Zone or Euro Area
It was great to host Geoff and Mo (see below) here at King’s in Madrid last Friday as 100 students from three schools gathered for the AS and A2 Macro Revision Workshops that have toured the UK this spring – a fantastic boost to their study programmes a few weeks before exam season starts.
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| Peter Klein | Did you know this year is the semicentennial of Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions? David Kaiser offers some reflections at Nature. At the heart of Kuhn’s account stood the tricky notion of the paradigm. British philosopher Margaret Masterman famously isolated 21 distinct ways in which Kuhn used the slippery term throughout [...]
Here is Chart 4 in our occasional quiz! Today’s chart focuses on the changing nature of the UK labour market in recent years. There are two data series to identify - in each case the chart shows the monthly level of each variable - look carefully at the two axes, a split scale is being used. Data A refers to the right hand axis and Data B refers to the left hand axis.
Can you identify what is being shown here? The answer to chart quiz 3 can be found below.
| Peter Klein | The boys from orgtheory.net were parking in our maintenance lot, so we had to put up signs. (Spotted in Champaign, IL.) Filed under: - Klein -, Ephemera
There have been a lot of excellent resources on this blog relating to the different approaches that the government might take to reduce the negative externalities of excessive alcohol consumption. But most of them (for example, taxes and minimum prices) also affect those who enjoy modest amounts of alcohol such as a glass of wine (or two) with dinner. Why should these people pay a much higher price when they do not cause any negative externalities?
Our speaker line up is complete for Tutor2u’s 10th Anniversary Economics Teacher National Conference! We are delighted to have four outstanding economists and communicators to talk on a range of current issues and the day provides a terrific opportunity to celebrate our marvellous subject and enrich our passion for what we do in the classroom ahead of the summer break! Our keynote speakers are as follows:
Here is chart 2 in our occasional chart quiz series. This data is for an industry in the news in the UK that suffered a steep downturn during the recession but now seems to be battling back strongly with a high percentage of output destined for overseas export markets. Which product is being shown in this data chart? The answer to the first quiz can be found below.
The supply of health care in the UK is an important economic, social and political issue. Demand for health care treatments grows year by year as the population expands, ages and as incomes rise. For millions of people private health care is regarded as a necessity even though the NHS provides a vast range of services free at the point of use. Treatments such as cosmetic surgery, hand surgery, laser eye treatment, physiotherapy, weight loss services and hip and knee replacements are offered by a range of private sector providers in addition to state health care facilities.
We are making frequent use of Twitter over the coming weeks to showcase useful revision resources and flag up good economics links that will help you prepare for the AS and A2 exams. Please check out the revision hash-tags #aseconomics (Units 1 and 2) and #a2economics (Units 3 and 4).
You can find Jim Riley’s tweets @tutor2u and Geoff Riley’s tweets @tutor2u_econ. Plenty of other teachers will be using the hash-tags to support their own revision materials.
The hash-tag #ecbusteach is also in common usage among the Economics and Business teaching community - some great links and resources there for teaching colleagues.
Show and explain how a monopolist maximises profit in a market
Analyse the equilibrium price and output equilibrium under monopoly and perfect competition. Show and explain the deadweight welfare loss under monopoly and consider when a monopoly might be more productively efficient than a competitive market.
What is the connection between economies of scale and the minimum efficient scale?
Here is a planned answer to an exam question
“Discuss how the price elasticity of supply of coffee might differ in the short run and long run.”
Why does the law of diminishing returns imply that average total cost is “U-shaped” in the short run?
Here is a planned answer to an exam question on producer surplus
“The demand for cider falls. Using a diagram, explain what happens to producer surplus.”
Here is an update on the UK trade / current account of the balance of payments figures for 2011. Has there been a noticeable improvement in our trade performance given the 25% depreciation of sterling in recent years? Which parts of the trade accounts have improved? What are some of the key underlying trends? Follow the charts and the brief commentary on each.
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That is a big call, with candidates such as the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, and Chernobyl. However, the difference with these examples is the negative externalities resulted from a single catastrophic event. The negative externalities of neonicotnoids occur because of the widespread use of insecticide and only now have studies proven its devastating effects.
Here is a planned answer to an exam question
“Assess whether the demand for rice is likely to be price elastic or price inelastic”
This blog focuses on some of the reasons why many takeovers and mergers fail to bring about the synergy gains and improvements in shareholder value that were predicted before the integration of the businesses.
: Username Passw Forgot your password Not a member Please register tutor2u Economics Business Stds Politics Intl Bacc Sociology Law Religious Stds Management History Geography Give It a Go Other Blogs Search tutor2u Contact tutor2u Online tutoring Latest News Buy Resources Teacher Newsletters Facebook AS A2 Blog GCSE Blog Revision Materials Economics Shop Teacher CPD Revision Workshops econoMAX Business Blog Biz Quiz Bus Studies Shop Teacher CPD Revision Workshops Business Cafe Politics Blog Revision Materials Politics Shop Teacher CPD FPTP TOK Blog IB Economics Blog IB Bus Management Blog Sociology Blog GCSE Revision Materials Shop Blog Study Notes Quizzes Blog Study Notes Strategy Blog Strategy Theory Marketing Blog Marketing Theory Finance Blog Finance Theory History Blog Geography Blog
: Username Passw Forgot your password Not a member Please register tutor2u Economics Business Stds Politics Intl Bacc Sociology Law Religious Stds Management History Geography Give It a Go Other Blogs Search tutor2u Contact tutor2u Online tutoring Latest News Buy Resources Teacher Newsletters Facebook AS A2 Blog GCSE Blog Revision Materials Economics Shop Teacher CPD Revision Workshops econoMAX Business Blog Biz Quiz Bus Studies Shop Teacher CPD Revision Workshops Business Cafe Politics Blog Revision Materials Politics Shop Teacher CPD FPTP TOK Blog IB Economics Blog IB Bus Management Blog Sociology Blog GCSE Revision Materials Shop Blog Study Notes Quizzes Blog Study Notes Strategy Blog Strategy Theory Marketing Blog Marketing Theory Finance Blog Finance Theory History Blog Geography Blog
: Username Passw Forgot your password Not a member Please register tutor2u Economics Business Stds Politics Intl Bacc Sociology Law Religious Stds Management History Geography Give It a Go Other Blogs Search tutor2u Contact tutor2u Online tutoring Latest News Buy Resources Teacher Newsletters Facebook AS A2 Blog GCSE Blog Revision Materials Economics Shop Teacher CPD Revision Workshops econoMAX Business Blog Biz Quiz Bus Studies Shop Teacher CPD Revision Workshops Business Cafe Politics Blog Revision Materials Politics Shop Teacher CPD FPTP TOK Blog IB Economics Blog IB Bus Management Blog Sociology Blog GCSE Revision Materials Shop Blog Study Notes Quizzes Blog Study Notes Strategy Blog Strategy Theory Marketing Blog Marketing Theory Finance Blog Finance Theory History Blog Geography Blog
For those of you who love your football and the business numbers behind it, here is a splendid piece of analysis on the changing business fortunes of Newcastle United FC, currently riding high in the Premier League. Highly recommended reading.
The price of carbon emissions permits inside the EU’s emissions trading system has fallen to a record low. A sharp fall in total CO2 emissions in Europe has been the driving factor behind the fall in the carbon price. Last year Germany’s CO2 emissions fell by 1.2% and the UK saw a 7.2% reduction. The overall decline in the 27 country ETS was 2.4% in 2011 causing the carbon price to drop below 7 Euros per tonne.
Here is a planned answer to an exam question on producer subsidies
“Discuss the likely effects of a EU beef subsidy on the market for beef production in Wales”
Distinguish between a fixed and a managed floating exchange rate system
Why do economists often find ‘real’ figures to be of more use than ‘nominal’ or ‘money figures?
In the past we have discussed some of the long term economic and social costs of a persistently high rate of unemployment and we have used the term hysteresis effects. It seems that a new term is being used to cover some of the consequences of millions of people being out of work - unemployment scarring - and this revision blog looks at some of the causes of this.
As the Royal Mail moves towards an initial public offering the business is searching for as many ways as possible of expanding their revenue base to maintain the viability of hundreds of local post offices. One service is the lucrative market for passport and driving licence photos - a product that I suspect has a fairly low price elasticity of demand, I paid £5 for 5 photos in a train station the other week! This Channel 4 news video looks at the battle between the Post Office and independent private sector photo retailers who claim the government is skewing the market against independent shops by giving the Post Office a contract to renew driving licences and threatening to do the same for passports.
Real disposable income (RDI) measures income after taxes and benefits, adjusted for the effects of inflation. It is a guide to the quantity of goods and services that people can buy after the tax and benefit system has adjusted original incomes and we have made allowance for the effect of price changes.