A-Level Economics Lecture Notes Review

Application Handbook Overview

  • Contains over 150 real-world examples for A-Level Economics.
  • Integrate examples in analyses to show research and understanding.
  • Learn an example for each essay plan or analysis point.

Theme One: Key Concepts

  • Opportunity Cost: US military spending $751bn/year.
  • Specialisation: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing's chip production (90% of advanced chips).
  • Division of Labour: Tesla's production processes.
  • Economic Systems: Examples of command (North Korea), free market (Hong Kong), mixed (UK).
  • Goods:
    • Inferior: Greggs during recessions.
    • Normal: iPhones.
    • Luxury: Rolex.
  • Price Elasticity:
    • Inelastic: Diabetes medication.
    • Elastic: Chanel handbags.

Theme Two: Inflation & Employment

  • Inflation: UK peaked at 11.1% in 2022; fiscal drag raises tax revenue.
  • Unemployment Types: Structural, frictional, seasonal, cyclical.
  • National Well-Being: Average life satisfaction: 7.45/10.

Theme Three: Market Structures

  • Market Types: Perfect competition (48,000 hair businesses), monopolistic competition (7,700 cafes), oligopoly (66% UK supermarket share), monopoly (Google's 93% search engine share).
  • Economic Policies & Issues: Price regulation, profit regulation.

Theme Four: International Trade

  • Trade Concepts: Absolute advantage (Saudi Arabia's oil), comparative advantage (India's garment exports).
  • Economic Challenges: Overdependence on oil (Saudi Arabia), foreign currency gaps (Argentina).
  • Global Development: FDI (India attracting $84bn in 2024), infrastructure development (Kenya's railway creating 300,000 jobs).