REVISED GCE AS & A Level
Scheme of Work
Economics
This is an exemplar scheme of work which
supports the teaching and learning of the
Economics specification
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
GCE Economics
Contents
Page
Introduction
1
Unit AS 1: Markets and Prices
5
Unit AS 2: The National Economy
19
Unit A2 1: Business Economics
29
Unit A2 2: The Global Economy
39
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Introduction
CCEA has developed new GCE specifications for first teaching from September 2008. This scheme
of work has been designed to support you in introducing the new specification.
The scheme of work provides suggestions for organising and supporting students’ learning
activities. It is intended to assist you in developing your own scheme of work and should not be
considered as being prescriptive or exhaustive.
The time allocations have been based on a notional 120 hours a year of guided learning hours for
the AS and A2 courses.
Please remember that this document contains suggestions only. It is the specification on which
assessment is based and which details the knowledge, understanding and skills that students need to
acquire during the course. The scheme of work should therefore be used in conjunction with the
specification.
Published resources and web references included in the scheme of work have been checked and
were correct at the time of writing. However they may be updated by the time that the specification
is introduced. You should therefore check with publishers and websites for the latest versions.
CCEA accepts no responsibility for the content of particular publications or websites referred to.
CCEA will be making Word versions of these schemes of work available on its subject micro-site.
This will enable you to use them as a foundation for developing your own schemes of work which
are matched to your teaching and learning environment and the needs of your students.
I hope you find this aspect of our support package useful in your teaching.
Best wishes
Nick Heard
Principal Officer
Economics
E-mail
Telephone
nheard@ccea.org.uk
028 90 261413
1
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
2
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Exemplar Scheme of Work:
GCE Economics
3
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
4
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Unit AS 1:
Markets and Prices
5
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
GCE Economics: Scheme of Work
Unit AS 1: Markets and Prices
Prior Learning: No specific qualifications are required though students should have adequate levels of literacy and numeracy. Students who have
previously studied GCSE Economics may be able to progress more quickly through certain topics and could be provided with extension work to prepare for
unit A2 1.
Basic Reading:
• Sloman, J, Essentials of Economics, 3rd Edition, FT Prentice Hall.
• Anderton, Alain (2006) Economics, 4th edition, Causeway Press.
• www.tutor2u.net - Revision notes for AS economics.
• Economics Review (ER) Magazine - (Philip Allan Updates, www.philipallan.co.uk)
Assessment: Students should be given regular practice in completing data response questions and writing essays, making use of CCEA past and specimen
papers wherever possible. Teacher-designed or commercially available multiple choice tests can be used as diagnostic assessment instruments to help
identify gaps in understanding.
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
The basic economic
problem of scarcity and
choice (3 hours)
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Teaching and Learning
Activities
Students should be able to:
• understand the nature of economic
resources; and
• appreciate that the finite supply and
alternative uses of resources creates
the need for individuals, organisations
and communities to make choices.
Sloman: Introduction
Tutor2u: Economic resources.
Scarcity and choice in resource
allocation
Anderton: Unit 1
6
• Give students a list of resources
and ask them to classify these as
land, labour, capital or enterprise
• Discuss the different types of
scarcity faced by rich and poor
societies
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
The basic economic
problem of scarcity and
choice (cont.)
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Teaching and Learning
Activities
Students should be able to:
ER, September 2006: PPFs
• Discuss the difference between
renewable and non-renewable
resources
• Use local newspapers to
illustrate the economic problem
in a local context
• Illustrate the nature of enterprise
by examining the biographies of
successful entrepreneurs
Opportunity cost
(4 hours)
• understand the concept of
opportunity cost;
• understand the concept of a
production possibility curve or
frontier; and
• use these concepts as tools for
analysing and evaluating the choices
facing individuals, organisations and
societies.
Sloman: Introduction
Tutor2u:
Scarcity and choice in resource
allocation
Production possibility frontier
(PPF)
Anderton: Unit 1
7
• Discuss the different types of
opportunity cost faced by
individuals and government
• Discuss the possible causes and
costs to society of an economy
operating inside its PPF
• Numerical exercises to show that
opportunity cost may not be
constant and may vary with the
slope of the PPF
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Rational decisionmaking (2 hours)
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Teaching and Learning
Activities
Sloman: Introduction
Tutor2u:
Scarcity and choice in resource
allocation
• Illustrate the concept of the
margin by considering the
spending of a typical student and
examining changes in spending
patterns over time
Students should be able to:
• understand that economic choices are
made at the margin;
• understand that decision making
involves weighing up the costs and
benefits of alternative options;
• Discuss the extent to which
consumers are prepared to be
altruistic by paying more for
items which are “fair trade” or
environmentally friendly
• understand that costs and benefits may
be monetary or non-monetary;
• understand that economic agents
respond to incentives; and
• Show the impact of globalisation
and technological development
by comparing shopping today
with shopping a decade ago
• understand that globalisation and
technological development have
changed the context in which
decisions are made.
The benefits of
specialisation (3 hours)
• explain the impacts of specialisation at
a personal, regional and national level;
and
Tutor2u:
Specialisation and trade
Anderton: Unit 2
8
• Use classroom simulation to
show how specialisation and
exchange allow both parties to
have more consumption than
through self-sufficiency
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
The benefits of
specialisation (cont.)
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Students should be able to:
• analyse how specialisation and
voluntary economic exchange may
lead to higher living standards.
Markets as an allocative
mechanism (3 hours)
Teaching and Learning
Activities
• understand the meaning and nature of
markets;
• explain the rationing and signalling
functions of price in a market; and
• Examine historical examples of
regional and national
specialisation
Sloman: Chapter 1
Tutor2u:
The price mechanism
Anderton: Unit 15
• Ask students to predict the
impact on a variety of markets of
changes in demand and supply
(technical analysis is not required
at this stage)
• Use the above exercise to
introduce, at a very basic level,
concepts such as elasticity and
time lags
• understand the objectives of economic
agents such as consumers, workers and
shareholders.
• Examine the likely response of
economic agents to changes in
market conditions
9
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
The basic market model
of demand, supply and
price determination
(10 hours)
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Teaching and Learning
Activities
Students should be able to:
• understand the distinction between a
movement along and a shift of
demand and supply curves;
• explain the causes of such movements
and shifts;
• explain how supply and demand
determine equilibrium price and
quantity in competitive product and
factor markets;
Sloman: Chapter 1
Tutor2u:
Theory of demand
Theory of supply
Market equilibrium price
Anderton: Units 4, 5, 6, and 7
• Emphasise difference between
changes in demand which
impact upon consumers and
changes in supply which impact
upon producers
• Practise converting information
in prose into a demand and
supply diagram
• Emphasise that a change in
demand does not cause a change
in supply and that a change in
supply does not cause a change
in demand
• explain how changes in one market
may have effects on other markets;
and
• Show why a non-equilibrium
price would be unstable
• evaluate the relevance of this model in
analysing how resources are allocated
in most economies.
• Introduce factor markets and
show how they are affected by
events in the product market
• Explore further the idea of time
lags and show that market
clearing may be a lengthy
process
10
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
The basic market model
of demand, supply and
price determination
(cont.)
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Teaching and Learning
Activities
Students should be able to:
• Use the internet to track the
price of a key variable such as oil
or housing and try to explain the
causes of price changes
• Explore links between related
markets, eg substitutes,
complements, products jointly
supplied
• Examine the brochure of a tour
operator and explore why similar
holidays may have different
prices at different times of the
year
Elasticity of demand and • define, measure and interpret:
supply (7 hours)
- price elasticity of demand;
- income elasticity of demand;
- cross-price elasticity of demand;
- price elasticity of supply;
Sloman: Chapter 2
Tutor2u:
Price elasticity of demand
Income elasticity of demand
Cross-price elasticity of demand
Price elasticity of supply
11
• Students continue to have
problems both with calculation
of values for elasticity and with
the interpretation of these values
- lots of practice in this area is
appropriate
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Teaching and Learning
Activities
Elasticity of demand and Students should be able to:
supply (cont.)
• use these concepts as tools to analyse
and evaluate market changes and the
behaviour of firms and government;
and
Anderton: Units 8, 9 and 10
• Emphasise the connection
between price elasticity and total
revenue. Again numerical
examples are appropriate
• evaluate the usefulness of these
concepts as decision-making tools.
ER, September 2006: Elasticities
and the housing market
• Examine the problems in
obtaining accurate estimates for
elasticities especially the ‘other
things being equal’ assumption
and the possibility of time-lagged
responses
• Examine relevant markets such
as oil and food and see how the
revenue of producers has been
affected by price changes
• Examine the difference between
normal and inferior goods and
show how a product might
move from one category to the
other
12
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Consumer surplus and
producer surplus (3
hours)
Learning Outcomes
Teaching and Learning
Activities
Students should be able to:
• understand the concepts of consumer
and producer surplus; and
• use these concepts as tools to analyse
and evaluate the effects of market
changes and government policy upon
economic welfare.
Economic rent and
transfer earnings
(3 hours)
Resources
• understand the concepts of economic
rent and transfer earnings;
• use these concepts as tools to analyse
and evaluate the effects of market
changes and government policy upon
economic welfare; and
Tutor2u:
Consumer surplus
Producer surplus
• Identify the areas of consumer
and producer surplus on a
demand and supply diagram
Anderton: Units 4 and 5
• Identify and explain the changes
in these surpluses brought about
by changes in demand, changes
in supply or government
intervention
Tutor2u:
Economic rent
Transfer earnings
• The links between barriers to
entry, inelasticity of supply and
high levels of economic rent
should be analysed in depth
Anderton: Unit 77
• Comparisons between
occupations where large
inequalities in earnings exist, eg
sports stars and unskilled
workers, could be examined
• apply these concepts in the analysis of
the distribution of income.
13
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Economic rent and
transfer earnings
(cont.)
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Teaching and Learning
Activities
Students should be able to:
• Examine how the transfer
earnings of sports stars may
change as they become more
famous, eg options as a TV
pundit or newspaper columnist
become available
Allocative and
productive efficiency
(3 hours)
• demonstrate a basic understanding of
allocative and productive efficiency;
and
Tutor2u:
Economic efficiency
Anderton: Units 16 and 61
• use these concepts as tools to analyse
and evaluate market changes and
government policy.
• Examine how free markets
should in theory deliver
productive and allocative
efficiency
• Show how efficiency could be
affected by government
intervention
• Introduce the concept of market
failure by pointing out that there
may be occasions when markets
do not deliver productive and
allocative efficiency
(A technical analysis of efficiency in
terms of price and marginal and
average cost is not required at this
stage)
14
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Why markets may fail
(7 hours)
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Teaching and Learning
Activities
Students should be able to:
• explain the reasons why markets may
not allocate resources efficiently
including:
- The existence of externalities;
- Market dominance and extreme
inequality in the distribution of
income and wealth;
- A failure to supply public goods;
- The under-provision of de-merit
goods; and
- Mis-matches in information.
Sloman: Chapter 6
Tutor2u:
Market failure
Negative externalities
Positive externalities
Merit goods
Demerit goods
Public and private goods
Imperfect information
Anderton: Units 16, 19, 20, 61,
and 62
ER, September 2006: Air Travel
ER, April 2007: Hosting Major
Events
• Emphasise that the most
important cause of market
failure is external and therefore
involves unpriced costs and
benefits as in the case of demerit
and merit goods
• Initiate class discussion on
discouraging the consumption
and production de-merit goods:
Is this “nannyism” or a genuine
desire to protect the public?
• Examine environmental issues,
pointing out that reducing
greenhouse gas emissions
involves the problems of free
riders and external costs
• Examine traffic congestion as a
typical example of market failure
• Examine local media for
examples of
articles/reports/letters on
negative externalities such as
litter, pollution or binge drinking
15
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Government
intervention in markets
(8 hours)
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Teaching and Learning
Activities
Students should be able to:
• explain the main reasons why
governments may intervene in
markets, including political
considerations; and
• describe and analyse the various forms
of government intervention such as
price controls, state provision,
regulation, taxation and subsidies.
Sloman: Chapter 6
Tutor2u:
Government intervention in the
market
Government intervention and
externalities
Maximum prices
Minimum prices
Anderton: Units19 and 20
• Use tools of consumer and
producer surplus to show impact
of government intervention
• Analyse the link between
negative externalities and tax and
positive externalities and subsidy
• Evaluate the role of subsidies in
areas such as transport, higher
education and agriculture
ER, February 2007,
Environmental Tax
Government failure
(4 hours)
• explain how government intervention
may sometimes reduce efficiency
because of factors such as conflicts of
interest, unexpected responses by
economic agents, administrative costs
and unforeseen circumstances and
consequences; and
Tutor2u:
The economics of farm support
- the CAP.
Government failure
• Emphasise and Examine the role
of governments, pointing out
that they are just as capable of
making bad decisions as free
markets
Anderton: Unit 20
• Examine the main features of
the Common Agricultural Policy
of the European union. Consider
whether it is an example of
government failure
ER, November 2006, Assessing
• evaluate the impact of government
intervention in a range of markets such the National Minimum Wage
as agriculture, housing, transport and
labour.
16
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Teaching and Learning
Activities
Government failure
(cont.)
• Examine the problems and costs
of government intervention
17
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
18
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Unit AS 2:
The National Economy
19
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
GCE Economics: Scheme of Work
Unit AS 2: The National Economy
Prior Learning: No specific qualifications are required though students should have adequate levels of literacy and numeracy. Students who have
previously studied GCSE Economics may be able to progress more quickly through certain topics and could be provided with extension work to prepare for
unit A2 2.
Basic Reading:
• Sloman, J, Essentials of Economics, 3rd Edition, FT Prentice Hall.
• Anderton, A (2006) Economics, 4th edition,Causeway Press.
• www.tutor2u.net - Revision notes for AS economics.
• Economics Review (ER) Magazine - (Philip Allan Updates, www.philipallan.co.uk)
Assessment: Students should be given regular practice in completing data response questions and writing essays, making use of CCEA past and specimen
papers wherever possible. Teacher designed or commercially available multiple choice tests can be used as diagnostic assessment instruments to help
identify gaps in understanding.
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
The scope of
macroeconomics
(3 hours)
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Teaching and Learning
Activities
Students should be able to:
• distinguish between micro- and
macroeconomics.
newspapers
www.bbc.co.uk
Sloman: pp 5-7
Anderton: Unit 24
20
• Discuss current economic news
items and attempt to categorise
them. Overview of
macroeconomics content of A
Level economics. Emphasise
that distinction may be blurred
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
The circular flow of
income (6 hours)
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Teaching and Learning
Activities
Students should be able to:
• understand and apply the circular flow
of income model, which involves
firms, households, government and
other economies.
Macroeconomic policy
• understand that governments are
objectives of government
concerned generally with inflation,
(13 hours)
employment and unemployment,
economic growth and the balance of
international payments;
• understand the concepts of
macroeconomic stability and the
output gap;
• Illustrate flows of output,
income and expenditure and
show how, after allowances for
www.statistics.gov.uk
injections and withdrawals, these
www.tutor2u.net/economics/
should be equal
content/topics/macroecono
my/circular_flow.htm
• Study material from the Office
www.bized.co.uk/virtual/dc/
of National Statistics. Discuss
copper/theory/th11.htm
and assign to categories various
activities or sources of income
Sloman, Chapter 13
Anderton, Unit 25
• Brainstorm problems faced by
government and record. Discuss
which government problems
Manifestos/websites of UK
from group lists are economic,
political parties
political, social and cultural.
Highlight the main economic
www.tutor2u.net/economics/
policy objectives
content/topics/macroecono
my/government_policy.htm
• Discuss the expected outcomes
of various policy measures and
www.hm-treasury.gov.uk
demonstrate how, for example,
ant-inflationary measures may
also involve slowing growth
rates
Sloman: Chapter 15
Anderton: pp 172 – 278
21
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Macroeconomic policy
objectives of government
(cont.)
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Teaching and Learning
Activities
Students should be able to:
• understand that governments may
have, or be compelled to consider,
other policy objectives, such as
redistribution of income or protection
of the environment;
• analyse possible policy conflicts and
trade-offs;
• analyse possible causes and
consequences of inflation,
unemployment, poor economic
growth and long-term international
trading imbalances;
Institute of Fiscal Studies
website :
www.ifs.org.uk
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
www.oecd.org
Bank of England Quarterly
Bulletin
The First Trust Bank Economic
Outlook and Business Review
• consider the possibility if the existence
of a natural rate of unemployment;
• understand that rates of economic
growth may vary over time, between
different regions of an economy and
between economies;
• Ask students to carry out
research assignments on
inflation stories from
newspapers, TV, radio and the
internet
(The same approach may be
adopted with any of the major
macroeconomic issues, perhaps
with different groups researching
different issues)
• Use material from newspapers,
political publications or the
internet to illustrate
dissatisfaction with government
policy due to regional
imbalances or uneven impact of
economic events on different
sectors or industries
• Devise simple exercises in
economic forecasting. Compare
outcomes with official statistics
before and after these have been
adjusted and revised
• analyse the impact of various
economic events, including changes in
global demand or supply, on a
domestic economy;
22
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Macroeconomic policy
objectives of gov. (cont.)
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Teaching and Learning
Activities
Students should be able to:
• analyse and evaluate attempts by
government to achieve more equitable
distribution of income;
• appreciate the difficulties of economic
forecasting;
• examine economic policy priorities
and how these may differ over time
and between political parties; and
• evaluate the success of government
economic policies.
Measures of economic
performance (10 hours)
• understand the differences between
the main national income accounting
concepts;
• make basic calculations based on the
above;
• appreciate the uses to which national
income statistics may be put, including
as an indicator of economic growth;
Monthly Digest of Statistics
Annual Abstract of Statistics
www.oxfam.org.uk
www.unicef.org.uk
www.undp.org
• Carry out calculations based on
selected simplified national
income figures
• Calculate a simple index of retail
prices. Discuss differences
between this and government’s
www.community.foe.co.uk/to
preferred CPI measure
ols/isew
23
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Measures of economic
performance
(cont.)
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Teaching and Learning
Activities
Students should be able to:
• analyse the factors which limit the
usefulness of national income statistics
in comparing living standards over
time and between countries; compare
the usefulness of published national
income statistics with other indicators
of economic welfare;
www.ilo.org/global/lang-en/index.htm
www.direct.gov.uk/en/Empl
oyment/index.htm
Sloman: Chapters 13, 14
Anderton: Units 27, 28, 29
• explain how the rate of inflation is
measured in the UK and why the
government uses a range of measures;
• Students carry out research
assignment on United Nations
Development Programme
Human Development Indices or
compile personal Indices of
Economic Welfare on “Friends
of the Earth” website
• Get students to investigate how
price changes of certain products
may affect different groups in
different ways.
• distinguish between the claimantcount and International Labour
Organisation approaches to measuring
the levels of unemployment in an
economy; and
• Develop the link between
conclusions from this exercise
and the possible need for
different measures of inflation
• understand how the economic activity
rate is measured and explain its
usefulness.
24
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Aggregate demand,
aggregate supply and
determination of
macroeconomic
equilibrium
(14 hours)
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Teaching and Learning
Activities
Students should be able to:
• demonstrate knowledge and
understanding of the components of
aggregate demand:
- consumption;
- investment;
- government expenditure;
- net exports (X – M);
• apply these concepts to explain effects
of injections into or withdrawals from
the circular flow of income;
• apply these concepts to define
aggregate demand (AD) and explain
the shape of the aggregate demand
curve;
• analyse the effects on the aggregate
demand curve of such factors as fiscal
policy, monetary policy, expectations
and changes in exchange rates;
• Discuss and demonstrate links
between elements of the circular
flow model and the components
www.tutor2u.net/economics/
of aggregate demand
content/topics/ad_as/adas_notes.htm
• Develop graphical illustration of
aggregate demand in stages to
www.bized.co.uk/educators/
avoid confusion with concept of
16commodity demand
19/economics/adas/presenta
tion/adas_map.htm
• Develop graphical illustration of
Sloman: Chapters 17, 19, 22
SR aggregate supply curve as
Anderton: Units 79 -81, 85, 88,
before. Use production90 and 92
possibility analysis of factors
Sloman: Chapters 16, 18, 20
Anderton: Units 33, 34, 35
www.sparknotes.com/econo
mics/macro/aggregatedema
nd/section1.html
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
SimCity
25
causing shift in PPF to aid
understanding of nature of LR
aggregate supply curve
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Aggregate demand,
aggregate supply and
determination of
macroeconomic
equilibrium (cont.)
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Teaching and Learning
Activities
Students should be able to:
• understand the concept of aggregate
supply (AS) and the aggregate supply
curve;
• identify factors which may cause the
short-run aggregate supply curve to
shift, such as changes in factor prices
and business taxation;
www.tutor2u.net/economics/ • Ask students to examine OECD
content/topics/ad_as/aggreg
website and browse by country
ate_supply.htm
to access statistical profiles of
selected nations. Use findings to
www.whitenova.com/ThinkE
investigate different composition
conomics/adas.html
of AD and AS in different
economies
• Ask students to monitor in
groups newspaper, TV, radio
and internet coverage of issues
relating to AS and AD. Use
internet search engines to
research references to concepts
such as ‘output gap’
• understand that the long-run AS
represents the productive potential of
the economy and that it can shift due
to:
- changes in the quantity or quality of
factors of production available;
- the efficiency with which existing
resources are used;
• Use one of the commercially
available society building
simulation games such as Sim
City to consider the effects of
alternative ways of using
resources
• understand that AD and AS interact to
determine equilibrium levels of
income, output and prices; and
26
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Aggregate demand,
aggregate supply and
determination of
macroeconomic
equilibrium (cont.)
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Students should be able to:
• explain the effects of shifts in the AD
and/or AS curves.
Government economic
policy (14 hours)
Teaching and Learning
Activities
• explain what is involved in fiscal,
monetary and supply-side policies;
• use AS/AD analysis to predict the
possible effects of changes in the
above policies such as alterations to
tax rates, government spending,
interest rates or incentives to effort
and enterprise;
• appreciate that different policy
instruments may be required to
address different aspects of a single
macroeconomic problem;
• Visit the ThinkEconomics
webpage and get students to
experiment with changes in
economic variables
• Use leaflets and educational
videos published by HM
Customs and Revenue to
www.bankofengland.co.uk/m
explore nature of fiscal policy
onetarypolicy/overview.htm
• Distinguish between automatic
www.bized.co.uk/learn/econ
stabilisers and discretionary fiscal
omics/govpol/macropolicies
policy
/index.htm
Anderton: Units 78, 83, 84
Sloman: Chapters 16, 19, 22
www.tutor2u.net/economics/
content/topics/macroecono
my/government_policy.htm
www.hmtreasury.gov.uk/documents/
uk_economy/monetary_polic
y/ukecon_mon_index.cfm
27
• Organise class debate on the
possible disincentive effects of
high rates of tax.
• Research the importance of
credit and borrowing in the UK
economy
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Government economic
policy (cont.)
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Teaching and Learning
Activities
Students should be able to:
• appreciate that external constraints
such as international treaty obligations
may limit the government’s scope for
macro-economic policy changes;
• understand that setting targets for
improvement in any one economic
indicator reduces its effectiveness as an
indicator (Goodhart’s law); and
www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/sc • Investigate the issues of
hools.htm
“responsible borrowing” using
material from the British
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Bankers’ Association as a
Goodhart's_law
stimulus
www.moneysense.rbs.co.uk/r
bs/default.asp
www.bankofengland.co.uk/e
ducation/index.htm
www.bba.org.uk/bba/jsp/po
lopoly.jsp?d=103
• compare and evaluate the likely
effectiveness of different policy
options.
• Explore the nature of supplyside policies including measures
such as reducing the
government’s involvement in the
economy, increasing mobility of
factors of production, increasing
incentives, reducing the power
of monopolies in product and
factor markets and developing a
culture where enterprise is more
highly valued
• Use film or other subjective
accounts of experience of major
structural changes – eg Brassed
Off, The Full Monty – to consider
perspectives on the
implementation of supply-side
policies. Widen the debate by
reference to statistics on average
material living standards over a
25-year period
28
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Unit A2 1:
Business Economics
29
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
GCE Economics: Scheme of Work
Unit A2 1: Business Economics
Prior Learning: It is assumed that students taking this unit will already have the foundation of knowledge and understanding developed in Unit AS 1,
Markets and Prices, and have acquired the appropriate levels of literacy and numeracy required for A2 study.
Basic Reading:
• Sloman, J, Essentials of Economics, 3rd Edition, FT Prentice Hall.
• Anderton, A (2006) Economics, 4th edition, Causeway Press.
• Parkin, M; Powell, M and Mathews, K, Economics, 7th edition, Addison Wesley.
• www.tutor2u.net - Revision notes for AS economics
• Economics Review (ER) Magazine - (Philip Allan Updates, www.philipallan.co.uk)
Assessment: Students should be given regular practice in completing data response/case study questions and writing essays, making use of CCEA past and
specimen papers wherever possible. Teacher-designed or commercially available multiple choice tests can be used as diagnostic assessment instruments to
help identify gaps in understanding.
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
The diverse nature of
production (3 hours)
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Teaching and Learning Activities
Students should be able to:
• understand that production comes in a
wide variety of forms; and
Sloman: Chapter 5
www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden
• appreciate that all production involves
the use of resources and creates
opportunity costs.
• Give students a list of activities
and ask them to identify those
which are production
• Emphasise and illustrate the
growth of the service sector in the
UK economy with reference to
the role of sectors such as
30
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
The diverse nature of
production (cont.)
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Teaching and Learning Activities
Students should be able to:
finance, advertising and
entertainment
• Ask students to explain the
difference between recreational
sport (consumption ) and
professional sport (production)
• Ask students to identify the
factors of production used by a
major football club
• Use extracts from Dragons’ Den
series to illustrate different
business ideas and identify the
requirements for success
Decision-making in the
short and long term
(10 hours)
• explain the difference between the long
and short run;
Anderton:
Units 46, 47, 48 and 49
• understand that the timescales of the
short and long runs may differ between
industries;
Parkin et al: Chapter 10
• explain the law of diminishing marginal
returns to a variable factor;
Tutor2u:
Short and long run production
Background to supply - short run
costs
Long run costs: economies and
diseconomies of scale
31
• Use as many real life examples as
possible to make concepts less
abstract
• Explain the importance of the
distinction between fixed and
variable costs in situations such as
deciding whether or not to shut
an unprofitable firm
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Decision-making in the
short and long term
(cont.)
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Teaching and Learning Activities
Students should be able to:
• explain the distinction between fixed
and variable costs of production;
• analyse trends in short-run marginal,
average and total costs as output
changes;
• understand the concepts of total
average and marginal revenue;
• apply these costs and revenue concepts
in analysing a firm’s decision-making:
Sloman: Chapter 3
ER: “Total, marginal, average”
Nov 2004
ER “Long run costs and output”
September 2003
ER “Short run costs” September
2003
www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden
• Examine some of the economic
and ethical issues which arise in
industries such as pharmaceuticals
which often have very high fixed
costs and low marginal costs
• Discuss the issue of water
metering in terms of the costs of
the water industry
• Examine the growth of online
commerce and its implications for
distribution costs
• explain the connection between short
and long run average and marginal cost
curves;
• Use Dragons’ Den interviews to
illustrate the costs involved in
different types of business idea
• apply the distinction between the short
and long run in analysing the
implications of a firm’s costs and
revenue situation, for example, whether
or not a loss-making firm should close;
• understand the concepts of economies
of scale, diseconomies of scale, external
economies and external diseconomies;
32
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Decision-making in the
short and long term
(cont.)
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Teaching and Learning Activities
Students should be able to:
• analyse the effects of such economies
and diseconomies on returns and costs
for the firm and industry; and
• explain how globalisation,
environmental concerns and the growth
of internet usage may affect firms’ costs
and consumers’ behaviour.
The growth of the firm
(7 hours)
• understand the distinction between
organic growth and growth by merger
or acquisition;
• explain different types of integration;
and
Anderton: Unit 64
Tutor2u:
Growth of firms
www.competitioncommission.org.uk
• analyse and evaluate the motives for
growth, including the inputs of workers,
directors, shareholders and government
into the firm’s decision-making process.
• Illustrate this process by the use
of topical examples
• Ask students to use Competition
Commission website to find
examples of mergers which were
subject to investigation
• Use Competition Commission
reports to examine the
perspectives of the various groups
affected by a merger
33
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Learning Outcomes
The objectives of the firm Students should be able to:
(9 hours)
• explain the conditions for profit
maximisation in terms of the equality of
marginal cost and marginal revenue;
Resources
Tutor2u:
Business objectives.
Anderton: Unit. 50
• evaluate how useful the assumption of
profit maximisation is as the basis for
business decision-making;
Teaching and Learning Activities
• Examine company reports for
examples of businesses apparently
not engaging in profit
maximisation eg charitable trusts.
Investigate and discuss the
motivation for such behaviour
• Use press reports and the internet
to examine the role of venture
capitalists in taking over underperforming companies
• explain how the inputs of other
stakeholders, such as workers, directors,
pressure groups and government may
affect firms’ objectives; and
• understand and evaluate other theories
of firms behaviour such as the
maximisation of sales revenue, long run
profits and managerial utility.
The competitive
environment (12 hours)
• understand the main features of
perfectly competitive, monopolistic and
oligopolistic markets;
• compare firms’ behaviour in different
market structures, for example
competitive pricing, product
differentiation, non-price competition,
collusion and price leadership and wars;
Sloman: Chapter 4
Tutor2u:
Perfect competition
Monopoly
Price discrimination
Oligopoly-overview
Contestable markets
34
• Compare the outcome of
different market structures by
examining the efficiency issues
involved
• Use textbook and workbook
exercises to improve students’
competence in analysing market
structures
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
The competitive
environment (cont.)
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Teaching and Learning Activities
Students should be able to:
• use the concepts of productive
efficiency, allocative efficiency and
deadweight welfare loss to evaluate the
implications of different market
structures;
Anderton:
Units 53, 54, 56 and 58
• show how the theory of contestable
markets can be used to explain the
behaviour of firms in a range of market
structures where barriers to entry and
exit are low; and
ER: “Price discrimination” Feb
2003
ER: “Cartel problems” Nov 2003.
ER: “The market for oil” Nov
2004
Parkin et al: Chapters 11, 12 and
13
• consider the strengths and limitations of
this theory.
Market dominance and
competition policy
(8 hours)
• understand how market dominance may Tutor2u:
be measured and some of the problems Competition policy
experienced in attempting such
Anderton: Unit 63
measurement;
• appreciate that there may be different
approaches to dealing with market
dominance and a lack of competition
and consider how these may be affected
by views about the contestability of
markets;
Parkin et al: Chapter 14
ER “ A stronger UK competition
policy” February 2004
35
• Use a variety of case studies from
the Office of Fair Trading and the
Competition Commission to
show competition policy in action
• Use newspaper reports to
examine a proposed merger from
the initial approach to its
conclusion
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Market dominance and
competition policy(cont.)
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Teaching and Learning Activities
Students should be able to:
www.oft.gov.uk
• consider a range of policy instruments,
such as:
- breaking up monopolistic businesses; www.competition- restricting mergers and acquisitions; commission.org.uk
- regulation of natural monopolies and
the outlawing of unfair trading
practices; and
• Examine the role of the
competition authorities
throughout this process
• evaluate the effectiveness of these
instruments.
Business and the
environment (11 hours)
• understand how certain types of
business activity may have negative
environmental impacts;
Sloman: Chapter 6
• appreciate that increasing
environmental awareness may create
market openings for business;
Parkin et al: Chapter 15
• explain how government policy on
environmental protection may affect
consumers and producers; and
Anderton: Unit 19
www.sustainabledevelopment.gov.uk
www.environmentagency.gov.uk
www.defra.gov.uk
36
• Re-examine the issue of
externalities to show how
business with a goal of profit
maximisation may create a
negative environmental impact
• Examine the annual reports of a
number of companies to see what
contribution they are making
towards protecting the
environment
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Business and the
environment (cont.)
Learning Outcomes
Resources
Teaching and Learning Activities
Students should be able to:
• evaluate the effectiveness of the main
government policy instruments for
environmental protection including:
- Regulation;
- ‘Green’ taxation;
- Tradeable pollution permits;
- Voluntary agreements.
• Monitor prices in the EU
emissions trading scheme and
analyse the causes of price
fluctuations
• Compare the performance of a
number of countries in meeting
their targets under the Kyoto
protocol
37
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
38
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Unit A2 2:
The Global Economy
39
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
GCE Economics: Scheme of Work
Unit A2 2: The Global Economy
Prior Learning: It is assumed that students taking this unit will already have the foundation of knowledge and understanding developed in Unit AS 2, The
National Economy, and have acquired the appropriate levels of literacy and numeracy required for A2 study.
Basic Reading:
• Sloman, J, Essentials of Economics, 3rd Edition, FT Prentice Hall.
• Anderton, A 2006 Economics, 4th edition, Causeway Press.
• www.tutor2u.net - Revision notes for AS economics
• Economics Review (ER) Magazine - (Phillip Allan Updates, www.philipallan.co.uk)
Assessment: Students should be given regular practice in completing data response/case study questions and writing essays, making use of CCEA past and
specimen papers wherever possible. Teacher-designed or commercially available multiple choice tests can be used as diagnostic assessment instruments to
help identify gaps in understanding.
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Learning Outcomes
Reasons for
international trade
(5 hours)
Students should be able to:
• understand the reasons for trade,
including unequal distribution of
resources, comparative advantages in
production, and strategic and geopolitical motives;
Resources
Teaching and Learning
Activities
• Ask students to take an
inventory of a room or area,
either at home or in a communal
www.tutor2u.net/economics/
school/college space, and
gcse/revision_notes/internati
identify non-UK origins of as
onal_trade_introduction.htm
many goods as possible.
Anderton: Unit 14
Sloman: Chapter 23
40
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Learning Outcomes
Reasons for
international trade
(cont.)
Students should be able to:
• apply the concepts of specialisation
and comparative advantage to explain
the gains from, and patterns of, trade
(Students are not required to have detailed
advance knowledge of patterns of trade); and
• evaluate the usefulness of the theory
of comparative advantage.
Free trade and
protection (9 hours)
• explain and evaluate arguments for
and against free trade;
• understand the range of measures
which may be used to control trade;
• analyse the motivation for and
effectiveness of trade controls; and
• understand the main purposes of the
World Trade Organisation (WTO) and
evaluate its effectiveness.
Resources
Monthly Digest of Statistics
www.uktradeinfo.com
www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Fron
t?pagename=OpenMarket/X
celerate/ShowPage&c=Page
&cid=1007029391386
Teaching and Learning
Activities
Students should seek to explain
why these goods may have been
purchased from abroad rather
than from UK producers
• Use the internet and official UK
statistics to research how broad
patterns of UK trade have
changed over the past 10 years
www.globalexchange.org/ca • Organise classroom debate on
mpaigns/wto/
the issue of whether the UK
www.wto.org
should be able to protect itself
www.hsc.csu.edu.au/econom
from foreign competition
ics/global_economy/tut7/Tu
torial7.html
• Discuss articles or web pages
expressing deep-seated hostility
www.tutor2u.net/economics/
to WTO. Examine why this
content/topics/trade/import
hostility arises and whether it is
_controls.htm
justified
www.maketradefair.com/en/
index.php/index.php?file=iss
ues_freetrade.htm
Sloman: Chapter 23
Anderton: Unit 40
41
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Learning Outcomes
The United Kingdom
balance of payments
(5 hours)
Students should be able to:
• understand, in broad terms, the main
elements of the UK balance of
payments accounts;
• appreciate that inward flows of
investment may partially offset deficits
on current accounts;
• describe in general terms the trends
since 1997 in the UK’s trade in goods
and services and in financial
investment flows; explain problems
caused by imbalances in national
trading accounts;
Resources
Teaching and Learning
Activities
Sloman: Chapter 24
Anderton: Unit 30
• Ask students to obtain current
information on items from the
UK balance of payments on
current and financial accounts.
Discuss the meaning and
significance of the figures
Annual Abstract of Statistics
www.economicshelp.org/ma
croeconomics/bop/index.ht
ml
• Ask students to research news
stories such as the blocking by
www.tutor2u.net/economics/
domestic governments of the
content/topics/trade/bop_ac
purchase of certain assets by
counts.htm
overseas companies and analyse
the motives behind such actions
• appreciate that the UK government is
constrained in its response to balance
of payments difficulties; and
• evaluate the significance of payments
imbalances.
Exchange rates
(6 hours)
• understand how exchange rates are
determined under a floating exchange
rate system;
Sloman: Chapter 24
Anderton: Units 93 – 96
42
• Get students to follow for a
short period TV, internet or
press pages with details of
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Learning Outcomes
Exchange rates
(cont.)
Students should be able to:
• analyse effects of changes in the
exchange rate;
Resources
www.bized.co.uk/learn/econ
omics/international/exchang
e/index.htm
• explain why a stable exchange rate may
assist international trade; and
• distinguish between free trade areas,
customs unions and common currency
areas;
• explain how European Union policies
both create and divert trade;
• evaluate the effects of European
Union enlargement since 2001;
• evaluate the case for the UK and other
countries joining the ‘eurozone’;
foreign exchange values. Discuss
reasons for variations in the
exchange rate of the £ against
the euro, another European
currency and the US dollar
• Emphasise that government or
central bank actions to influence
or stabilise exchange rates are
limited, but may involve buying
or selling their own currency on
international markets
• explain how exchange rates may be
stabilised by government or
international action.
The European Union
(10 hours)
Teaching and Learning
Activities
Sloman: Chapter 25
www.europa.eu/abc/index_e
n.htm
• Ask individual students to carry
out specific information searches
on key ideas and topics using the
EU office in Northern Ireland as
a resource
www.epp.eurostat.ec.europa.e
u/portal/page?_pageid=1090, • Get students to prepare a dossier
30070682,1090_33076576&_da
comparing the role and
d=portal&_schema=PORTA
effectiveness of the ECB with
L
that of the Bank of England.
Students should look, in
www.ecb.int/ecb/html/index
particular, at rates of inflation in
.en.html
the UK and eurozone countries
over the same period of time
43
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Learning Outcomes
The European Union
(cont.)
Students should be able to:
• evaluate the aims, operation and
impact of the European Central Bank
(ECB); and
• analyse and evaluate the effects of the
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
within and outside the European
Union.
Resources
Teaching and Learning
Activities
www.economicshelp.org/eur
ope/european-union.html
European Commission Windsor
House
9-15 Bedford Street BELFAST
BT2 7EG
• Get students to gather
information on the Common
Agricultural Policy through web
searches or guided library
research. Students should use
this information to write a short
report arguing for or against the
ending of the CAP
• Students could collect
information on Norway and
Switzerland and discuss why
there are European states
remaining voluntarily outside the
EU
Globalisation (9 hours)
• understand the main features of
globalisation;
Sloman: Chapter 25
Anderton: Unit 97
• analyse and evaluate the impacts of
globalisation on developed and less
developed economies; and
www1.worldbank.org/econo
micpolicy/globalization/
www.imf.org/external/np/ex
r/key/global.htm
www.direct.gov.uk/en/Gtgl1
/GuideToGovernment/Inter
nationalBodies/DG_4003091
44
• Students could brainstorm ideas
associated with globalisation and
attempt to categorise them as
‘for’ and ‘against’
• Discuss whether increasing ease
of access to factor and
commodity markets is a good
thing and, if so, how it can be
made easier
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Learning Outcomes
Globalisation (cont.)
Students should be able to:
• appreciate that negotiations by
international groupings of economies
may have significant roles in shaping
the direction of global economic
change.
Resources
Teaching and Learning
Activities
www.guardian.co.uk/globalis
ation/story/0,,823097,00.html
• Organise a class debate on
controversial issues such as the
influence of multinational
companies or the existence of
‘cultural imperialism’
www.news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/ta
lking_point/1444930.stm
www.tutor2u.net/economics/ • Students could consider the
content/topics/trade/globali
outcomes of the most recent
sation.htm
round of major trade
negotiations or international
summit conference
• They should try and assess the
likely impact of any decisions or
agreements
Trade, aid and economic • understand the main classifications,
development (8 hours)
characteristics and priorities of
countries at different stages of
economic development;
• explain factors that may enhance or
inhibit development;
Sloman: Chapter 26
Anderton: Units 99 – 104
www.oxfam.org.uk
www.unicef.org.uk
www.trocaire.org/wherewew
ork/index.php
45
• From a list of characteristics,
students identify which apply to
less economically developed,
recently industrialised and more
economically developed
countries
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Learning Outcomes
Trade, aid and economic
development (cont.)
Students should be able to:
• understand the roles of governments,
non-governmental organisations and
international agencies in providing and
administering aid;
• understand the roles of the
International Monetary Fund and the
World Bank; and
Resources
Teaching and Learning
Activities
www.undp.org
www.dfid.gov.uk
www.imf.org/external/about.
htm
www.worldbank.org
www.adb.org
• Discuss the various means by
which development could be
accelerated - eg, through
formation of capital in all its
forms, development of
physical and social infrastructure,
promotion of cultural factors,
eradication of corruption
• evaluate the effectiveness of foreign
aid programmes and trade
liberalisation in assisting less
developed countries.
• Ask students to carry out a
survey of the relative prices of
“fair trade” products and
equivalent goods not branded in
that way
• Compare the prices and discuss
the pros and cons of this
approach to helping producers
in poorer countries
Government
macroeconomic policy
in an open economy
(8 hours)
• understand that internal and external
pressures may oblige governments of
developed countries to develop
policies to protect the environment;
and
Sloman: Chapter 25
www.greenpeace.org.uk
46
• Explore and analyse the
implications for aggregate
demand of shifts in the external
value of the currency
CCEA Exemplar Scheme of Work: GCE Economics
Content and Suggested
Time Allocation
Learning Outcomes
Government
macroeconomic policy
in an open economy
(cont.)
Students should be able to:
• analyse how government fiscal and
monetary policy may be influenced
and constrained by international
considerations.
Resources
Teaching and Learning
Activities
newspapers and journal archives, • Explain, and illustrate with
especially:
reference to statistics and media
www.ft.com/home/europe
reports, how developments in
www.economist.com
the global economy have
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/n
changed relative competitiveness
ews/
of industries in the developed
www.ireland.com
countries, creating current and
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
future problems with
www.irishnews.com
employment and current account
www.independent.co.uk
trade balances
• Students could research the
effects of international pressure
groups such as Greenpeace on
international trade
• Local MPs, MEPs and MLAs
could be consulted as to
instances in their experience
when policies or initiatives have
had to be modified in the light
of EU or other treaty obligations
47