EconomicsQ&A by dot point

Aggregate demand and aggregate supply: the components of aggregate demand, the determinants of short-run and long-run aggregate supply, macroeconomic equilibrium, and the effects of shifts in AD and AS.

Fiscal policy: government spending and taxation, the budget balance and the national debt, direct and indirect and progressive and regressive taxes, automatic stabilisers, and the strengths and weaknesses of fiscal policy.

Monetary policy: interest rates and the transmission mechanism, the role of the central bank and inflation targeting, quantitative easing, and the strengths and weaknesses of monetary policy.

Policy conflicts and the Phillips curve: the trade-offs between macroeconomic objectives, the short-run Phillips curve relationship between inflation and unemployment, the long-run Phillips curve, and the role of expectations.

Supply-side policies: market-based and interventionist supply-side policies, their effect on long-run aggregate supply and the objectives, and their costs, limits and time lags.

The multiplier and accelerator: the circular flow of income, injections and withdrawals, the multiplier process and its calculation from the marginal propensities, and the accelerator effect.

Costs, revenues and profit: fixed and variable costs, marginal, average and total cost and revenue, the law of diminishing returns, normal and supernormal profit, and the profit-maximising condition.

Economies and diseconomies of scale and business growth: internal and external economies of scale, the minimum efficient scale, the causes of diseconomies of scale, and organic versus integrated growth and the divorce of ownership from control.

Oligopoly and monopoly: concentration and barriers to entry, interdependence and collusion in oligopoly, the kinked demand curve and game theory, monopoly equilibrium, price discrimination, and the costs and benefits of monopoly.

Perfect competition and monopolistic competition: their assumptions and characteristics, short-run and long-run equilibrium, the role of entry and exit, and the efficiency of each market structure.

The labour market: the demand for and supply of labour, wage determination in competitive labour markets, wage differentials, monopsony and trade unions, and the effects of a national minimum wage.

Economic growth and the business cycle: the measurement of GDP and growth, real versus nominal and per-capita measures, the causes of short-run and long-run growth, the phases of the business cycle, and the costs and benefits of growth.

Inflation and deflation: the measurement of inflation using a price index, demand-pull and cost-push causes, the effects of inflation and deflation, and the distinction between inflation, disinflation and deflation.

The balance of payments and the current account: the structure of the balance of payments, the components of the current account, the causes and consequences of a current-account deficit or surplus, and the link to other objectives.

The distribution of income and wealth: the difference between income and wealth, the causes of inequality, the costs and benefits of inequality, and the policies governments use to redistribute.

Unemployment: its measurement by the claimant count and the Labour Force Survey, the causes of unemployment (cyclical, structural, frictional and real-wage), and the economic and social costs of unemployment.

Externalities and the environment: positive and negative externalities in production and consumption, private and social costs and benefits, the welfare loss from market failure, and environmental market failure.

Government intervention and government failure: indirect taxes and subsidies, maximum and minimum prices, regulation, tradable pollution permits and state provision, and the causes of government failure.

Monopoly power and inequality as market failures: the welfare costs of monopoly power, factor immobility, the distinction between equity and equality, and the measurement of inequality using the Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient.

Public goods and information failure: non-rivalry and non-excludability, the free-rider problem, merit and demerit goods, and asymmetric information and moral hazard as causes of market failure.

Consumer and producer surplus: their definition and measurement on a demand-and-supply diagram, how they change when price or the curves shift, and their use in welfare analysis.

Demand, supply and the price mechanism: the determinants of demand and supply, movements versus shifts, market equilibrium and disequilibrium, and the rationing, signalling and incentive functions of prices.

Elasticity: price, income and cross elasticity of demand and price elasticity of supply, their calculation and determinants, and the link between price elasticity of demand and total revenue.

Resource allocation and rational decision-making: free-market, command and mixed economies, allocative and productive efficiency, marginal utility and rational choice, and the assumptions and limits of rational economic behaviour.

Scarcity, choice and opportunity cost: the basic economic problem, the factors of production, the production possibility frontier, and positive versus normative statements.

Economic development and developing economies: the difference between growth and development, the measurement of development including the Human Development Index, the characteristics of developing economies, and the barriers to development.

Exchange rates: floating and fixed (and managed) exchange rate systems, the determinants of a floating exchange rate, the effects of appreciation and depreciation, and the Marshall-Lerner condition and J-curve.

Globalisation: the causes and characteristics of globalisation, the role of multinational corporations and foreign direct investment, and the costs and benefits of globalisation for developed and developing economies.

International trade and comparative advantage: absolute and comparative advantage, the gains from trade and specialisation, the terms of trade, and the limitations of the theory.

Protectionism and trading blocs: tariffs, quotas, subsidies and other barriers, the arguments for and against protectionism, types of trading bloc, and the role of the World Trade Organisation.

Strategies to promote development: market-oriented and interventionist strategies, trade and aid, the role of foreign direct investment, microfinance and debt relief, and their effectiveness.