IB Economics - Improving Evaluation Skills
Here is a streamed version of the presentation I gave to the Hong Kong CPD day, focusing on how IB Economics students can improve their evaluation skills:
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Using the cost-benefit principle in your AS exam
The cost-benefit principle is one of those core ideas that can be brought into so many discussions both in micro and macroeconomics – you should be using it in your papers
read more...»Revision: Short Note on Government Intervention
A short two pager on evaluation when discussing different forms of government intervention in markets - designed for AS micro
AS_Micro_Govt_Intervention_Evaluation.pdf
AS and A2 Economics - 10 Ways to Improve Evaluation
Here is an updated version of my revision document on evaluation skills for AS and A2 economists - available for download as a word file.
Ten_ways_to_improve_your_evaluation_skills_and_marks_for_A2_economics.doc
The 25 Mark Questions in AQA AS Macro
The 25 mark questions make or break your grade and uniform mark on this paper. You have a choice and care should be taken before committing yourself to an answer - read through all of the questions first. That said - the direction of the question looks similar with each. Take the Jan 2009 paper as an example
read more...»Beta Currencies and PMD
Beta Currencies
The continued depreciation of sterling - most notably against the Euro - continues to dominate the economic headlines. One Euro now buys 95 pence and parity is much more likely than I thought when I wrote about the exchange rate last week.
For your exams remember that you need to have a clear handle on
Why the currency is falling (causation)
What the main demand and supply-side effects of this are (consequences)
The possible policy responses (intervention)
With the latter keep in mind that the government and the central bank does not have a target for the external value of the pound although they recognise that it plays an important role in influencing the components of aggregate demand (C+I+G+X-M and also changes in short run aggregate supply (SRAS) e.g. through movements in the prices of imported goods and services.
Another approach for critical analysis of the exchange rate’s fall is to use the acronym PMD
P - plusses - i.e. what are the main advantages of a fall in the currency?
M - minuses - what are the negative effects for the UK economy at this time and for different agents (businesses and consumers)
D - depends - “it depends on” is one of the best evaluation phrases you can use - sterling has fallen by more than 20 per cent (on a trade weighted basis) over the last year. This is a significant depreciation - but the effects DEPEND on many factors - here are a few:
Do exporters reduce their overseas prices or choose instead to keep prices the same and make a higher profit margin?
Do foreign consumers switch their demand to UK exports if and when our exports become more price competitive?
Will the negative real income effect of a global economic downturn offset the competitive advantage from having a lower exchange rate?
Will higher import prices help to prevent deflation in the UK next year?
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard has an article in the Telegraph today which argues that “Sterling fall is a life-saver for UK economy”
“Stephen Jen, currency chief at Morgan Stanley, said sterling is a “high-beta” currency, meaning that it is highly-geared to the global economic cycle. It shoots up during good times and plunges during bad times. It should return to health if and when the world emerges from economic winter.”
A related piece claims that the Sterling slide is the worst since 1931
“The pound has now fallen by 23pc against a basket of other currencies, according to figures from the Bank of England. The fall is sharper than the devaluations in 1992, after leaving the Exchange Rate Mechanism, 1976, when the International Monetary Fund was forced to intervene, and 1949, when a host of countries slumped against the dollar. The devaluation is only matched by the moment in 1931 when, under Ramsay MacDonald, the UK was forced to abandon the gold standard, plunging by more than 24pc against the dollar. The parallel is significant, since many economists have attributed the gold standard exit as one of the main reasons the UK enjoyed a relatively mild depression in the 1930s, while the US suffered mass unemployment and saw its economy shrink by a third.”
Migration and the UK housing market
In our revision session for students tonight ahead of their AS papers tomorrow we looked at some current issues relating to the housing sector. One of which is the economic impact of high levels of net inward migration on housing demand and supply. Here are the revision notes I wrote up after the lecture.
read more...»Revision: Evaluate to Accumulate
How to Nail High Marks on Evaluation in your AS papers - a two page revision note
Revision note:
Evaluate_to_accumulate.pdf
Lower house prices and the route to happiness
There are plenty of commentators who can quash the illusion that rising property wealth brings about more benefits than costs. Few are better at the task than the economist Roger Bootle.
Revision: Labour’s Economic Record – An Evaluation
A personal evaluation of the Labour government’s macroeconomic record since 1997 in a two page word file - aimed at AS and A2 economists - together with a five page document containing ten supporting data charts
Revision note:
Labour_Economic_Record.pdf
Supporting charts
UK_Economy_Supporting_Charts.pdf
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