Revision: Supply-side of the UK Economy

This revision note recaps short run and long run aggregate supply and looks at some of the key supply-side policies together with a brief evaluation of the recent supply-side performance of the UK economy. Designed for both AS and A2 students. I have also attached a PowerPoint presentation with a selection of supply-side indicators for the UK.

Revision Note (pdf format)
Revision_Supply_Side_Policies.pdf

PowerPoint Charts
Supplyside_Performance_2008.ppt

Manufacturing’s revival?

Can UK manufacturing industry enjoy a sustained revival at a time when financial services are under pressure from the credit crunch? The Engineering Employers’ Federation has produced a new report on the performance of the manufacturing sector which concludes that “manufacturing is performing strongly with a number of the indicators at their highest level for ten years.”

Economies of Scale

How can old media (such as newspapers) compete in the digital age?

Perhaps by seeking to take advantage of serious economies of scale.

News International has recently opened a new printing press in Hertfordshire which covers an area the size of 23 football pitches - and offers quieter and faster (70,000 papers per hour) production of both broadsheets such as The Times and Sunday Times, as well as Britain’s favourite tabloid, The Sun. In addition, the headcount of people needed to run the new plant is 200 - compared to 600 with the old facilities. It is perhaps the least labour intensive printing facility in the world.

A to Z of AS Macroeconomics!

Teaching at 5.30pm on a Friday afternoon as the fag end of term approaches isn’t great fun but after a successful SWOT analysis of the UK economy yesterday, I set my AS macro group a half hour challenge today - to produce an A to Z of macroeconomics as a prelude to their revision. Working in pairs, they tried to assemble twenty-six entries - it could be a concept, an issue in the news or perhaps a well known economist - anything so long as it had a macroeconomic connection! Similar to the game of Scattegories, teams only scored a mark when their answer was unique within the class.

Double points could be scored for suggestions such as Ben Bernanke, price pressures or credit crunch. Three marks for purchasing power parity! This led to some very creative and quirky answers.

Anyway ... here is a potted (albeit incomplete) summary of the responses. My job over the weekend is to produce a word document that provides a web link to a newpaper or BBC news story for each of them - so that they can access some articles linked to their suggestions whenever they want to. Can blog users suggest other entries? I am happy to email the word file over if you want to try this exercise before the end of term!

Revision Focus: Export Performance

The blog will feature regular revision notes for students preparing for their AS and A2 economics papers in June 2008.

Explain the factors which may help to determine an economy’s export performance (20 marks)

A revision note on some of the factors that shape the growth of exports for an economy