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Economics flashcards
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Topic 1: Scarcity and choice
- Scarcity and the basic economic problem
- Scarcity: unlimited wants set against limited resources. The basic economic problem: scarcity forces choices over what to make, how to make it and who gets it.
- Economic good vs free good
- Economic good: uses scarce resources to supply, so it has a cost of provision. Free good: needs no resources to supply, so it has no price. A good free at the point of use is still an economic good.
- Needs vs wants
- Need: something required to survive or avoid serious harm. Want: something desired beyond a need; wants are unlimited. The line depends on time and place.
- Positive vs normative statement
- Positive: describes or predicts; evidence can check it. Normative: expresses an opinion on what ought to happen (a value judgement).
- Sustainability
- Using resources to satisfy today's needs in a way that leaves future generations able to satisfy their own.
- Market, planned and mixed economies
- Market: private decisions coordinated by prices; private ownership. Planned: a central authority decides allocation; mostly state ownership. Mixed: market and government both allocate, in varying proportions.
- The margin and rationality
- The margin: the point of deciding on one more or one less unit. Rationality: acting consistently to maximise a goal using the information available.
- Economic agents
- Consumers, workers, firms and the government: the decision makers whose choices allocate resources.
- Strengths and weaknesses of a free market economy
- Strengths: incentives to innovate and cut costs, wide choice, prices respond to wants. Weaknesses: public goods missing, externalities ignored, merit goods under-consumed, unequal income and wealth.
- Opportunity cost
- The value of the best option passed over when choosing. It is a single next best alternative, not every option rejected.
- Opportunity cost vs trade-off
- Trade-off: the relationship of accepting less of one thing to get more of another. Opportunity cost: the value of the specific next best option lost.
- PPF (PPC): definition and productive efficiency
- The boundary of the largest output pairings of two goods with every resource fully and efficiently employed and technology fixed. Any point on it is productively efficient.
- PPF: movement along vs shift
- Movement along: a choice between the two goods (opportunity cost shown by the slope). Shift: a change in capacity, outward from more or better resources or technology, inward from loss of resources.
- Accounting cost vs opportunity cost
- Accounting cost records money paid out. Opportunity cost adds the value of the best alternative use of owned resources and time.
- Specialisation vs division of labour
- Specialisation: concentrating on a narrow range of goods or services; can apply to a person, firm, region or country. Division of labour: splitting a production process into tasks, a separate worker on each.
- Advantages and disadvantages of the division of labour
- Advantages: workers become skilled and quick, less time switching tasks, use of specialist machinery, higher output per worker. Disadvantages: boredom, lower motivation, and dependence on every stage working.
- Barter vs money
- Barter: direct exchange of goods for goods; it needs a double coincidence of wants. Money: anything generally accepted as payment (a medium of exchange), which makes specialisation and trade easier.
- Functions of money
- Medium of exchange, measure of value (unit of account), store of value, and method of deferred payment.
Topic 2: How competitive markets work
- Resource allocation
- How scarce resources are shared between competing uses: what is produced, how, and for whom.
- Functions of the price mechanism
- Signalling: prices tell buyers and sellers about scarcity. Rationing: a higher price limits demand to the supply available. Incentive: a higher price rewards producers for supplying more.
- Incentive
- A reward or penalty that changes the pay-off of a choice, and so changes behaviour.
- Allocation under a planned price vs a market price
- A planned price held below equilibrium causes a shortage, so goods are allocated by queuing or rationing. A market price adjusts until quantity demanded equals quantity supplied.
- The usual objectives assumed for consumers, firms and government
- Consumers: maximise utility (satisfaction). Firms: maximise profit. Government: maximise the welfare of society.
- Maximisation vs satisficing
- Maximisation: choosing the option that gives the greatest value of an objective, subject to a constraint. Satisficing: aiming for a satisfactory outcome rather than the maximum.
- Profit maximisation vs revenue maximisation
- Profit maximisation: output where MR = MC. Revenue maximisation: output where MR = 0. Maximising revenue is not the same as maximising profit.
- Principal-agent problem
- The agent's (managers') aims differ from the principal's (shareholders'), and information is unequal, so managers may pursue pay, status or growth instead of profit.
- Corporate social responsibility
- Voluntary action by a firm for its stakeholders (workers, community, environment) beyond what the law requires.
- Contraction of demand vs decrease in demand
- Contraction: a movement along the demand curve after a rise in the good's own price. Decrease: a leftward shift caused by anything else.
- Consumer surplus and producer surplus
- Consumer surplus: the most buyers would pay minus the price paid; area beneath demand, above price. Producer surplus: price received minus the least sellers would accept; area above supply, below price.
- Shortage vs surplus
- Shortage (excess demand): quantity demanded above quantity supplied, so price tends to rise. Surplus (excess supply): quantity supplied above quantity demanded, so price tends to fall.
- Joint supply vs competitive supply
- Joint: one process yields two or more products (beef and leather). Competitive: producers can switch inputs between products, so the goods compete for resources.
- Derived vs composite demand
- Derived: demand for a good or factor because of demand for what it helps to make. Composite: one good is wanted for several uses.
- Diagram: a fall in the cost of raw materials
- Supply shifts right. At the old price there is excess supply, so price falls; quantity demanded extends to a new equilibrium at a lower price and higher quantity.
- PED, YED, XED and PES formulae
- PED = %ΔQd ÷ %ΔP. YED = %ΔQd ÷ %Δ income. XED = %ΔQd of A ÷ %ΔP of B. PES = %ΔQs ÷ %ΔP. Percentage change = change ÷ starting value × 100.
- A shop cuts price from £20 to £19 and sales rise from 250 to 270. PED, and what happens to revenue?
- Price −5%, quantity +8%. PED = 8 ÷ −5 = −1.6, elastic. Revenue rises from £5,000 to £5,130.
- Inferior good, necessity and luxury (YED)
- Inferior: YED below 0. Necessity: YED between 0 and 1. Luxury: YED above 1.
- Substitutes vs complements (XED)
- Substitutes: XED positive (a rise in B's price raises demand for A). Complements: XED negative.
- Determinants of PES
- Time period, spare capacity, level of stocks, and ease of switching factors of production. Supply is more elastic in the long run.
- Why do firms and government care about PED?
- Firms: a price rise raises revenue only if demand is inelastic. Government: indirect taxes on inelastic goods raise more revenue but change behaviour less.
- Productive efficiency
- Output produced at the lowest possible average cost: MC = AC, the lowest point of AC; on the PPF.
- Allocative efficiency
- Resources go to the goods society values most: P = MC (with externalities, MSB = MSC).
- Economic efficiency, static vs dynamic
- Economic efficiency: productive and allocative together. Static: at one point in time, given resources and technology. Dynamic: over time, through investment and innovation, so cost curves shift down.
- X-inefficiency
- Cost above the lowest possible for the output (actual AC above efficient AC), often from weak competitive pressure.
- Fixed costs £150 a day; at 30 jars TVC is £210. Find TC, AC, AFC and AVC.
- TC = £360. AC = 360 ÷ 30 = £12.00. AFC = 150 ÷ 30 = £5.00. AVC = 210 ÷ 30 = £7.00. Check: 5.00 + 7.00 = 12.00.
- MC formula, and how MC relates to AC
- MC = rise in TC ÷ rise in Q (equal to the rise in TVC). When MC is below AC, AC falls; MC cuts AC at its minimum.
- Law of diminishing returns
- With at least one factor fixed (short run), adding more of a variable factor eventually makes marginal product fall, so marginal cost rises. Diminishing returns are not negative returns (TP falling).
- TR, AR and MR
- TR = P × Q. AR = TR ÷ Q, which equals price. MR = change in TR ÷ change in Q.
- Normal vs supernormal profit
- Normal profit: the least return that keeps resources in their present use; counted within TC. Supernormal profit: TR above TC.
- Internal vs external economies of scale
- Internal: LRAC falls as the firm itself grows (a movement along LRAC). External: every firm's costs fall as the industry grows (LRAC shifts down).
- Types of internal economies of scale
- Technical (larger, more efficient machinery), purchasing (bulk buying), financial (cheaper borrowing), managerial (specialist managers), marketing and risk-bearing.
- Diseconomies of scale
- A rise in LRAC as scale rises, from communication and coordination problems, slower decisions and poor motivation in very large firms.
- Minimum efficient scale (MES)
- The smallest output at which LRAC reaches its lowest level.
- Economies of scale vs diminishing returns
- Economies of scale: long run, all factors varied. Diminishing returns: short run, at least one factor fixed.
Topic 3: Market failure and government intervention
- Market failure
- The free market fails to allocate resources efficiently (MSB is not equal to MSC), so too much or too little is produced or consumed.
- Public good (OCR description)
- Non-excludable and non-rival (non-diminishable), also non-rejectable, with a zero marginal cost of an extra user.
- Free-rider problem
- Users get the benefit of a non-excludable good while leaving the cost to others, so it cannot be sold profitably and the market may not provide it.
- Merit good vs demerit good
- Merit good: under-consumed because consumers undervalue its benefits. Demerit good: over-consumed because consumers underestimate its harm or overestimate its benefit.
- Quasi-public good
- A good with some public-good features, or with them only up to a point, such as a road that becomes congested (rival) at busy times.
- Externality, and the social cost and benefit identities
- A cost or benefit that lands on someone outside the transaction and is left out of the price. MSC = MPC + MEC. MSB = MPB + MEB.
- Diagram: negative production externality
- MSC lies above MPC (supply). The market produces where MPC = MPB; the social optimum, where MSC = MSB, is lower. The welfare loss is the triangle between MSC and MSB over the extra output.
- Diagram: positive consumption externality
- MSB lies above MPB (demand). The market consumes less than the social optimum where MSB = MSC. The welfare loss is the triangle between MSB and MSC over the missing output.
- The three roles of the environment
- Provider of resources (raw materials, energy, water, food), provider of amenities (landscape, clean air, recreation) and absorber of waste, up to a limit.
- Tradable pollution permit
- A tradable right to emit a set amount, with the total capped. It fixes the quantity of pollution and lets trading set the price, so cuts are made where they are cheapest.
- Information failure
- Economic agents lack, or misjudge, the information needed for a good decision, so price signals mislead and resources are misallocated.
- Asymmetric information
- Buyer and seller hold unequal knowledge about the good, as in second-hand cars, insurance or financial advice.
- Moral hazard
- A change in behaviour after risk has been transferred, because the person no longer bears the full cost (for example, taking less care once insured).
- Asymmetric information vs moral hazard
- Asymmetric information is unequal knowledge, before or at the deal. Moral hazard is changed behaviour after cover is given.
- Ways to reduce information failure
- Information provision and campaigns, compulsory labelling and disclosure, regulation of advice and standards, guarantees and independent ratings.
- Indirect tax on a demerit good: effect
- Supply shifts left by the tax; price rises and quantity falls towards the social optimum. Tax revenue is a transfer; the deadweight-loss triangle is the welfare cost. It works less when demand is inelastic.
- Subsidy on a merit good: effect
- Supply shifts right by the subsidy; price falls and consumption rises towards the social optimum. Cost to government = subsidy per unit × new quantity.
- Maximum price vs minimum price
- Maximum price: set below equilibrium; causes a shortage. Minimum price: set above equilibrium; causes a surplus.
- Buffer stock scheme
- An agency buys when the price falls to the floor and sells from stock when it reaches the ceiling, to keep the price within a band.
- Regulation vs tradable permits
- Regulation sets a fixed rule for each firm. Permits fix the total and let trading decide the price and who cuts.
- Other forms of intervention
- State provision (of public and merit goods), information provision, and extending property rights.
- Government failure
- Intervention that makes the allocation of resources worse, causing a net welfare loss.
- Market failure vs government failure
- Market failure: the market gets the allocation wrong. Government failure: the intervention gets it wrong.
- Causes of government failure
- Distortion of price signals, unintended consequences (such as black markets), excessive administrative costs, and information gaps such as not knowing the true size of an externality.
- Why might a minimum price on a farm product cause government failure?
- Set above equilibrium it creates a surplus the government must buy and store or destroy, at a cost to taxpayers, while consumers pay more.
Topic 4: Economic policy objectives and indicators of macroeconomic performance
- Economic growth, and nominal vs real GDP
- Growth: more output over time, shown by the percentage rise in real GDP. Nominal GDP: output at the prices of the time. Real GDP: output at constant (base-year) prices.
- Nominal GDP 2,200 (index 100) then 2,310 (index 104). Real growth?
- Real GDP in year 2 = 2,310 ÷ 104 × 100 = 2,221.15. Real growth = 21.15 ÷ 2,200 = 0.96%, although nominal growth was 5.0%.
- Actual vs potential growth
- Actual: a rise in actual output, using spare capacity. Potential: a rise in capacity (LRAS or the PPF shifts outwards).
- Recession
- A fall in real output; commonly two quarters in a row of falling real GDP. A slowdown (slower-rising output) is not a recession.
- Sustained vs sustainable growth
- Sustained: continues over a long period without being cut short by instability. Sustainable: does not damage the environment or deplete resources future generations need.
- Primary, secondary and tertiary sectors
- Primary: extracting or harvesting natural resources. Secondary: manufacturing and construction. Tertiary: services.
- Unemployed vs economically inactive
- Unemployed: without a job, actively seeking work and available to start. Inactive: outside the labour force, neither in a job nor searching (students, carers, retired people).
- Population 16+ 30.0m, employed 19.2m, unemployed 0.8m. Unemployment rate?
- Labour force = 19.2 + 0.8 = 20.0m. Unemployment rate = 0.8 ÷ 20.0 × 100 = 4.0%.
- LFS vs claimant count
- LFS: a survey using the ILO definition (without work, available and looking). Claimant count: those claiming unemployment-related benefits, from benefit records.
- Cyclical vs structural vs frictional unemployment
- Cyclical: too little demand in a downturn. Structural: a mismatch of skills or location after the economy's structure changes. Frictional: between jobs while searching.
- Full employment vs zero unemployment
- Full employment: everyone who wants and is able to work at the going wage can find work; frictional and voluntary unemployment still remain.
- Inflation, deflation and disinflation
- Inflation: a continuing rise in prices across the economy. Deflation: a continuing fall in average prices. Disinflation: the rate of inflation slows, but prices still rise.
- Index vs inflation rate
- An index of 108 says prices are 8% above the base year. The inflation rate compares two index values: (new − old) ÷ old × 100.
- Demand-pull vs cost-push inflation
- Demand-pull: AD shifts right, raising output as well as prices. Cost-push: SRAS shifts left, lowering output while prices rise.
- CPI vs RPI
- Different averaging methods, different treatment of housing costs (RPI includes mortgage interest payments) and slightly different household coverage.
- Why aim for low and stable inflation rather than zero?
- A little inflation lets real wages adjust without cutting money pay and keeps the economy away from the risks of deflation.
- Consequences of high inflation
- Lower real value of savings and fixed incomes, menu and shoe-leather costs, uncertainty that deters investment, and loss of international competitiveness.
- Level vs rate of change vs trend
- Level: where a series stands at one date. Rate of change: the percentage change from one period to the next. Trend: the general direction over several years.
- Unemployment rises from 5.0% to 7.0% of the labour force. Is that a 2% rise?
- No: it is a rise of 2.0 percentage points. With the same labour force, the number unemployed has risen by 40% (from 1.2m to 1.68m of 24.0m).
- A real GDP index rises from 100 to 121.6 over 8 years. Average annual growth?
- Compound: 1.216^(1/8) − 1 = 2.47% a year. A simple average (21.6 ÷ 8 = 2.7%) overstates it.
- Real GDP is 200, then 214, then 207. Growth each year?
- Year 2: (214 − 200) ÷ 200 = 7.0%. Year 3: (207 − 214) ÷ 214 = −3.27%. Output is still 3.5% above the start.
- UK trends to recall: 2008–09 and 2021 onwards
- 2008–09: deep recession after the financial crisis; Bank Rate cut to 0.5% in March 2009. 2021 onwards: inflation surge (CPI peaked at 11.1% in October 2022); Bank Rate raised to 5.25% by August 2023.
- Comparing the UK with other economies: what to check
- Same year, definition and unit; totals or per head; how far starting levels differ; one year or an average; and what the indicator leaves out (distribution, job quality, environment).
Topic 5: Aggregate demand and aggregate supply
- Injections vs leakages (withdrawals)
- Injections: investment, government spending, exports. Leakages: saving, taxation, imports. Equilibrium in the flow: withdrawals equal injections.
- Physical vs monetary flows
- Physical: goods, services and factor services. Monetary: payments for them, moving in the opposite direction.
- The three methods of measuring national income
- Output: sum of value added. Income: sum of factor incomes (wages, rent, interest, profit). Expenditure: C + I + G + (X − M).
- National income multiplier
- The eventual change in income divided by the injection that started it. k = 1 ÷ MPW, where MPW = MPS + MRT + MPM.
- MPW is 0.5. An injection of 30bn. Final change in national income?
- k = 1 ÷ 0.5 = 2. Income rises by 2 × 30 = 60bn (the rise in real GDP is smaller if prices rise).
- Aggregate demand and its components
- Planned spending on home-produced output at each price level. AD = C + I + G + (X − M).
- APC vs MPC
- APC = C ÷ Yd. MPC = ΔC ÷ ΔYd. APC + APS = 1 and MPC + MPS = 1.
- Influences on consumption and investment
- Consumption: income, interest rates, wealth, confidence, credit. Investment: expected demand (the accelerator), interest rates, confidence, technology, government policy.
- Accelerator
- Net investment depends on the change in output (income), not its level: net investment = v × ΔY.
- Movement along AD vs shift of AD
- A change in the price level moves the economy along AD. A change in planned spending on any component at every price level shifts it.
- Aggregate supply
- Planned real output of all producers at each price level.
- SRAS vs LRAS (OCR definitions)
- SRAS: when some costs, especially nominal wages, are fixed; slopes upwards. LRAS: productive capacity once costs and prices have adjusted; depends on factors and technology.
- What shifts SRAS?
- Changes in costs of production: wages, raw material and energy prices, import prices, indirect taxes. A cost rise shifts SRAS left.
- What shifts LRAS?
- Changes in the quantity or quality of factors: technology, education and skills, investment, labour force size, and institutions.
- Keynesian vs classical LRAS
- Keynesian: horizontal with a lot of spare capacity, then rising, then vertical at full capacity. Classical: vertical at the full-capacity output.
- Diagram: AD rises in an economy with spare capacity
- Price level on the vertical axis, real output on the horizontal. AD shifts right; real output rises a lot and the price level only a little.
- Diagram: AD rises near full capacity
- AD shifts right where AS is steep or vertical: mostly a higher price level (demand-pull inflation), with little extra real output.
- Diagram: a cost-push shock
- SRAS shifts left. The price level rises and real output falls: stagflation (falling output with rising prices).
- Diagram: an increase in productive capacity
- LRAS shifts right. Real output can rise without a higher price level, or with a lower one.
- Macroeconomic equilibrium
- The price level and real output where AD equals SRAS.
- Long-run equilibrium
- AD, SRAS and LRAS all meet at one point: output is at potential.
- Potential output
- Output at the economy's capacity, shown by the LRAS curve. A negative output gap means actual output is below it.
- Why is the rise in real GDP smaller than the shift of AD?
- The AD shift equals injection × multiplier at a given price level, but as AD rises along an upward-sloping SRAS, part of the extra demand raises prices instead of output.
Topic 6: The application of policy instruments
- Average vs marginal tax rate
- Average: tax over total income. Marginal: the rate on the extra income. In a progressive system, the marginal rate exceeds the average rate.
- Progressive vs regressive tax: how to test
- Look at the average rate, not the amount paid. Progressive: the average rate rises with income. Regressive: it falls. Proportional: it stays the same.
- Direct vs indirect tax
- Direct: on income, profit and wealth. Indirect: on spending. The legal payer of an indirect tax is the seller, but the burden may fall on the buyer.
- Budget position vs fiscal stance
- Position is the balance (surplus, deficit or balanced). Stance is the direction policy pushes demand: expansionary, contractionary or neutral.
- Budget deficit vs national debt
- Deficit: spending exceeds revenue in a year (a flow). Debt: the stock of outstanding government borrowing on one date. A deficit adds to the debt.
- Automatic stabilisers vs discretionary policy
- Automatic stabilisers: parts of the budget that offset output swings with no new decision (tax receipts fall and benefits rise in a downturn). Discretionary: a deliberate change in spending or taxes.
- Monetary policy instruments
- The policy interest rate (which commercial rates follow), the money supply, quantitative easing and the exchange rate, used to influence AD.
- What happens to AD when the policy rate is cut?
- Borrowing is cheaper and saving less rewarding, so C and I rise; mortgage payments fall; the currency may depreciate, raising net exports. AD shifts right after a time lag.
- Quantitative easing (QE)
- The central bank creates electronic money to buy assets, usually government bonds, from financial institutions, lowering long-term interest rates.
- Inflation rate targeting
- A published numerical inflation target that guides policy; in the UK the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee sets Bank Rate to meet the government's CPI target.
- Real interest rate
- Approximately the nominal rate minus inflation. Exactly (1 + nominal) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1. Nominal 5% with expected inflation 3%: 1.05 ÷ 1.03 − 1 = 1.9%.
- Supply-side policy
- Measures that raise the quality or quantity of factors of production, or make markets work better, so potential output grows (LRAS shifts right).
- Market-based vs interventionist supply-side policies
- Market-based: deregulation, tax cuts, privatisation, labour market flexibility. Interventionist: state-funded education and training, infrastructure, subsidies for R&D.
- Tax 30% and benefits lost at 45% of net pay. Effective marginal rate on an extra 100?
- Net after tax = 70. Benefit lost = 0.45 × 70 = 31.5. Kept = 38.5, so the effective marginal rate is 61.5%.
- Strengths and limits of supply-side policies
- Strengths: can raise growth while lowering inflation and unemployment. Limits: long time lags, uncertain effects, cost to the budget, and some (such as benefit cuts) can widen inequality.
- Policy conflict (trade-off)
- Pursuing one objective moves another away from its target. Conflicts are weaker when the economy has spare capacity.
- Conflict: low unemployment vs low inflation
- Raising AD cuts cyclical unemployment, but near capacity it bids up wages and prices: demand-pull inflation.
- Conflict: economic growth vs the current account
- Rising incomes raise imports. With an MPM of 0.2, a rise in income of 50 raises imports by 10, worsening the current account.
- Conflict: growth vs the environment
- More output uses more resources and raises emissions and other external costs, unless growth is decoupled from environmental harm.
- Policy mix
- Using several instruments together (fiscal, monetary, supply-side) so that one can offset the side effects of another.
Topic 7: The global context
- Absolute vs comparative advantage
- Absolute: fewer resources per unit, or more output from the same resources. Comparative: giving up less of other goods to make a good (lower opportunity cost).
- Export price index 108, import price index 96. Terms of trade?
- 108 ÷ 96 × 100 = 112.5, an improvement of 12.5%: each unit of exports buys more imports.
- Terms of trade vs trade balance
- Terms of trade: a price ratio (export prices ÷ import prices). Trade balance: a money value (exports − imports). Better terms of trade can still lower export revenue if demand is elastic.
- Benefits and costs of international trade
- Benefits: lower prices, more choice, economies of scale, specialisation by comparative advantage. Costs: job losses in import-competing industries, dependence on others, exposure to world shocks.
- Unit labour cost and international competitiveness
- ULC = labour cost ÷ output. Competitiveness is the ability to sell against foreign rivals; it rises when ULC falls relative to rivals, and with non-price factors such as quality.
- Balance of payments
- The account of every payment crossing a country's border, in either direction, in a stated time span. Credits are money in; debits are money out.
- The current account
- Trade in goods, trade in services, income (primary) and current transfers (secondary).
- The accounting identity
- Current account + capital account + financial account + errors and omissions = 0, so a current account deficit is matched by net inflows elsewhere.
- Causes of a current account deficit
- Fast growth raising imports, high inflation or unit labour costs, a strong exchange rate, low productivity and a narrow export base.
- Expenditure-reducing vs expenditure-switching policies
- Reducing: lowers total demand, and so imports. Switching: shifts demand from foreign to home goods (depreciation, tariffs).
- Floating vs fixed exchange rate system
- Floating: market forces set the rate. Fixed (pegged): the central bank commits to a target rate, using reserves and interest rates to defend it.
- Appreciation and depreciation vs revaluation and devaluation
- Appreciation and depreciation: a rise or fall in a floating currency. Revaluation and devaluation: an official upward or downward resetting of a pegged rate.
- What makes a currency appreciate?
- Higher demand for it or lower supply: higher interest rates than abroad (hot money), stronger exports, inward investment, lower inflation than abroad, and speculation that it will rise.
- Effects of a depreciation
- Exports cheaper abroad and imports dearer, so net exports and AD may rise; inflation tends to rise through import prices. The current account improves only if PEDx + PEDm > 1 (Marshall-Lerner).
- J-curve
- After a depreciation the trade balance first worsens, because demand for exports and imports is inelastic in the short run, then improves as buyers adjust.
- A currency falls 20% (0.50 to 0.40 foreign units). By how much do import prices in home currency rise?
- By 25%: a good costing 1 foreign unit cost 2.00 home units and now costs 2.50. A fall in one currency is not an equal rise in the other.
Flashcards by topic
- Topic 1 Scarcity and choice 18 cards · 4 subtopics
- Topic 2 How competitive markets work 35 cards · 7 subtopics
- Topic 3 Market failure and government intervention 25 cards · 5 subtopics
- Topic 4 Economic policy objectives and indicators of macroeconomic performance 23 cards · 4 subtopics
- Topic 5 Aggregate demand and aggregate supply 23 cards · 5 subtopics
- Topic 6 The application of policy instruments 20 cards · 4 subtopics
- Topic 7 The global context 16 cards · 3 subtopics
Written for OCR AS Level Economics (H060), syllabus H060 (For first assessment in 2016).
Cards by Marlbridge Academic Team; 4 restate definitions from the H060 revision notes. This deck was reviewed by Salman Ahmad on 2026-11-05. Report an error.