Essential Economics for Cambridge IGCSE (R) & O Level

Syllabus matching grid
1 The basic economic problem: Choice and the allocation of resources
1.1 The nature of the economic problem
1.1.1: The economic problem
1.1.2: Economic and free goods
1.2 The factors of production
1.2.1: Factors of production and their rewards
1.2.2: Mobility, quantity and quality of factors of production
1.3 Opportunity cost
1.3.1: Definition and examples of opportunity cost
1.3.2: Opportunity cost and economic decision making
1.4 Production possibility curves
1.4.1: The production possibility frontier
1.4.2: Movements and shifts along a production possibility curve
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2 The allocation of resources: How the market works and market failure
2.1 Microeconomics and macroeconomics
2.1.1: The difference between microeconomics and macroeconomics
2.2 The roles of markets in allocating resources
2.2.1: The market system
2.2.2: Resource allocation decisions
2.3 Demand
2.3.1: Price and demand
2.3.2: Causes of shifts in the demand curve
2.4 Supply
2.4.1: Price and supply
2.4.2: Conditions of supply
2.5 Price determination
2.5.1: Market equilibrium
2.6 Price changes
2.6.1: Causes and consequences of price changes
2.7 Elasticity of demand
2.7.1: Price elasticity of demand
2.7.2: Elasticity of demand and total spending/product revenue
2.8 Elasticity of supply
2.8.1: Price elasticity of supply
2.9 Market economic systems
2.9.1: The market economic system
2.9.2: Merits and weaknesses of a market system
2.10 Market failure
10 Market failure 48 2.10.1: The nature of market failure
2.10.2: Private and social costs and benefits
2.10.3: Causes of market failure
2.11 Mixed economic systems
2.11.1: The nature of a mixed economy
2.11.2: Government influence on micro-economy: regulation
2.11.3: Government influence on micro-economy: subsidies
2.11.4: Government influence on micro-economy: indirect taxes
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3 Microeconomic decision makers: The individual as producer, consumer and borrower
3.1 Money and banking
3.1.1: Money
3.1.2: Commercial banks
3.1.3: Central banks
3.2 Households
3.2.1: Influences on spending, saving and borrowing
3.2.2: Income and expenditure patterns
3.3 Workers
3.3.1: Factors affecting occupation choice
3.3.2: Wage determination
3.3.3: Differences in earnings
3.3.4: Division of labour/specialisation
3.4 Trade unions
3.4.1: Nature and purpose of trade unions
3.5 Firms
3.5.1: Classification of firms
3.5.2: Small firms
3.5.3: Growth of firms
3.5.4: Mergers and integration
3.5.5: Economies and diseconomies of scale
3.6 Firms and production
3.6.1: Demand for factors of production
3.6.2: Labour-intensive and capital-intensive production
3.6.3: Production and productivity
3.7 Firms' cost, revenue and objectives
3.7.1: Fixed and variable costs
3.7.2: Total and average costs
3.7.3: Output and costs
3.7.4: Revenue
3.7.5: Objectives of firms
3.8 Market structure
3.8.1: Competitive markets
3.8.2: Monopoly markets
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4 Government and the macroeconomy
4.1 The role of government
4.1.1: Government roles
4.2 Macroeconomic aims of government
4.2.1: Macroeconomic aims
4.2.2: Conflicts between government aims
4.3 Fiscal policy
4.3.1: Elements of fiscal policy
4.3.2: Classification of taxes
4.3.3: Principles and impacts of taxation
4.3.4: Fiscal policy and government aims
4.4 Monetary policy
4.4.1: Monetary policy measures
4.5 Supply-side policy
4.5.1: The effects of supply-side policy
4.6 Economic growth
4.6.1: Measuring Gross Domestic Product
4.6.2: Economic growth and recession
4.6.3: Illustrating growth and recession
4.6.4: Government policies for economic growth
4.7 Employment and unemployment
4.7.1: Patterns and levels of employment
4.7.2: Full employment
4.7.3: Causes of unemployment
4.7.4: Consequences of unemployment
4.8 Inflation and deflation
4.8.1: The Retail Prices Index and inflation
4.8.2: Causes of inflation
4.8.3: Consequences of inflation
4.8.4: Causes and consequences of deflation
4.8.5: Policies to control inflation and deflation
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5 Economic development
5.1: Living standards
5.1.1: Indicators of living standards
5.1.2: Comparing living standards and income distribution
5.2 Poverty
5.2.1: Causes of poverty
5.2.2: Policies to alleviate poverty
5.3 Population
5.3.1: Factors that affect population growth
5.3.2: Reasons for different rates of population growth
5.3.3: Problems of population change
5.3.4: The effect of changing population sizes on an economy
5.3.5: Changes in population structure and their effect on an economy
5.4 Differences in economic development between countries
5.4.1: Different rates of development
5.4.2: Factors affecting development
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6 International trade and globalisation
6.1 International specialisation
6.1.1: Advantages and disadvantages of specialisation
6.2 Globalisation, free trade and protection
6.2.1: Globalisation
6.2.2: Multinationals
6.2.3: The benefits of free trade
6.2.4: Methods of protection
6.2.5: Reasons for protection
6.3 Foreign exchange rates
6.3.1: Exchange rates
6.3.2: Causes of foreign exchange rate fluctuations
6.3.3: Consequences of fluctuations
6.4 The balance of payments
6.4.1: The current account of the balance of payments
6.4.2: Current account deficit and surplus
6.4.3: Policies to achieve balance of payments stability
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Glossary
Index