Economics 2016 HSC exam pack

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• distinguishing between a subsidy and tariff (Q21a)
• linking costs, efficiency and productivity (Q 21b)
• providing a range of effects, on both government revenue and expenditure, of removing a subsidy (Q21c)
• outlining the characteristics of a private and social benefit (Q22a)
• providing specific reasons why developed and developing nations take different approaches to environmental sustainability (Q22b)
• completing a diagram to show a depreciation of the Australian dollar (Q23a)
• identifying factors which increase the supply of the Australian dollar (Q23b)
• understanding the concept of the Trade Weighted Index (Q23c)
• demonstrating the difference between the components of aggregate demand and aggregate supply (Q24c).

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• explaining , from a range of perspectives, the short and long term effects of removing a subsidy (21c)
• understanding the link between a nation’s approach towards environmental sustainability and its effect on economic and environmental outcomes (Q22b)
• identifying the advantages and disadvantages of specific international agreements that address environmental sustainability in the global economy (Q22c)
• differientating between supply-side and demand-side factors to determine the value of the Australian dollar(Q23b)
• linking the concept of the Trade Weight Index to inflation (Q23c)
• assessing the impact of a depreciating Australian dollar on employment levels (Q23d)
• calculating the multiplier and corresponding increases in income (Q24a)
• explaining how increases in the MPC work through the economy to affect economic growth (Q24b).

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of labour market policies and their effect on the employed and the unemployed (Q25)
• stipulating specific government policies and their implications for the employed and the unemployed (Q25)
• demonstrating a strong and detailed theoretical understanding of a wide range of economic objectives,and supporting the response with diagrams and economic statistics (Q26)
• discussing a wide range of policy limitations and restrictions with reference to an Australian government policy (Q26).

Candidates need to improve in the following areas:

• understanding the relationship between specific government policies and their impact on the employed and the unemployed (Q25)
• understanding the concepts behind labour market policies in relation to positive and/or negative implications (Q25)
• using either data and/or a graph to substantiate a response (Q25)
• addressing the set question, specifically the economic concepts, assessment verb and the stimulus
• providing a balanced approach to clearly show the relationship between economic objectives and specific reasons for not achieving the objectives (Q26)
• elaborating on economic relationships and supporting the response with economic data, theory and the stimulus provided to reflect a holistic understanding of economic objectives, policy limitations and restrictions (Q26).

Candidates showed strength in these areas:

• demonstrating an informed and sophisticated argument about the impact of the Reserve Bank’s expansionary monetary policy on the Australian economy (Q27)
• understanding the role of monetary policy in the Australian economy (Q27)
• integrating relevant economic terminology, such as,expansionary policy, deflation, liquidity trap, transmission mechanism (Q27)
• using relevant economic data, including trends and contemporary examples, to support a view (Q27 & Q28)
• demonstrating sophisticated arguments about how different factors have influenced Australia’s trade and financial flows (Q28)
• integrating relevant economic terminology including the terms of trade, deregulation of financial markets, bilateral and multilateral trade agreements (Q28).

Candidates need to improve in these areas:

• understanding the relationship between expansionary monetary policy and economic indicators (Q27)
• providing a specific description of how monetary policy operates (Q27)
• understanding the need to make a judgement about value, quality, outcome, results or size when an assessment is required (Q27)
• developing a greater depth of knowledge about policies and their implications and limitations
• understanding that while free trade agreements assist in facilitating trade and financial flows, they are not necessarily the main determinant of changes in these flows (Q28)
• distinguishing between the factors driving changes in Australia’s trade flows as opposed to changes in financial flows(Q28)
• understanding the different roles of domestic and global factors in influencing trade and financial flows (Q28).