Should I get a Remark for my A Levels?

To all those who recently got their A level results - I hope you did as well as you deserved. If you were disappointed you might be considering having them remarked.

It is not easy to say whether this is a good thing or not. However, it is worth considering these points.

• Remarks are more likely to go up as well as down.
• However, this may be because people will only remark if they were dissappointed and did less well than expected.
• Ideally, you would get your teacher to look through your script and compare it to the mark scheme. This should give them an idea if you have been harshly treated.
  
• However, it is worth bearing in mind, it is more difficult for a teacher to judge a Mark scheme who didn't get the training professional markers did.
• It is said that students from private schools get an advantage from the process of remarking. - Why? well, students from private schools are much more likely to get scripts remarked and remarked scripts are more likely to go up than down.
• If the grade has cost you the place and you really feel you deserved more then it might well be worth it.
• In my experience, it is difficult for students to judge how well they did in an exam. For example, you may write good economics, but, unfortunately answer the wrong question.

From my experience of marking economics, there is always an element of subjectivity in marking. Basically, this means that even the best examiners will have small differences for the same paper. However, during remarks any benefit of the doubt issues will generally not be changed. Examiners are looking for clear errors in application of the mark scheme.

Economics Help 2007

I am starting a new thread for Economics Questions. As usual you are free to leave any questions as a comment on this post.

I shall try to answer the economics question and / or point to other resources but please bear in mind.

1. The replies will be guidance and not for duplication. Your essays should always be your own work.
2. My specialty is economics for British A Level standard. My university economics is rusty in parts, because generally I don't use it in teaching A level economics.
3. I can't guarantee to always give full answers it also depends on my time schedule.
4. The answers will not necessarily be complete. I know several of my essays on this site could be improved.
5. Please Write the Questions clearly and with proper spelling. Some questions I have not answered because they were not clear what was meant.
6. I will answer as a new post. Check home page of blog for new post. With question and answers
   

I studied PPE at Oxford University and currently work as an Economics A Level teacher. I have also examined several different economic units for Edexcel AS and A2.

If you find the information useful, you are welcome to buy me a coffee :)

Some Tips On Web Hosting

Getting a good web hosting company is essential for any blogger. These are some of the things to look out for when Getting a new webhost.

1. Bandwidth.

Many websites do not need unlimited bandwidth. However, if you have serious aspirations for your blog, it is best to get an option that enables unlimited bandwidth. If you should find yourself on the home page of Digg, the last thing you want is for your server to go down. Getting on the home page of digg gives the potential for many inbound links and new subscribers. These inbound links are very valuable, as shown by how people would be willing to pay substantial money to get on the digg homepage. Therefore, if it is possible choose a host who can deal with rapid bursts of traffic.
If you have no desire to get traffic spikes and it just a personal blog, it is not so important.

2. Reliability

Reliability is essential. The last thing you want is your site to be unavailable for others. Look for hosts which have developed good reputations. From my personal experience. I have used streamline.net and host i can. Both servers have performed without any problem.

3. Value for Money.

There is a huge difference in price of deals. Many of my websites are hosted with hostican. The option I chose gives unlimited bandwidth and an unlimited number of sites. At $130 a year, this works out very cheaply. The benefit of this package is that there is no restriction on adding more sites, and all sites you have are given unlimited number of mySql databases, useful for hosting Wordpress.

4. One Click Install.

I am lazy. I don't want to have to be installing wordpress from scratch, even though people say it is relatively easy. I want to be able to click a button and instantaneously have a new wordpress blog. Many of the leading hosts now offer Fantastico, a range of one click install programs.

5. Different IP addresses.

If you have only 1 or 2 blogs this is not an issue. However, I have 4 websites on the similar subject of personal finance / economics. Therefore, there is an inclination to interlink the sites. The theory is that if the websites are on the same host and same IP address, these links will be devalued. I don't think they will cause any harm, unless you link to duplicate content on different sites. However, if the sites are on different IP addresses, I hope that the links may have some value in improving PR. It is difficult to know how important this is. It is hard to say whether it is worth paying another $100 a year just to have sites on different IP addresses. At the moment I use 3 hosting companies, but I intend to reduce this to 2 to make it easier to manage all the sites.

6. US Based Hosts?

US based hosts tend to be cheaper. One advantage of hosting a site on a UK server is that it appeared on the google.co.uk results, even though it was a .org address. However, to be honest I don't think it really matters in which country you choose to host your sites.

7. Help / Support

The web hosting companies I have used, all offer very good customer support. If you are getting poor service, look around for another company.


What is difference between shared hosting and dedicated hosting?

The cheapest and most common type of hosting is shared hosting. This means your website is stored on a machine that also hosts other websites. A dedicated server means you buy a machine just to host your website. This means you have complete control and are not at the mercy of other sites crashing the machine. For beginners, shared hosting will be absolutely fine. Dedicated hosting is worth considering when your site attracts a lot of traffic (and a lot of money to pay for it.

More Tips on Web Hosting Packages

More Tips on Blogging: Net Writing

Is Chinese Education better Than British Education?

Every now and then you will get a newspaper report showing how an 11 year old Chinese kid can do a British A Level maths exam, aimed at 18 year olds.

Does this mean British education is falling?

No, what it means is that the Chinese education system places great emphasis on learning maths. I doubt that the Chinese have a natural inclination for maths, it is simply that this is the kind of learning that is encouraged. If you placed a British kid in a Chinese school, there is no reason that they would not develop a similar good standard. One complaint of Chinese students in the UK is how everyone assumes they will be good at Maths, just because they are Chinese. This is a fair point, just because you are made to study Maths extensively, doesn't mean you have to like it or feel a natural affinity for the subject.

Limitation of Chinese Education.

The newspaper reports which highlight the gap in a subject like Maths, rarely report the other side of the equation. Basically, Chinese education is good at Maths, but when it comes to independent thought it is sadly lacking. Despite the many failings of British education, A levels are testing in that they require students to evaluate questions, considering both sides and go beyond merely repeating standard textbook answers. Learning by rote is not the route to success for A Levels. They do require a high degree of understanding and evaluation. Take a student from a Chinese school and they will find the A Level standard quite perplexing.

It is in writing essays that Chinese education shows its limitations. Chinese education does not encourage independent thought or evaluation of written material. Instead, emphasis is placed on learning by rote.

For example, ask a Chinese student what they think about Chairman Mao; in 90% of cases they will repeat by rote how:

• He was a great figure,
• but, made a few mistakes.
• On balance he was about 70% right.

What always strikes me is how all the Chinese always repeat this mythical figure of 70% right. Obviously someone decided this the figure of 70% is what should be on the curriculum.

Can you image 95% of British students repeating by rote:

• Margaret Thatcher, great person,
• made a few mistakes,
• overall about 70% correct.

(and let us remember Margaret Thatcher, for all her failings, didn't lead to the deaths of over 20 million of her own countrymen)

Other Myths you get from Chinese Education

Democracy is maybe OK for the UK, but there are too many people in China for it to work. Democracy in China would lead to the disintegration of society.

The Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 is unknown to the majority of the Chinese students. If they come from the south away, from Bejing, they may know about it. But, those brought up in Beijing rarely have any idea.

Are British A Levels Getting Easier?

Well, yes and no. - Just the answer you would expect from an Economist...

The % of grades As seems to increase remorslessly every year - for the past 25 years, to be exact. We now have a situation where 25% of A levels get the top grade A, compared to about 12% 25 years ago. The problem is that it is getting increasingly difficult for university's and employers to distinguish between the top candidates.

Within the 25% of candidates who get a grade A, there is a big difference between the top grade A's and those that just squeeze through the A grade boundary. The A level system is now failing to discriminate amongst students. If this continues to occur, Universities will have to look to other means to select candidates.

Are standards slipping or getting better?

The increase in % of grade A's, is not because British students have doubled their intelligence, nor is it because they are working harder. It is simply that the boundaries have been lowered. The fault lies with the government and the QCA. They simply want more people to get grade A's by lowering the grade boundaries and / or encouraging questions which can be given more marks. If necessary A grade boundaries can be lowered to 50% or less. (This is of course hidden by the UMS system, which is a way of hiding the true "raw" mark.)

It is my belief that the standards have not fallen but nor have they got much better. A Levels still pose an intellectual challenge, the subject material is not easier than 25 years ago. Syllabuses have changed - some things have been left out, but also, other things have been tested more. Overall, the only thing that has been changed is that exam boards have been encouraged to give a higher % of candidates the top grades. We cannot blame the exam boards, they are merely following government advice.

Overall

• A Levels still require a similar standard of understanding and application as in the past.
• Standards are not slipping, but nor can we say with confidence they are rising. The % of candidates getting an A, is next to useless for determining the overall quality of education.
  
• What has changed is that it is easier for a candidates to get a higher grade.
• A system which gives 25% of candidates an A is failing the outstanding candidates. There should be greater discrimination at the top of the spectrum.
• They will not reduce the % of candidates getting an A, therefore, they should introduce the A*. This will reward the very good candidates and make it easier for universities to get the best candidates.

• One in four A - levels now an A at Times
  

Saving Money on Transport

On some train journeys, ticket prices, can vary from between £20 and £200. Train and airline companies take advantage of people's different willingness to pay and set different prices to maximise their profit. It is known as price discrimination and basically involves charging higher prices to groups of consumers they feel are willing to pay higher prices.

Ways to save Money When traveling

1. Buy in Advance.

Many train tickets are cheaper when buying in advance. This is because people who buy last minute, usually have few alternatives, therefore they are willing to pay higher prices. The pricing of airline flights can be more complicated, it depends on how many seats remain unsold. However, as a general rule, buying in advance offers a greater choice of competitive price. Train companies in particular have many special offers available for buying in advance.

2. Time of Travel.

If you are able to switch your date of travel by a few dates, airline prices can vary by upto £100. On the most popular days, e.g. start of school holidays, demand is much more inelastic. Traveling a day earlier or later often means prices can be significantly lower. Therefore, if at all possible be flexible in your days of travel; it can enable significant savings. Similarly if you are willing to travel at unsociable times, e.g. flying at 6am in the morning prices are often cheaper because, for some reason, people are more reluctant to get up at that time. It depends whether you feel getting up at 4am in the morning is worth a £50 saving.

3. The loyal traveler.

The greatest savings can occur through taking advantage of loyalty schemes. If you travel regularly make sure you take advantage of any air miles on offer. Even if you are traveling a certain route for a limited time, like a week or month, getting a travel card will probably save a lot of money. Train and airline companies take advantage of the infrequent traveler, charging him a much higher price than regular travelers.

4. Unpopular Airports.

If you can avoid the most popular airports like Heathrow and Gatwick you will find that prices are generally lower. As an additional benefit you will avoid the stress of passing through the most congested airport in the world.

5. Take your own food.

When you get on a train or aeroplane, you are immediately in the hands of a monopolist. If you want to eat or drink, you have no alternative but to pay the prices of the train / airline company. This is how they can get away with charging £5, for a slim cheese sandwich. If you are not careful, you can easily spend £10-£20 on food that is unnecessarily expensive. These are the hidden costs of traveling and often the most profitable branch of business for train companies. Be prepared and take your own food. It is not difficult to make it more palatable.

What Happens when the stock market Falls?

What effect does a falling stock market have on the Economy?

Stock exchanges, in both the UK, US and around the world have recently witnessed significant falls in their value. For example, the London Stock exchange has fallen by 10% in the past month. For many people who don't own shares, they may ask does a falling stock market impact on the wider economy? The answer is that it depends on many factors.

1. The stock market has successfully predicted 10 of the last 2 recessions.

The stock market often falls without causing a recession. For example in 1987 the stock market crashed by 25%, but economic growth remained high. Often when a stock market fall it is merely correcting for a fundamental imbalance in the value of shares and is not a reflection of wider economic problems

2. Falls in share prices do not necessarily lead to lower spending.
Most people who buy shares see them as speculative investment. When they go up they don't start spending more; when they fall, they don't reduce spending. Basically wealth in the form of shares is a very poor guide to consumer spending; unlike the value of houses which can affect consumer spending.

3. Effect on confidence. Falling share prices can undermine business and eventually consumer confidence. Falling stock markets reduce the scope for firms borrowing money. Therefore, they may reduce their investment spending which impacts on the economy.

4. Reason for falling share prices.

The impact of a falling stock market usually depends on why it is falling. For example, if share prices are falling because they are overvalued, this is not going to affect the wider economy. However, if falling share prices are a reflection of serious economic problems, then it is the serious economic imbalances that will cause a recession. The stock market is merely an indicator of the economic problems.

With regard to the current economic problems, a significant cause of the falling stock market is problems in the Sub prime mortgage industry. Many borrowers are defaulting on their repayments causing some big sub prime lenders to go out of business. This has affected many big banking and investment firms who have had to write off bad debt held in these mortgage companies they had invested. On its own this will not cause a recession. However, a real downturn in the US Housing market could be a trigger to causing a recession.

If house prices are falling, consumer wealth and confidence falls, this causes lower spending and lower growth. If people are defaulting on mortgage payments and having homes repossessed it means they are struggling financially. Therefore, this will contribute to falling growth. If problems in the housing market are extensive and widespread this could be a catalyst for a full blown economic recession.

Therefore, there is a link between share prices and the economy. However, often the link is merely to serve as an indicator of economic strength. Share prices are not the cause of recessions, but can sometimes be a barometer of the state of the economy.

See also: effects of Falling Stock Market on Housing Market

Inflation Explained.

• Inflation measures the increase in cost of living. Basically it refers to the annual percentage increase in the general price level.
• Inflation means that the value of money decreases. Basically, if prices increase it means that £10 will buy less goods than previously.
• Hyper inflation occurs when prices increase at an exponential rate of say over 1000%. When this occurs it creates great instability in the economy. In extreme cases it can lead to a barter economy where people stop using money but trade goods. Examples include Germany in the 1920s and Hungary 1946. Recent examples include Croatia

• Inflation is measured in the UK using the CPI - Consumer Price Index. However, in the past the government used the RPI and RPIX. Some people argue RPI is more accurate because it included housing costs and taxes excluded from the CPI.
• The government has an inflation target of CPI 2% +/- 1%. In the past 10 years, the UK has been relatively very successful in maintaining low inflation.

High inflation is considered harmful to the economy because:

1. It creates uncertainty amongst firms and consumers. This leads to lower investment and economic growth.
2. High inflation is associated with unsustainable economic growth. This leads to the boom and bust situation of the late 1980s
3. High inflation reduces UK's international competitiveness.
4. See also: Costs of inflation
   

• The opposite of inflation is deflation.

Deflation means prices fall. If this is caused by increased productivity and lower costs it is good. however if deflation is caused by an economic recession, then this is considered harmful because falling prices discourages people from spending. The last time the UK had deflation was in the 1930s great depression.

Inflation Links

• Causes of Inflation
• Inflation Explained by Victor Borge
  

How to Write 50 articles per week.

Just think, what you could do to your blog, if you were able to write 70 high quality blog posts per week...

• Guest posts on other blogs. - gaining links and exposure from other bloggers.
• Ezine links. You could place some articles at ezines to get a new variety of inbound links.
• More search engine traffic. If you target your long tail, 70 articles per week,will significantly boost your traffic from search engines.

(This advice is also relevant for writing essays. Students are always trying to convince me that it is simply impossible to write more than 1 essay per week. But, fortunately or unfortunately, I know they are very modestly underestimating their capacities.)



Here are some tips for writing a greater quantity of articles.

1. Have an Optimistic Target

If you want to be a prolific blogger you have to think in terms of high volume. The problem is that, when we have written one article, we feel pleased with ourselves and think we can relax for another 2 days. If you set yourself a target, it gives you something to aim for. Don't settle for a small number of articles. If you think 50 is unreasonable, start with a target of 20 per week. But, you should feel 50 articles per week is definitely possible.

2. Writing Speed Increases over Time

If you are a slow writer and find it difficult to write even 1 article - persevere and practice. Writing is a skill that develops with practice. The more you write, the more fluent you will become. When I first started blogging, I wrote maybe 1 or 2 articles per week, but felt the importance of writing more, so I kept practising.

3. Write Series of Articles

When you write series of articles you try to get 5-10 articles out of a single topic, rather than 1 long, complicated article. Series of articles are good for exploiting the long tail in your preferred keywords. For example, you can write about the benefits of different types of tax, getting traffic for each different article.

4. Ask for Questions.

A popular part of this blog, is that near exam time, students ask questions about economics. For each question, I will answer as a separate blog post. This is good for them, because they get some tips for exam revision. It is also good for a blogger, because I get alot of ideas for writing posts. All I have to do is answer the question, like I would in a lesson. It is very quick to write, and I have gained a good number of posts through answering these questions. Try to encourage questions on your blog. If you find people don't ask, just look for questions people would be likely to ask. Never underestimate the need for basic questions, you may think obvious. For example, it is interesting how many people google the question, what is a blog? What is Economics? see: Blogging for Beginners at Problogger

5. Set aside dedicated writing time.

If you have a 2 hours stretch to just write, you can be very focused. This will stop you getting sidetracked through checking stats and email. These are unproductive tasks, that not only lose time, but also mean that you lose your writing concentration. Avoid procrastination and wasting time at all cost - see increasing productivity

6. Have Titles Ready

Generate a list of titles so that you always know what you are going to be writing about. I have a file on my desktop of titles for blog posts, separated into different categories. Whenever I get an idea for a post I write the title down. During the day I can be thinking of ideas for the post, therefore, when I start writing I can just concentrate on writing.

7. Top 10 lists.

I love top 10 lists, they are so easy to write.

• Top 10 reasons for studying economics. (humorous)
• Top 10 reason lists are rubbish
• Top 10 ways to rank highly for keywords

8. Write with a Target in Mind.

It is good to write articles, where you have a clear idea in mind, what you will be writing about. For example, write for a blog carnival, or blog contest.

9. Write for Multiple Blogs.

As fascinating as Economics is, I would get bored just writing Economics. By writing on a variety of topics you get the chance to have a change, which is as good as a rest.

I also blog at: Net Writing

10. Enjoy Writing.

This is the real trick for being a prolific writer. Learn to enjoy the art, this means you need to write on the topics you have a passion and interest in.

Top 10 reasons for studying Economics

Should I study Economics? Here are 10 absolutely foolproof reasons for studying Economics.



1. Economic Forecaster.

As an economist you can make a living from predicting future economic events. The key to being a good economic forecaster is to use a mixture of dice and lottery numbers. (some economists make the mistake of using just lottery numbers, but this can lead to really bad forecasting) If this method fails just use the statistics from the previous year; they are always more accurate than the actual predictions of economists.

• Note: Economists have successfully predicted 10 out of the last 2 recessions.
  

2. You can always give Advice.

When the economy enters a recession, you will be able to tell everybody why the economy is in a recession. Also, you will be able to suggest several conflicting reasons as to how we can get out of a recession. This will simultaneously, both confuse and impress everybody; but it doesn't matter because nobody ever listen to economists.

3. Diminishing Returns.

When you get ill from drinking 10 pints of beer in one night. You will be able to impress your parents with the knowledge that the law of diminishing returns is actually perfectly correct. As a side effect, you may also learn about opportunity cost:

• Spending £40 on drink equals hangover.

4. Rational Behavior.

Economics assumes people are rational. Economics assumes that people choose the activity which optimises our utility. When people want to buy a season ticket to watch Leeds United, you can tell them this is irrational behaviour. The Leeds United supporter will definitely appreciate the cogency of your economic reasoning and will, more than likely, start supporting Doncaster Rovers with immediate effect.

5. Economics is a very humorous subject.

Did you know that you can rearrange Economics to get "comic nose". If, this alone, was not sufficient proof of the hilarity endemic in the subject of Economics, try these economics jokes:

• How many Free Market economists does it take to change a light bulb? None, in the long run, it will change of its own accord.
• How many Marxists does it take to change a light bulb? None, smash the light bulb, a light bulb is a mere representation of the capitalist ideology that gives a feeble light, rather than the True source which is the sun.

6. Economics gets you a high paid job.

Actually, this is the only reason people study economics. Unless of course you have a strange desire to be an economics teacher; in which case you will enjoy your students repeatedly asking you the question; "Why didn't you get a proper job in the city, Sir?"


7. It's better than studying Geography.

True, but purists may argue this doesn't prove very much.

8. Economies of Scale

When you forget your wife's / girlfriends birthday you can say that you were merely seeking to maximise economies of scale and productive efficiency, because you are waiting to get her a really big present at Christmas. This always goes down very well.

• (In the incredibly unlikely event it doesn't, don't forget to also check out: www.nofriendsandsingleconomist.com)

9. However - On the Other Hand

Economics is the only subject where contradicting yourself is seen as a highly desirable attribute. To double the mark on your economics essays, just say after each paragraph: however, on the other hand this is probably not true at all...

10. You will Know Why you are Unemployed

When you are standing in the unemployment queue, you will be able to tell everyone the type of unemployment they are suffering from. This will greatly endear you to the ranks of the unemployed; who will definitely not, sarcastically, ask you;

"If you know everything, how come you haven't got a job then?

See also: 10 Principles of Economics Explained

References:

• Funny Economics

Should Minimum Driving Age be raised to 18?

Yes, ideally it would be raised to 21.

Benefits of raising driving age to 18

1. Cut the number of deaths.

The highest death rate for drivers is amongst the age group 17-25. Accidents are most likely to occur in the age 17-18. The biggest cause of death for young women is due to road traffic accidents, quite often from cars driven by men.

2. Cut Congestion.

Less drivers on the road means less congestion which is good for the economy.

3. Might Encourage Young people to be fit.

Driving encourages the population to become lazy and obese. If people can't drive they will be forced to walk, use public transport and cycle. This will help lead to a healthier population

4. Young Drivers overestimate their skill

Young drivers, especially male drivers, are likely to overestimate their ability to drive at speed and in difficult conditions. For people of school age, there is often great peer pressure to drive excessively and in a dangerous way.

Other suggestions in the report on raising the driving age

1. Implement a full learning schedule.
2. Stop newly passed drivers carrying passengers between 11pm and 5 am in the morning.
3. A Zero alcohol limit for all new drivers who have just passed their test.
4. Allow people to drive at 17, but not take the test until 18.

Advantages of Speed Cameras

Why I support the use of speed cameras in the UK

Benefits of Speed Cameras

1. Speed Costs Lives

Road traffic accidents cost the lives of over 3,100 people in the UK alone.
It is the biggest cause of death for those under 30 years of age.

• Being hit by a car at 40mph 9/10 people die:
• Being hit by a car at 30mph 5/10 people die:

If speed camera's are used and placed in the best locations, then cutting speed, can and will save lives.

In 2002, 3431 people lost their lives on our roads. 33% of these deaths were due to excessive speed. 179 of those killed were children. The Association of Chief Police Officers says that speed is the most important factor in road crashes, more so than even drink or drug driving. [1]

2. Economic Benefit.

The economic benefit is not from the small amount of revenue raised. The economic benefit is from the reduction in accidents and deaths. The economic cost of a road death is estimated at £1 million. This includes costs of police, hospitals, lost earnings e.t.c. Saving lives, especially that of young people definitely has an economic benefit. Of course, it is difficult, if not impossible, to place a value on a human life, but there is a definite measurable economic cost which does justify reducing deaths through speeding.

3. Speed Camera's are a tax on the rich and stupid.

Speed camera's are not really a tax because there is no obligation to pay it. If you drive safely and stick to the speed limits you will never have to pay it. People who either don't care about paying a fine or drive carelessly, will however pay it. This means money is raised to be spent on various improvements. When other people pay fines for speeding, it means other real taxes can be lower. The rich and reckless, are just subsidising those who drive responsibly.

4. Good for environment

Lower speed is more efficient leading to lower fuel consumption. This will help reduce carbon emission and global warming.

5. High Speed is bad for communities and other types of exercise.

Many villagers ask to have speed cameras because they know quality of life improves when speed limits are introduced. Studies have shown that excessive speed supreses cycling and walking

Criticisms of speed cameras

1. They cause accidents because people brake from 40 to 30mph.

• People shouldn't be driving at 40mph
• Government should use average speed cameras

2. Speed is not the main cause of death.

Here people misquote DFI statistics. Speed definitely is a cause of death on the roads.

3. Countries without speed cameras have lower death rates.

It is not possible to compare countries because factors vary significantly. What is important is the effect speed cameras have on reducing death and accidents on that particular road.

References

[1] Speed and Road Safety

Police call for hidden speed cameras

Mobile speed cameras

Economics Textbooks for A Level

One of my favourite Economics textbooks is Economics by J.Sloman. It is authoritative, well written and well designed. For an A - Level student it contains everything you need to know. (There are some chapters surplus to requirements, but these are generally marked)

If you study Economics at University, Sloman, will remain a good guide to understanding the main principles.

There are also several other A Level textbooks to choose from

I particularly recommend this Economics through Diagrams textbook. Not much writing, but its good to have all the diagrams in one place.

AS Economics Textbooks

AS textbooks are not as common, it is not absolutely essential to buy an AS textbook, you might just buy an A Level textbook. It is also worth bearing in mind that GCSE textbooks can be very useful for AS Level. (there is little difference between GCSE and AS level economics in terms of difficulty.

Economics Books - Preparation for University

If you are starting an Economics course in October, it is advisable to do some background reading in the subject.

If you haven't studied Economics before it is highly advisable to start off with a basic guide to the key terms. Something like Economics for dummies is a good starting point.

It is important to be familiar with terms like efficiency, marginal cost, utility e.t.c.

I would also advise reading some interesting (non technical) Economics books like the best selling Freakonomics or the Naked Economics by Charles Wheelen. These are not textbooks, but use economic terminology to look at everyday economic issues.

Apart from this it is also advisable to read good Economics magazines and newspapers. Just reading the business section of the Times will keep you upto date with the latest economic issues, such as what is likely to happen to inflation and interest rates.

If you have studied economics at A Level, then you will be in a good position for your first year. There is quite a good overlap between A-Level and first year Economics. However, you could use it to consider more in depth topics like the Monetarist Keynesian Debate.

• Recommended Reading for Economics
• Best UK Economics Textbooks
  

Tax on Airplanes and Air Flights.

Why We should increase Tax on Airplanes and Air Flights.


1. The Social Cost of Flying is much higher than the personal cost.

The external costs of flying include:

• Pollution leading to global warming.
• Noise pollution from nearby airports.
• Decline in British sea side resorts
• Damage to Foreign holiday resorts like the The Galapagos islands, where many other rare habitats are under growing threat.

The economic and social cost of flying is much higher than alternative forms of transport such as trains. Therefore, there is a good economic reason to tax air-planes. The money could be used to subsidise trains and other forms of more environmentally friendly travel.

2. Raise Tax Revenue.

This means other types of taxes can be reduced. Or the tax can be used to subsidise other types of spending.

3. Air Travel is a luxury good. Travel to foreign countries is rarely a necessity. Foreign holidays are a luxury good. Demand has increased more than proportionately following increased economic growth. Therefore, there is no harm in reducing the demand of this good.

Alternatives to Taxing

1. Limiting the number of flights from airports and limiting the number of airports.

This artificial restriction in supply will have the effect of increasing the price and therefore, reducing demand. Taxes have the same effect except the government get the revenue.

2. Make Airplanes more environmentally friendly.

Fit more people onto a plane. For example, some airline companies are suggesting standing room tickets. These flights will be more environmentally friendly. It is also possible the development of some fuels will be more environmentally friendly.

• hidden costs of airflights
• Why we should tax unhealthy food
• Advantages of Electronic road pricing
  

3 of the Worst Economic Policies

1. Response to Great Depression.

The Wall Street Crash of 1929 precipitated an unprecedented collapse in confidence and economic growth. The fall in share prices caused reverberations in nearly every economy around the world, leading to mass unemployment and falling living standards. The response of most government's was ineffectual and in some cases made the situation worse. True, we have the benefit of hindsight, but at the time time orthodox economics was wholly inadequate in offering solutions. In the face of overwhelming evidence, economic advisers stuck to outdated models which had clearly been proved to be misplaced and useless.

In 1931, the UK had seen an explosion in unemployment to over 20%, output was falling and confidence was at all time low. How did the Government respond? Under the advice of treasury officials, the government decided that the most important thing was to balance the government's budget. This stemmed from orthodox theory that a budget deficit was a bad thing. To reduce the government deficit, the government increased taxes and cut unemployment benefits. This led to the resignation of most labour MPs; but the PM, Ramsey MacDonald was joined by the Conservative party to form a National government and the controversial budget was passed.

Unsurprisingly the effect of higher taxes and lower unemployment benefits was to merely exacerbate the economic slump. Higher taxes and lower benefits merely served to reduce consumer spending further. This fall in spending led to continued deflation and lower output. As output fell, the government budget deficit continued to deteriorate, as lower incomes and lower wages meant lower taxes. Thus the decision to increase taxes and cut benefits, not only made the depression worse, it also failed to even solve the budget deficit. Yet, this belief in the benefit of saving, permeated the national consciousness. There were stories of people collecting up their life savings and sending it to the government. They thought by saving and giving it to the government, the economy would be improved. However, this collected savings, merely created less spending and lower growth. Keynes referred to it as the paradox of thrift

It was these perverse actions that led to Keynes' new economic theories. He argued that to get out of a great depression it was necessary for a government to reflate the economy. Through injecting money into the economy, borrowing if necessary. However, by and large, the interventionist policies, suggested by Keynes, were not adopted with any great enthusiasm. In America the New Deal, did see some money injected into the economy, but as a % of the national economy it was quite small and quite ineffective

2. Agricultural subsidies.

In modern industrialised economies, farmers often fail to reap the economic benefit. As incomes rise people don't want to buy more potatoes. If farmers increase supply, through better technology, it merely serves to create a glut in supply and a collapse in price. Lower prices do not help farmers - people don't want to eat more potatoes just because they are cheaper. Therefore, governments have often felt obliged to subsidise farming; however, the method that they usually choose has merely reinforced economic inefficiency.

The Common Agricultural Policy of the EU guaranteed Minimum Prices for farmers. By giving farmers a guaranteed minimum price encouraged them to supply as much as possible. This led to:

• Increased use of chemical fertilisers, causing damage to the environment.
• It created oversupply of food produce. Thus the government were forced to use taxpayers money to buy food nobody wanted to consume.
• This led to huge oversupply of foods, the butter mountains, wine lakes e.t.c.
• The EU then decided to "dump" alot of this excess supply on foreign markets. This might be good for consumers of food, however, it is very bad for foreign producers of food. Because of the extra supply from Europe, prices plummeted, putting many farmers out of business.
• High tariffs on imports of food. To make matters worse, the EU needed to place tariffs on the import of food, to make them as expensive as the artificially high EU products. Tariffs caused economic hardship for agricultural exporters, leading to retaliation on EU exporters.

The net effect of these agricultural policies was:

1. Higher prices for consumers
2. Cost upto 60% of EU budget to buy surplus.
3. Farmers in developing countries adversely effected by import tariffs and lower world prices from dumping of excess supply
4. Environment affected by encouragement of intensive farming.
5. High tariffs have been a stumbling block to world trade.

US agricultural policy has been little better. In the US, the added twist is that the government has often been subsidising the production of sugar and corn starch. In effect they have been subsidising unhealthy foods. Contributing to America's poor diet.

3. US Health Care.

The US spend more on health care than any other nation. Yet, despite the huge total cost, there are still huge gaps meaning those on low income, often fail to gain health insurance. The system becomes a lottery, losing your job means you can be subject to losing your health care provision. Private provision is supposed to improve efficiency. But, what happens is that it creates incentives for health insurers to maximise their profits. Getting payment, can involve a long and bureaucratic procedure, where often patients have to go through long procedures to get their health insurance. There is little benefit from maintaining a fragmented and unfair health care system. But pressure from health insurance companies means it has always proved difficult to push through a unified health care system. Universal health care in European societies is far from perfect. There are waiting lists and tax rates are higher. But, it is simpler, more efficient with greater equality in the provision of essential health care.