Economics

Welcome to Unit One Economics. 

Economics is everywhere around you. All the theory learned in class you can relate to what is actually going on in the real world. Economics puts abstract concepts in the world into easy-to-understand models and concepts, to help you make predictions about how certain decisions improve (or worsen!) the lives of people.

Unit 1 covers:

AREA OF STUDY 1 -  Thinking like an Economist (duration 6 weeks)

Outcome 1 - the student should be able to describe the basic economic problem, discuss the role of consumers, businesses and the government in the economy, and analyse the factors that affect economic decision-making.

AREA OF STUDY 2 - Decision making in markets (duration 8 weeks)

Outcome 2 - the student should be able to explain the role of relative prices and other non-price factors in the allocation of resources in a market-based economy and analyse the extent of competition in markets.

AREA OF STUDY 3 - Behavioural Economics (duration 4 weeks)

Outcome 3 - the student should be able to explain how behavioural economics complements traditional understandings of decision-making, and analyse the effects of behavioural economics insights on consumers and other economic agents.

Resources

• If your textbook hasn't arrived yet, no fear! Here is the first chapter available to you, but further chapters are not available digitally - you MUST purchase the textbook (Economics from the ground up - 5th Edition).

• Students need to buy an A4 exercise books for economics this year, which will contain:

  • Prework homework

  • Class notes & exercises

  • Practice questions

Holiday Homework

Students are to complete the first page of the notes checker document in their workbooks, using the textbook as your source reference. For clarity, it's these Key Knowledge points:

• the two main branches of economics: microeconomics and macroeconomics

• ​the two main forms of economic analyses: positive economics and normative economics

• resources (factors of production such as land, labour and capital) used to satisfy needs and wants

• the basic economic problem of relative scarcity and the need for economic decision-making

• the concept and applications of opportunity cost

• the production possibility model to illustrate the concepts of scarcity, choice, opportunity cost,

• efficiency and under-utilisation of resources

• the need for trade-offs and cost-benefit analysis and their relationship to opportunity cost

Study Design can be found here

Any questions? Email your teachers:

• Mr Graham on grd@mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au

• Ms Llewellyn on llg@mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au

• Mr Price prr@mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au 

• Ms Zahra zah@mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au