Below is a short video showing features of the eLearnEconomics site. Since 2008 eLearneconomics has provided a comprehensive and concise insight into understanding a multitude of economic concepts, ranging from the central ideas of demand, supply and markets, to the complexities of microeconomics and macroeconomics. The sites covers Cambridge International Exams A2, AS and IGCSE material, IB as well as the NCEA Level 1, 2 and 3. The site has key notes, flash cards, written answers and multiple-choice questions, all with immediate feedback that provides student-centred learning to improve student’s results and grades.
New feature
The most recent written answers (nearly 5000 questions and answers over 145+ topics) will now be saved and can be viewed under results for students with a premium access. The written answers allow students to recall information and apply it to exam style questions. Immediate feedback allows for student-centred learning and identifying areas that are not fully understood.
This is something that might be of use leading up to the exams:
Ten strategies for improving your evaluation skills in data response and essay questions
1. Make good use of your final paragraph – avoid repetition of points already made
2. Look for key stem words in the question – build your evaluation around this
3. Put an economic event, a trend, a policy into a wider context
4. Be familiar with different schools of thought e.g. free market versus government intervention
5. Be aware that a singular economic event never happens in isolation especially in a world where economies are so closely inter-connected.
6. Question the reliability of the data you have been given
7. Draw on your wider knowledge to provide supporting evidence and examples
8. Consider both short term and longer term consequences (they are not always the same)
9. Consider both positive and negative consequences
10. Think about what might happen to your arguments if you drop the “ceteris paribus” assumption
Economics is rather like a jigsaw, if you do enough reading, thinking and revision, eventually the pieces really start to fit together and finally you can see the whole (bigger) picture. Tutor2u.net
No doubt you’ve had plenty of discussions with your classes on economic issues. One of the challenges is to keep students on task and try and get contributions from all students. In order to overcome these issues I have developed a set of playing cards with certain statements on each. Students receive 8 playing cards with different assessment objectives/ skills/ elements of written work in economics – see photo below.
An exam essay question is given to students and then they debate the questions amongst themselves. However students can only speak when they play a card and they must follow what the card says – e.g. Argument, Building on someone’s point etc. This limits each student’s number of responses and makes sure the discussion helps students practice for an assessment, according to the assessment objectives. It also allows for greater contributions from other members of the class. It generally works well although at times you may have to play one of your own cards to keep students on task. I have attached a link to a document with all the statements – below. All you have to do is buy some packs of playing cards and use wide sellotape to attach statements to the cards. Be interested to know how others get on.
There are some excellent videos here under the following headings: Intro to Economics, Economics in action, Global Impact, The Big Questions. Click link below:
Economics has had a huge impact on the world we live in—and understanding the key factors at play in these massive, interconnected systems can give us insight into how to make them better, stabler, and more equitable. Dig into these quick and compelling explainers from TED-Ed and the World Economic Forum for a taste of economics in action.
Getting onto market structures with my A2 class and here is a note on the kinked demand curve. I alluded to in a previous post that one model of oligopoly revolves around how a firm perceives its demand curve. The model relates to an oligopoly in which firms try to anticipate the reactions of rivals to their actions. As the firm cannot readily observe its demand curve with any degree of certainty, it has got to estimate how consumers will react to price changes.
In the graph below the price is set at P1 and it is selling Q1. The firm has to decide whether to alter the price. It knows that the degree of its price change will depend upon whether or not the other firms in the market will follow its lead. The graph shows the the two extremes for the demand curve which the firm perceives that it faces. Suppose that an oligopolist, for whatever reason, produces at output Q1 and price P1, determined by point X on the graph. The firm perceives that demand will be relatively elastic in response to an increase in price, because they expects its rivals to react to the price rise by keeping their prices stable, thereby gaining customers at the firm’s expense. Conversely, the oligopolist expects rivals to react to a decrease in price by cutting their prices by an equivalent amount; the firm therefore expects demand to be relatively inelastic in response to a price fall, since it cannot hope to lure many customers away from their rivals. In other words, the oligopolist’s initial position is at the junction of the two demand curves of different relative elasticity, each reflecting a different assumption about how the rivals are expected to react to a change in price. If the firm’s expectations are correct, sales revenue will be lost whether the price is raised or cut. The best policy may be to leave the price unchanged.
With this price rigidity a discontinuity exists along a vertical line above output Q1 between the two marginal revenue curves associated with the relatively elastic and inelastic demand curves. Costs can rise or fall within a certain range without causing a profit-maximising oligopolist to change either the price or output. At output Q1 and price P1 MC=MR as long as the MC curve is between an upper limit of MC2 and a lower limit of MC1.
Criticisms of the kinked demand curve theory. Although it is a plausible explanation of price rigidity it doesn’t explain how and why an oligopolist chooses to be a point X in the first place. Research casts doubt on whether oligopolists respond to price changes in the manner assumed. Oligopolistic markets often display evidence of price leadership, which provides an alternative explanation of orderly price behaviour. Firms come to the conclusion that price-cutting is self-defeating and decide that it may be advantageous to follow the firm which takes the first steps in raising the price. If all firms follow, the price rise will be sustained to the benefit of all firms.
If you want to gradually build the kinked demand curve model download the powerpoint by clicking below. Oligopoly
Sign up to elearneconomics for comprehensive key notes with coloured illustrations, flash cards, written answers and multiple-choice tests on Oligopoly that provides for users with different learning styles working at their own pace (anywhere at any time).
Going over monetary policy with my A2 class and have modified a mind map done by Susan Grant from a CIE Economics Revision Guide. Useful for those who are sitting the June AS and A2 Economics papers.
Sign up to elearneconomics for multiple choice test questions (many with coloured diagrams and models) and the reasoned answers on Monetary Policy. Immediate feedback and trackedresults allow students to identify areas of strength and weakness vital for student-centred learning and understanding.
With the A2 multiple-choice paper not too far away here are some notes on indifference curves – there is usually a question on either the income effect or substitution effect. The video below is particularly useful.
Income and Substitution Effects with Indifference Curves Any price change can be conveniently analysed into 2 separate effects – the INCOME EFFECT and the SUBSTITUTION EFFECT.
Income effect of a price change: – when there is a fall in the price of a product, the consumer receives a real income effect and is able to buy more of this and other products in spite of the fact that nominal income is unchanged. If the consumer buys more of the good when the price falls it is a Normalgood. If the consumer buys less of the good when the price falls it is seen as an Inferiorgood.
Substitution effect of a price change: – when there is a rise or fall in the price of a product, the consumer receives a decrease or an increase in the utility derived from each unit of money spent on the product and therefore rearranges demand to maximise utility. This is distinct from the income effect of a price change. For all products, the substitution effect is always positive such that a fall in price leads to an increase in demand as consumers realise an increase in the satisfaction they derive from each unit of money spent on the product.
Remember for normal goods, both the income and substitution effects are positive. But the income effect can be negative: if a negative income effect outweighs the positive substitution effect, this means that less is bought at a lower price and vice-versa. This good is therefore known as a Giffen good.
Giffen goods are generally regarded as goods of low quality which are important elements in the expenditure of those on low incomes. A good example is a basic food such as rice, which forms a significant part of the diet of the poor in many countries. The argument, not accepted by all economists, is that when the price of rice falls sufficiently individuals’ real income will rise to an extent that they will be able to afford more attractive substitutes such as fresh fruit or vegetables to makeup their diet and as a result they will actually purchase less rice even though its price has fallen.
Today we had our annual Yr 13 M&M’s graph competition. Having just completed Perfect and Imperfect Competition with my Year 13 class I used a couple of packets of M&M’s to drum home the concept of marginal analysis MC=MR. It has always been something that students have struggled with but I am hoping this experience of creating graphs with M&M’s might help their understanding and when to use the concept. There is a three way process for learning about this theory:
Students complete worksheets / multiple-choice questions that test their knowledge of the curves that make up the graphs.
Students draw the graphs on A3 size whiteboards
Students construct graphs using M&M’s
Profit is maximised at the rate of output where the positive difference between total revenues and total costs is the greatest. Using marginal analysis, the firm will produce at a rate of output where marginal revenue equals marginal cost. Below are a few of the graphs done today using M&M’s. The winner this year is Year 13 student Luke Davis – his graphs are the first and second below.
Another good video from the FT this time on the future of the oil industry. There is a movement towards more cleaner fuels by major companies in Europe but the same can’t be said about the US. Oil producing countries have been hit by lower prices but some like Saudi Arabia have sufficient reserves to fall back whilst others like Nigeria and Venezuela are financially exposed. Below is a graphic from the video looking at supply and demand – useful for an introductory lesson on the market.
I held my annual whiteboard competition with my A2 Economics class to see who could draw the best 4 graphs showing Positive and Negative Externalities of Consumption and Production. The winner this year was Fiona Leng with two highly recommended by Jemima Hodgson and Yanz Chen.
Fiona Leng
Jemima Hodgson
Yanz Chen
The externalities topic at A2 Level Economics involves being able to draw and understand four graphs. A different way of teaching this area of the course was to get students to use A3 size whiteboards so that they could practice drawing these graphs. This proved to be very successful with students for the following reasons:
the novelty of using whiteboards
if they made a mistake this could be easily rubbed out and they could start again
it allowed me to go around the class to correct graphs where necessary
students took pride in their graphs
the best set of graphs was posted on the econfix blog
students who were struggling could learn off others
Want to learn or need assistance with Economics? Are you studying or teaching A Level Economics, Advanced Placement, or International Baccalaureate (IB)?
Help is at hand, elearnEconomics assists individuals studying Economics. This site covers a wide range of courses and individuals have the ability to customise their course or do extension work. It’s simple, easy to use and very cost effective.
eLearnEconomics is a comprehensive online economics learning resource. It is for both students AND teachers. Students study the concepts of each topic with the key notes, then review those concepts with the audio/video and flash card sections and finally test themselves in the written answer and multi-choice sections. The multi-choice section records student scores enabling them to track their progress and build their confidence leading into exams.
Teachers have the ability to monitor students progess within the teachers’ administration section. Students can be arranged into class groups and full reports generated to quickly identify problem areas. These high quality PDF reports can also be presented at parent/teacher evenings. Click the link below to access the site.
Just a note to say that free access ends on Sunday 11th November.
Below is a link to free access to elearnEconomics website. It includes notes, video lessons and multiple-choice questions with worked answers. It covers all aspects of IB, NCEA (NZ curriculum), Cambridge International Exams (CIE) A levels and most university introductory courses.
Login as School Guest Members on the right hand side:
Below is a link to free access to elearnEconomics website. It includes notes, video lessons and multiple-choice questions with worked answers. It covers all aspects of IB, NCEA (NZ curriculum), Cambridge International Exams (CIE) A levels and most university introductory courses.
Login as School Guest Members on the right hand side:
Once again with my A2 class I successfully used whiteboards to get across the concepts of positive and negative externalities. Below are the graphs done by Sarah Cheng. As I have stated before whiteboards are a very useful way of getting across difficult graphs.
The externalities topic at A2 Level Economics involves being able to draw and understand four graphs. A different way of teaching this area of the course was to get students to use A3 size whiteboards so that they could practice drawing these graphs. This proved to be very successful with students for the following reasons:
the novelty of using whiteboards
if they made a mistake this could be easily rubbed out and they could start again
it allowed me to go around the class to correct graphs where necessary
students took pride in their graphs
the best set of graphs was posted on the econfix blog
students who were struggling could learn off others
Below is an informative clip from The Economist on foreign aid. Useful for A2 students looking at developing economies and foreign aid.
Rich countries are giving away more in aid than at any other time on record. In 2016 more than $140bn was distributed around the world. According to the latest breakdown in 2015 America gave the most money away – nearly $31bn to at least 40 countries and organisations such as the world bank. This included $770m to Pakistan and $250m to Mexico. This may sound generous but the United States has the largest economy in the world. American foreign aid spending in 2015 was only 0.17% of the gross national income. Far less than other rich countries. Sweden and Norway are the biggest givers, donating over 1% of their gross national income to foreign aid. The biggest receivers of aid in 2015 were Afghanistan, India, Vietnam, Ethiopia and Indonesia. Afghanistan received $3.8bn and India $3.1bn. Despite being the second biggest economy in the world, China received $1.5bn in development aid in 2015. This included around $750m from Germany and $67m from Britain. The total amount of foreign aid is at an all time high – up 9% in 2016. This is largely down to the generosity of six countries who meet or exceed the United Nations foreign aid target, donating more than 0.7% of gross national income.
I picked up the OEC site from Michael Cameron’s blog ‘Sex, Drugs and Economics’. The Observatory of Economic Complexity is a tool that allows users to quickly compose a visual narrative about countries and the products they exchange. It was Alexander Simoes’ Master Thesis in Media Arts and Sciences at the MIT Media Lab. The project was conducted at The MIT Media Lab Macro Connections group. Alex’s Advisor was César A. Hidalgo, principal investigator of Macro Connections. Since its creation in 2010, the development of The Observatory of Economic Complexity has been supported by The MIT Media Lab consortia for undirected research.
The graphics on each country and products are superb and include:
Exports
Imports
Trade Balance
Destinations
It also includes Economic Complexity Index which measures the knowledge intensity of an economy by considering the knowledge intensity of the products it exports. Below are some images on New Zealand trade.
I picked up the OEC site from Michael Cameron’s blog ‘Sex, Drugs and Economics’. The Observatory of Economic Complexity is a tool that allows users to quickly compose a visual narrative about countries and the products they exchange. It was Alexander Simoes’ Master Thesis in Media Arts and Sciences at the MIT Media Lab. The project was conducted at The MIT Media Lab Macro Connections group. Alex’s Advisor was César A. Hidalgo, principal investigator of Macro Connections. Since its creation in 2010, the development of The Observatory of Economic Complexity has been supported by The MIT Media Lab consortia for undirected research.
The graphics on each country and products are superb and include:
Exports
Imports
Trade Balance
Destinations
It also includes Economic Complexity Index which measures the knowledge intensity of an economy by considering the knowledge intensity of the products it exports. Below are some images on New Zealand trade.
In my teaching I am very keen on using whiteboards so that students can get used to drawing graphs and also writing essay plans. It makes it very easy for me to go around the classroom to check on their accuracy and I have to say that the students enjoy the whiteboards even if it does lead to a little doodling. The boards are just over A3 size and are perfect to draw some of the more complex graphs in NCEA and CIE economics. Below are some externality graphs by A2 student Jonathan Ta.
Want to learn or need assistance with Economics? Are you studying or teaching A Level Economics, Advanced Placement, or International Baccalaureate (IB)?
Help is at hand, elearnEconomics assists individuals studying Economics. This site covers a wide range of courses and individuals have the ability to customise their course or do extension work. It’s simple, easy to use and very cost effective.
eLearnEconomics is a comprehensive online economics learning resource. It is for both students AND teachers. Students study the concepts of each topic with the key notes, then review those concepts with the audio/video and flash card sections and finally test themselves in the written answer and multi-choice sections. The multi-choice section records student scores enabling them to track their progress and build their confidence leading into exams.
Teachers have the ability to monitor students progess within the teachers’ administration section. Students can be arranged into class groups and full reports generated to quickly identify problem areas. These high quality PDF reports can also be presented at parent/teacher evenings. Click the link below to access the site.
ECONFIX 