economics

The Economics Department aims to provide a learning experience that is topical, inspiring, stretching and enjoyable.

WHY IS ECONOMICS EXCITING AT CLSG?

The CLSG Economics Department works hard to ensure learning takes place in an environment which is both supportive and non-judgemental. Most lessons are discussion based and encourage students to develop an ability to argue their own opinions using economic theory with logical analysis.

Teachers will use both historical and current examples to introduce topics and will teach students to apply the theories that they learn to today's economic issues. In order to foster a knowledge and understanding of recent economic affairs, the department has just set up a blog which all economics students and teachers can access and contribute to. This would allow us to share thoughts and information and will encourage an atmosphere of mutual co-operation and support. There are weekly enrichment sessions for thoses Year 13 students who would like to explore the subject beyond A Level, where the links with economics and ethics, psychology and politics are explored.

COURSE CONTENT

There are four units, each of which is assessed by external examination in May/June of Year 12 and 13. Students can retake their Year 12 units in January of Year 13 if necessary. Below is a brief outline of each unit. To see the specification click here to got to the relevant page on the exam board's website.

Year 12

Unit 1 (Microeconomics): Understanding that the basic economic problem is one of scarcity, learning how prices are determined in markets and the implication of price changes, exploring reasons why markets may or may not result in an efficient outcome.

Unit 2 (National Macroeconomics): Learning how best a government should manage an economy to ensure it has: low unemployment, sustainable GDP growth, low inflation and a balance between its exports and imports. This inlcudes an analysis of fiscal, monetary and supply side policies.

Year 13

Unit 3 (Business Economics): Learning what businesses aim to achieve and analysing at what quantity and price level different types of firms achieve their objectives; this includes graphical analysis and understanding game theory. Understanding when and how governments should regulate businesses.

Unit 4 (Global Economics): Understanding the cause and implications of globalisation, discovering the best way a country can prosper in terms of trade and competitiveness. Finding out why some countries are wealthier than others and the best ways economic development can be fostered.

EXAM BOARDS

A Level - Edexcel

RECENT TRIPS/LEARNING ACTIVITES

All Year 13 students have the option of taking part in a compeition called "Target Two Point Zero - The Bank of England and The Times Internet Rate Challenge". A CLSG team undertakes research to predict what will happen to UK inflation rates. The team makes a decision on what the Bank of England should do with interest rates and quantitative easing to try and ensure inflation hits the 2% target. Four girls report back to the Bank the findings of our research in a 15 minute presentation. This is a superb opportunity to learn how to discover, handle and present significant quantities of complex data and get a much better idea of how the economy functions.

The school makes use of its location in The City and its links with Livery Companies such as The Worshipful Company of World Traders to organise various speakers that have a great deal of relevance to economic students. These talks are usually open to the whole of the Sixth Form rather than just A Level economists. Speakers in 2010 included authors Tim Harford and Professor Manielli. City of London School also organises many economics guest speakers in lunctimes to which CLSG students are invited.

Our location also means that many economics conferences and venues can be reached easily making short trips during lesson time possible. Recent examples include learning about how opponents of South African Apartheid in the UK used economics as a weapon to fight the regime in the Museum of London and a visit to the Marx Memorial Library to learn about the philosophical foundations of Marxism. After school trips to LSE to attend public lectures are a common feature and the whole of Year 13 went to hear Professor Collier talk about his new book, 'The Plundered Planet'.

 The external link below is for a website that brings together interesting articles for A level economists to give students an idea of issues they might study:

http://pearsonblog.campaignserver.co.uk/