【A Level經濟】宏觀經濟Check List！！

Main Topics

宏觀經濟對比微觀知識點更多更雜，也更容易結合最近發生的實事進行測試，但大家記住不管題目怎麼變化，測試的核心一定是我們學過的知識點，比如從Brexit考到Trade和Custom Union。

1. Globalisation 對全球化主要的考查點包括定義，原因和它的影響，答案會因為題目給出的國家產生很大的不同，比如說中國和美國。

Factorscontributing to globalisation in the last 50 years: Trade in goods(Developingcountries acquired capital and knowledge of manufactured goods and efficienttransportations); Trade in services(tourism); Trade liberalisation(WTO);Multinational Corporations; International financial Flow;Communications andIT;Containerisation

Consequencesof globalisation:

- ForIndividual countries: There could be trade imbalances between countries. Forexample, the US runs a large current account deficit with China, who has alarge current account surplus.

Withinindividual countries, there could be income and wealth inequalities if thebenefits and costs of globalisation are not evenly spread.

-Governments: Some governments might lose their sovereignty due to the increasein international treaties.

-Consumers and producers can earn the benefits of specialisation and economiesof scale as firms become larger.

-Workers can take advantage of job opportunities across the globe, rather thanjust in their home country. However, there could be structural unemployment.For example, in the UK after the collapse of the ship building and miningindustries, there was a lot of structural unemployment. This is because it wasmore efficient for manufacturing to occur abroad, so production shifted tolower labour cost nations.

-Could lead to more pollution

2. Trade 國際貿易主要的考點是絕對優勢和相對優勢的區別，貿易的有點和缺點，保護主義的原因和影響。

Acountry has absolute advantage in the production of a good or serviceif it can produce it using fewer resources and at a lower cost than anothercountry.

Comparativeadvantage occurs when acountry can produce a good or service at a lower opportunity cost than anothercountry.

TheBenefits of free trade：

-Countries can exploit their comparative advantage, which leads to a higheroutput using fewer resources and increases world GDP. This improves livingstandards.

- Freetrade increases economic efficiency by establishing a competitive market. Thislowers the cost of production and increases output.

- Byfreely trading goods, there is trade creation because there are fewer barriers.This means there is more consumption and large increases in economic welfare.

- Moreexports could lead to higher rates of economic growth.

-Specialising means countries can exploit economies of scale, which will lowertheir average costs.

TheCosts of free trade:

- Freetrade has resulted in some job losses, since countries with lower labour costshave entered the market.

- Freetrade might have contributed to some environmental damage. This is especiallyfrom the increase in manufacturing.

Protectionism includes tariffs, quotas,export subsidies, embargoes.

Thecauses and consequences of countries adopting protectionist policies:

-Trade deficit would reduce. This is because they will be importing less due totariffs and quotas on imports.

-Infant industries might need protecting. These are industries which arerelatively new and receive support.

- Itcan deal with demerit goods and protect society from them.

-Governments might want to protect domestic jobs.

- lossof allocative efficiency.

-Consumers face higher prices and less variety.

- Bynot competing in a competitive market, firms have little or no incentive tolower their costs of production.

3. Exchange Rate Systems 匯率方面的考點主要包括三種不同的匯率系統和各自的優缺點，注意Evaluation大多可以用到Managed Exchange Rate

Floating: The value ofthe exchange rate in a floating system is determined by the forces of supplyand demand.

Fixed: A fixedexchange rate has a value determined by the government compared to othercurrencies.

4. Fiscal Policy 財政政策一般會跟Budget deficit結合起來，大家在做出對政策的評估時一定要考慮到會對政府的財政預算帶來什麼影響

Instruments:Government spending and taxation

InfluenceAD: Expansionary/Deflationary Fiscal Policy

InfluenceAS: Reduce income and corporation tax to encourage spending and investment;subsidise training or spend more on education; spend more oninfrastructure(Roads and schools)

Agovernment has a budget deficit when expenditure exceeds tax receipts in afinancial year.

Differentkinds of taxes: Direct/Indirect taxes; Proportional/Progressive/Regressivetaxes

5. Supply-Side Policies

供給方面的政策主要考察兩個不同的類別以及它們的影響

Strengthsand weaknesses of supply-side policies:

-Supply-side policies are the only policies which can deal with structural unemployment,because the labour market can be directly improved with education and training.

-Demand-side policies are better at dealing with cyclical unemployment, sincethey can reduce the size of a negative output gap and shift the AD curve to theright.

-There are significant time lags associated with supply-side policies.

-Market-based supply-side policies, such as reducing the rate of tax, could leadto amore unequal distribution of wealth.

Market-basedpolicies limit theintervention of the government and allow the free market to eliminateimbalances.

- Toincrease incentives(Reduce income and corporation taxes)

- Topromote competition(Deregulating and privatising the public sector)

- Toreform the labour market(Reduce minimum wage and union power)

Interventionistsupply-side policies rely on government.

- Topromote competiotion(A stricter competition policy)

- Toreform the labour market(Subsidising the relocation of workers)

- Toimprove skills and quality of the labour force(Spending nore on healthcare andeducation)

- Toimprove infrastructure

6. Financial Markets and MonetaryPolicy

金融市場主要會考察大家對貨幣的功能，種類，銀行的功能和種類，以及貨幣政策的重要形式和調整利率帶來的影響

Characteristicsand Functions of Money: A medium of exchange; A measure of value; A store ofvalue; A method of deferred payment

Narrow/BroadMoney

Debt/Equity:Debt is money which has been borrowed from a lender, which is usually a bank.Equity is a stock or security which represents interest in owning e.g. a firm,a car or a house.

Thereis an inverse relationship between market interest rates and bond prices.

Acommercial bank manages deposits, cheques and savings accounts for individuals andfirms. They can make loans using the money saved with them.

Investmentbanks facilitate the trade of stocks, bonds and other forms of investment.Government regulation is weaker in the investment bank industry, and thiscombined with their business model gives them a higher risk tolerance.

Functionsof a central bank:

Thecentral bank manages the currency, money supply and interest rates in an economy.

Thecentral bank can regulate bank lending to ensure there is stability in thefinancial system.

MonetaryPolicy instruments:

Thebank controls the base rate, which ultimately controls the interest ratesacross the economy.

Assetpurchases to increase the money supply: Quantitative Easing (QE)

Anincrease in interest rates, relative to other countries, makes it moreattractive to invest funds in the country because the rate of return oninvestment is higher. This increases demand for the currency, causing anappreciation. This is known as hot money.

Factorsconsidered by the MPC when setting bank rate:

-Unemployment rate: if unemployment is high, consumer spending is likely to fall.This suggests the MPC will drop interest rates to encourage more spending.

-Savings rate: if there is a lot of saving, consumers are not spending as much. Interestrates might fall.

-Consumer spending: if there is a high level of spending in the economy, there couldbe inflationary pressures on the price level. This would cause the MPC toincrease interest rates.

- Highcommodity prices: Since the UK is a net importer of oil, a high price couldlead to cost-push inflation. This could push the MPC to increase interest ratesto overcome this inflationary pressure.

-Exchange rate: A weak pound would cause the average price level to increase.This makes UK exports relatively cheap, so UK exports increase. Since importsbecome relatively more expensive, there would be an increasing net exports. TheMPC might consider increasing the interest rate.

想要諮詢經濟補課的同學請填寫表單

關鍵字：A Level，A Level輔導，A level經濟， A Level考試

推薦閱讀：