1 mark
Q1 Given one statement about Swiss single-use plastic bag consumption falling 80% after a tax and one that shops should be forced to charge, identify which is positive and which is normative.
Edexcel · 9EC0 / 8EC0 / WEC11–14
All 18 questions from the Edexcel International A Level Unit 1, May 2021 Economics paper (9EC0 / 8EC0 / WEC11–14), worth 100 marks in total. The main topics tested are Elasticity (2), Positive & normative statements (1), Rational decision making (1), Market failure (1).
Each question is summarised in our own words with its mark tariff, command word and specification point, and links through to the official paper.
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Q1 Given one statement about Swiss single-use plastic bag consumption falling 80% after a tax and one that shops should be forced to charge, identify which is positive and which is normative.
Q2 Most Singapore consumers have not switched electricity provider despite average savings of 20%. Identify the explanation. (good at computation / maximise utility / influenced by others' behaviour / feel undervalued)
Q3 Pick the option that counts as market failure (public goods underprovided through free riding / output rising on higher prices / admin costs from regulation / state healthcare reaching the social optimum).
Q4 From an MPC/MSC diagram covering chemicals production, state which conclusion about welfare loss, the social optimum and market equilibrium holds.
Q5 On a PPF showing capital versus consumer goods, select the point that would deliver the quickest economic growth.
Q6 UK income elasticity of demand is estimated for tea, margarine, coffee and butter - choose the accurate interpretation.
Q10 Netflix raised its US basic subscription from $7.99 to $8.99 with an estimated 8% fall in subscribers; calculate the price elasticity of demand, showing workings.
Q11 The world price of sweet potatoes rose from $12 to $22.50 a box after Hurricane Florence; explain the likely impact on consumer surplus. A diagram is required.
Q7 Sketch how the UAE's 50% levy — an indirect tax — on energy drinks moves equilibrium price and quantity.
Q8 With reference to a table of changes in electricity generation by resource (coal, natural gas, hydro, wind, solar), explain the difference between renewable and non-renewable resources.
Q9 Drawing on Adam Smith's pin factory, explain a single benefit firms gain when production is organised by division of labour.
Q12(a) Give the meaning of 'substitutes' as the word is used in Extract A (short definition).
Q12(b) Drawing on Extract A, explain one factor affecting sugar's price elasticity of supply.
Q12(c) Give two reasons why world sugar prices slid in the twelve months to August 2018, with Figure 1, Extract A and a demand-and-supply diagram.
Q12(d) Examine, via Extract B, two ways information gaps could alter how much sugar consumers buy.
Q12(e) Discuss what a larger subsidy for sugar producers is likely to bring about, using Extract C and a suitable diagram.
Q13 Evaluate why government failure can arise in any market you select (context: tax making Thai diesel 65% pricier than Malaysia's, prompting smuggling).
Q14 Evaluate what bubbles do to housing markets (context: Chinese house prices up from 4 000 yuan per m2 in 2000 to 60 000 by 2019).
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