4 marks
Q9 Explain how rationing differs from incentive signals, using dearer cotton t-shirts and farmers switching what they grow wheat for.
Edexcel · 9EC0 / 8EC0 / WEC11–14
Price mechanism comes up in 7 questions across the Edexcel A Level, AS and International A Level past papers (9EC0 / 8EC0 / WEC11–14), worth 26 marks between them. They run from 2016 to 2025 and appear on AS Level Paper 1, International A Level Unit 1.
Tariffs run from 1 to 15 marks. The commonest instructions are Identify (MCQ) (4), Explain (2), Discuss (1). Specification points covered: 1.2.7, 1.3.4.3.
Q9 Explain how rationing differs from incentive signals, using dearer cotton t-shirts and farmers switching what they grow wheat for.
Q1 Pick the option that shows the price mechanism at work (hand sanitiser rationed by willingness to pay / a carrot surplus prompting more supply / cheaper tinned meat signalling stronger demand / dearer petrol signalling a price ceiling)
Q1(b) Identify which situation best shows prices carrying out their rationing function.
Q2 Identify which role — signalling, rationing, incentive or government intervention — genuinely belongs to the price mechanism.
Q3(a) From the UK dental charge figures, choose which price mechanism function is at work in privately provided dental care.
Q4(a) Explain the free-market price mechanism's reaction to excess supply, with global carbon steel below $530 a tonne.
Q6(e) Using Figures 1 and 2 alongside your own knowledge, discuss what jobs the price mechanism performs when housing is allocated.
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