Edexcel A · Theme 1: Introduction to markets and market failure · 1.1 Nature of economics
Edexcel A Economics past paper questions: Nature of economics
Every Edexcel A question on Nature of economics from 2016 to 2025: 8 data response questions, 33 short answer questions and 16 multiple choice questions. It covers How markets work, Government intervention, Market failure and Emerging and developing economies. Each question links to its paper, mark scheme and examiner report.
Data response questions on nature of economics
Case study: The impact of subsidies on farmer income, in England, 2018–2019 (£000 per farm)
Case study: The market for fish
Examiner insight
- What to cover
- Give two features, such as private property rights over boats and quota, and the profit motive guiding what firms produce. Link each to the fishing companies in the extracts.
- Watch out
- Describing the whole free market system rather than two specific features of private ownership.
Case study: The market for fish
Examiner insight
- What to cover
- Specialisation in fishing raises output and productivity through division of labour and allows trade gains, shifting the frontier out. Also explain the risk of depending on one industry.
- Watch out
- Drawing the frontier but never using it to show opportunity cost or the outward shift.
Case study: The market for higher education in the UK
Examiner insight
- What to cover
- Dropping out wastes the teaching resources and student time already used. Human capital and future productivity are lower than planned, so scarce resources are misallocated.
- Watch out
- Writing about inequality between income groups and never addressing resource allocation.
Case study: Energy and telecommunication markets in the UK
Examiner insight
- What to cover
- Positive statements are objective and can be tested against evidence. Normative statements contain a value judgement, often signalled by should or ought. Quote one example of each from Extract A.
- Watch out
- Definitions alone miss the application marks; an example of each must be quoted from Extract A.
Case study: African countries, 2017
Examiner insight
- What to cover
- Debt servicing uses government revenue that could have funded health, education or infrastructure. Name the next best alternative forgone in Mozambique and link the loss of that spending to slower development.
- Watch out
- Do not just define opportunity cost. The marks are for applying it to a specific Mozambican spending alternative.
Case study: Health provision
Examiner insight
- What to cover
- Use Extract A and Figure 2. Health care resources are scarce while wants are potentially unlimited, so choices must be made and health care is rationed, for example by waiting lists.
- Watch out
- Defining scarcity and opportunity cost in general terms without using the health care data provided.
Case study: Energy markets
Short answer questions on nature of economics
Case study: The UK economy
Multiple choice questions
- A-level Paper 1, June 2024, Q1(b)
In 2021, the adult 7-day bus ticket was £21.90. Bus ticket prices in London in 2022 increased by 4.8%. Ceteris paribus, which one of the following is the percentage decrease in the 7-day bus ticket demand by adults?
- AS Paper 1, June 2024, Q2(b)
The diagrams below show movements from position X to Y on production possibility frontiers. In which one of the diagrams does the movement from X to Y illustrate the most likely impact on Madagascar’s economy of a natural disaster such as…
- AS Paper 1, June 2024, Q3(a)
Which one of the following statements about a free market economy is true?
- A-level Paper 1, June 2023, Q1(b)
Which one of the following economic thinkers supported the idea of a command economy?
- AS Paper 1, June 2023, Q3(b)
Which one of the following is a positive economic statement?
- AS Paper 1, June 2023, Q5(c)
Which one of the following is a likely advantage of a command economy?
- AS Paper 1, June 2022, Q3(a)
Which one of the following would be most likely to cause a country’s currency to no longer be acceptable as a medium of exchange?
- A-level Paper 1, June 2019, Q1(b)
A 2.5% increase in new build house prices in one region of the UK causes a 10% increase in the number of houses built. Ceteris paribus, this suggests that supply of new house builds is:
- A-level Paper 1, June 2019, Q2(b)
The diagrams show movements from position X to Y on production possibility
- A-level Paper 1, June 2019, Q5(b)
Which one of the following statements is true?
- AS Paper 1, June 2019, Q1(a)
The benefits of specialisation and division of labour are mostly associated with:
- AS Paper 1, June 2019, Q5(a)
Calculate the percentage change in quantity demanded for Freddos between 2015 and 2017, ceteris paribus:
- A-level Paper 1, June 2018, Q1(b)
Which one of the following was the most likely cause of the movement in the production possibility frontier from XY to XZ?
- A-level Paper 1, June 2017, Q4(b)
In India JCB has a strong brand image and a 50% share of the market for construction equipment. This means the construction equipment market in India is likely to have a low level of:
- AS Paper 1, June 2017, Q1(b)
Which one of the following is the most likely effect of an economy producing more capital goods?
- AS Paper 1, June 2016, Q1(a)
Which one of the following is the most likely consequence of an increase in the division of labour in the production of smartphones?
Question text is quoted from the question papers, © Pearson Edexcel, for students’ private study. Open the official papers and mark schemes from the links on each question. Examiner insights are written with AI assistance and moderated by Finn.