Unit 3: Exploring Economic Behaviour · 1520U30-1
WJEC A-level Unit 3, June 2022
All 14 written questions from WJEC A-level Unit 3 (June 2022), Exploring Economic Behaviour. Each question shows its marks and topic, with an examiner insight on 5, and opens the question paper and mark scheme at the right page.
The 2022 question paper carries WJEC's Z22 reference, from the adapted summer 2022 series. Its mark scheme is the summer 2022 one.
Section A
Q1(a)
Outline why output level Q is the profit maximising level of output.
Mark splitKnowledge 2
Q1(b)
Adapt the diagram to show the change in output if the firm's variable costs increase.
Mark splitApplication 3
Q2
Using the data, evaluate one likely benefit for Norwegian Airlines of a merger with IAG.
Q3(a)
Evaluate the effectiveness of measuring UK unemployment using the Labour Force Survey method.
Mark splitAnalysis 2Evaluation 3
Q3(b)
With reference to the data, explain one possible supply side approach that could increase employment in the UK.
Mark splitApplication 2Analysis 2
TopicMeasuring economic performanceThe labour market
Q4(a)
Using the information in Figure 1, calculate the value of Net Errors and Omissions. Show your workings.
Mark splitKnowledge 1Application 1
TopicInternational trade and exchange ratesMeasuring economic performance
Q4(b)
Using Figure 2 and Figure 3, discuss the extent to which the UK has a structural current account deficit, rather than a cyclical current account deficit.
Mark splitKnowledge 2Application 2Analysis 2Evaluation 4
TopicInternational trade and exchange ratesMeasuring economic performance
Examiner insight
- What to cover
- Define both. A structural deficit comes from underlying problems such as weak competitiveness and low productivity, and persists through the cycle. A cyclical deficit moves with the trade cycle. Use Figures 2 and 3 to test which pattern the UK shows.
- Evaluation
- Judge the balance of the two, noting that a deficit that persists in both booms and downturns points to structural causes.
- Watch out
- Do not confuse a current account deficit with a fiscal deficit. This is a long standing and costly error. Also get the cycle the right way round: in the UK a boom raises imports because of a high marginal propensity to import, so the deficit widens in booms and narrows in recessions, not the reverse.
- How it went in the exam
- This was the most challenging question on the paper, and performance split by centre, suggesting it is simply a matter of having covered structural and cyclical current account deficits.
Q5
Using the data, discuss the view that demand-pull factors were the main cause of inflation in this economy during the period shown.
TopicMeasuring economic performance
Examiner insight
- What to cover
- Pinpoint key features of the data rather than describing it date by date. Test demand pull causes against cost push causes for this economy, matching the movements in the price level with the movements in output, wages and input costs shown.
- Diagram
- AD and AS with macro labels, price level and real output. Show demand pull as AD shifting right and cost push as SRAS shifting left.
- Evaluation
- Weigh the evidence for each cause and reach a view on which dominated over the period shown.
- Watch out
- The data refers to an economy, not the UK. Do not import UK knowledge. And do not use micro demand and supply diagrams or label AD and AS axes price and quantity. Examiners saw a lot of that confusion.
- How it went in the exam
- Examiners said many candidates accessed marks across most assessment objectives here, so accurate diagrams and a clear verdict were enough to score well.
Section B
Q6(a)
With reference to Figure 3, and taking 2014 as the base year, calculate an index number to represent: (i) the price of neodymium in 2022, (ii) the price of terbium in 2022.
Mark splitApplication 2
Q6(b)
Evaluate the extent to which China has monopoly power over the supply of rare-earth metals.
Mark splitApplication 4Analysis 2Evaluation 4
TopicMarket structuresDemand, supply and elasticity
Examiner insight
- What to cover
- Build the case for Chinese monopoly power from the data on market share, control of processing and pricing power, and connect each piece of evidence to why it gives power over price or supply.
- Evaluation
- The case study also contains evidence against: reserves elsewhere, substitutes and recycling, new mines opening when prices rise, and buyers diversifying. Finish with a judgement on the extent.
- Watch out
- Quoting China's market share gains AO2 but not AO3. The analysis mark comes from explaining why that share means monopoly power.
- How it went in the exam
- Most candidates found the evidence for monopoly power easily. The evaluation, using the plentiful counter evidence in the case study, is where the marks were.
Q7(a)
Outline the role of the World Trade Organization.
Mark splitKnowledge 2
Q7(b)
With reference to the data, distinguish between absolute advantage and comparative advantage.
Mark splitKnowledge 2Application 2
Q7(c)
Discuss whether the World Trade Organization's action against China was justified.
Mark splitApplication 4Analysis 2Evaluation 4
Examiner insight
- What to cover
- Be clear what the WTO is for: enforcing agreed trade rules and reducing trade restrictions between members, not acting as a competition authority. Analyse China's export restrictions on rare earths and the effect on other members, then judge the WTO action against that.
- Diagram
- Only include a tariff or export restriction diagram if you use it in the argument.
- Evaluation
- Use the case study material on how the market response undermined China's restrictions, and consider China's own case on environmental and resource grounds.
- Watch out
- Writing about the WTO reducing China's monopoly power in consumers' interests misreads its role and limited marks across the whole of Question 7. A standalone tariff diagram is worth very little and costs time.
- How it went in the exam
- The best answers analysed the impact of the restrictions and then evaluated using the market response in the case study.
Q8
Discuss how the mining of rare-earth metals impacts on global levels of development.
Examiner insight
- What to cover
- Treat development globally, not just Chinese growth. Link rare earth mining to income, health, education, inequality and the environment in producing and consuming countries, including the role of these metals in green technology.
- Evaluation
- Weigh the gains in income and technology against the environmental damage, working conditions, resource curse risks and the concentration of gains in a few countries.
- Watch out
- Do not just list the pros and cons in the data. Develop each piece of evidence into a development point, and do not narrow the answer to economic growth in China.
- How it went in the exam
- Examiners found this accessible and well answered, with the case study data used right to the end of the exam.
Question text is quoted from the question papers, © WJEC CBAC Ltd, 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.