OCR A-Level Economics Every 25 Marker

Evaluate, using an appropriate diagram(s), the usefulness of the free market forces of demand and supply in analysing commodity markets, such as oil. (June 2017)

Evaluate, using an appropriate diagram(s), the impact on an economy of an increase in the minimum wage. (June 2017)

Evaluate the usefulness of perfect competition theory in explaining the behaviour of firms in the real world. (June 2017)

Evaluate the extent to which profit maximization is the most important objective influencing the activities of a firm in the real world. (June 2017)

Evaluate, using an appropriate diagram(s), the effectiveness of a buffer stock system in reducing market failure. (June 2018)

Evaluate, using an appropriate diagram(s), whether a monopoly will be efficient. (June 2018)

Evaluate whether operating a market economy is the best way to allocate resources. (June 2018)

Evaluate whether a firm which produces a product that has positive income elasticity of demand and positive cross elasticity of demand should lower the price of the product. (June 2018)

Price ceilings have been used in a number of different markets, ranging from rented housing in New York to food in Venezuela and the cap on energy bills in the UK. Evaluate, using an appropriate diagram(s), the impact a price ceiling may have on the level of consumer and producer surplus in a market. (June 2019)

Netflix is the world’s largest online video subscription service. By 2018, after only 10 years in existence, it had 137 million worldwide subscribers. 65% of online video viewers in the USA watch Netflix at least once a month. Evaluate, using an appropriate diagram(s), the advantages and disadvantages of a perfectly contestable market.

Within any economy there is a great deal of specialisation by firms in the production of particular products, such as manufacturing of cars by BMW, Nissan and Toyota in the UK. Each manufacturer employs the division of labour. So some workers design cars, some test them, others market them and the assembly itself is divided into many different tasks. Evaluate the extent to which specialisation and the division of labour might help in addressing the basic economic problem. (June 2019)

From 2007 to 2016, nearly 1000 international mergers took place involving a UK business. Many of these were examples of horizontal integration. One of the largest was between British Airways and the Spanish airline, Iberia. Evaluate the potential economic consequences for economic agents of a horizontal merger. (June 2019)

In 2018, the French bank, BNP Paribus, was found guilty of eliminating competition and fixing prices with rival firms between 2011 and 2013. It was the sixth major bank to face criminal charges as part of the same investigation in the USA and agreed to pay a fine of $90m. Evaluate, using an appropriate diagram(s), whether such collusion is the most significant disadvantage of an oligopolistic market. (June 2022)

The education sector has the highest level of trade union membership in the UK, with over 50% of full-time teachers in a trade union. Approximately 90% of all teachers work in the state sector. Evaluate, using an appropriate diagram(s), the impact of a bilateral monopoly on equilibrium in the labour market. (June 2022)

“A £1.4bn government bailout has been announced for Crossrail, as Europe’s biggest infrastructure project to build a new underground line across London is once again over budget and delayed. This is yet another example of a failed government-financed and managed project.” Evaluate whether governments should finance large infrastructure projects such as Crossrail. (June 2022)

Supporters of a centrally planned economic system believe a central government can achieve social and national objectives more efficiently than a market economy. For example, they highlight the increase in income inequality in China since it has introduced market-based reforms. Evaluate whether it is possible to allocate resources efficiently in a centrally planned economic system. (June 2022)

In recent years, most towns and cities have seen a rapid growth in the number of coffee shops and sandwich bars, the majority of which are small and locally-owned. Evaluate, using an appropriate diagram(s), whether such small firms, operating in a monopolistically competitive market, can be economically efficient. (November 2020)

The percentage of employees in the UK choosing to be a member of a trade union, has fallen from 27% to 20% in the last 20 years. Across different industries, this figure ranges from 48% in the education sector to 3% in the food service sector. Evaluate, using an appropriate diagram(s), whether trade union activity helps to encourage the efficient operation of the UK labour market. (November 2020)

The total police budget in the UK for 2018/19 was £12.3bn, most of which was funded from taxation. This is an amount of money equivalent to £186 per person. Evaluate the effectiveness of state provision of public goods. (November 2020)

NHS figures show that a declining number of children are receiving all their routine vaccinations, including meningitis and the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. In some cases, vaccination rates of children are as low as 90%. Evaluate the significance of information failure in decisions made about the consumption of merit goods. (November 2020)

The gender pay gap for full-time workers in the UK has fallen from 17% to 9% in the past 20 years. However, the gap is still over 30% in many engineering and manufacturing jobs but is much smaller, or even negative, in many service sector jobs, including in the health sector. Evaluate, using an appropriate diagram(s), whether wage differentials are mainly caused by the presence of a monopsonistic employer. (November 2021)

The nature of the market experienced by internet-based firms, such as Amazon Marketplace, eBay and Alibaba, means that they may not have an objective of profit maximisation. Evaluate, using an appropriate diagram(s), how a firm’s objectives, other than profit maximisation, may affect its price and output decisions. (November 2021)

China is the world’s second largest economy, has the fastest growing consumer market and is the second largest importer of goods – all from a centrally planned economy. However, more than 50% of China’s surface water is not fit for human consumption. Evaluate whether economic incentives are required to achieve an efficient allocation of resources. (November 2021)

According to scientists, there are at least half a million pieces of space rubbish in the earth’s atmosphere. Delhi, India’s capital city, sees 80 deaths a day due to air pollution. Evaluate how the problem of scarcity can be used to explain the requirement to make choices between free goods and economic goods. (November 2021)

Some top UK executives are paid more than 1000 times the average wage paid to workers in their firms. Evaluate, using an appropriate diagram(s), whether a maximum wage should be imposed on executive pay in the UK. (Specimen)

In 2014, Telefonica, a Spanish telecommunications firm with a very large share of the Spanish market, decided to concentrate largely on increasing its sales revenue. Evaluate, using an appropriate diagram(s), the extent to which a monopolist changing its objective from profit maximisation to sales revenue maximisation would benefit consumers. (Specimen)

In the UK 7% of children are privately educated compared with 24% in Japan. Evaluate whether the provision of education should be left solely to market forces. (Specimen)

In 2013 food prices in many parts of the world rose relative to other products, including air travel. Evaluate the extent to which the price of food is likely to rise by more than the price of air travel in the future. (Specimen)