How an economy is measured, the problems it faces, and the market failures that justify intervention.
These are the statements the Economics syllabus makes about Topic 3: Economic Issues. Dux records each one against the questions you answer, so you can see which of them you have actually been tested on and which have never been asked.
Scarcity, opportunity cost and the economic problem, which underpin every later decision rather than being a definition to recite.
Growth, unemployment, inflation, distribution and environmental sustainability as competing objectives rather than a list.
GDP and its limitations as a welfare measure, and the difference between nominal and real, and level and rate.
Upswing, peak, downturn and trough, and the indicators that lead, coincide and lag.
Demand, supply and equilibrium, and how a shift differs from a movement along a curve — the distinction most errors rest on.
Perfect competition through monopoly, and how market power changes price, output and efficiency.
Externalities, public goods and common resources, and the specific failure that justifies a specific intervention.
Wage determination, labour market flexibility, and the link between wages and unemployment that policy debates turn on.
Demand-pull, cost-push and imported inflation, and the distributional effects that make inflation a political problem.
Cyclical, structural, frictional and hidden unemployment, and why the right policy depends on the type.
The Gini coefficient, the sources of inequality, and the difference between income and wealth as measures.
HSC Economics - Trial Paper Shape is 100 marks in 180 minutes. Questions on Topic 3: Economic Issues are not one shape repeated: the command word decides what the marker is looking for, and the mark value decides how much of it. These are the ones Economics uses.
Dux writes practice for this module in exactly these shapes, so the drill is the same task the paper sets — not a general knowledge quiz with the module name on it.
Topic 3: Economic Issues is module 3 of 4 in Economics. Students routinely lose marks because a question spans two modules, so the neighbouring modules are worth reading next to this one.
Dux diagnoses Economics dot point by dot point, then writes questions in the shape this course marks. Written answers come back marked against the bands.