HSC Economics Question Thread

[isaacdelatorre]

In reading time, I always turned to the essays first and figure out which essay I am going to do and process the stimulus questions. Those were the ones that I needed more time on to think about. I don't immediately plan, I just define the topics (e.g in the question you gave I would go unemployment is number of people supplying labor but are underutilized by labour market). Then I move onto the short answer and see if any stump me before finally moving on to MC. This way it gives me more time to ponder potential economic concepts I can include in the question and see if there are any other extra info given in the MC which I had not thought about.

Unfortunately my weakest part of my game was MC so I would spend double the amount of time on it before flying through SA and the essay. How you attack the time is dependent on your weaknesses. Generally try to keep to the recommended times BOSTES gives you

In essays, I would structure it with economic concept -> policy to combat -> why that policy work/didnt work-> further suggestions if need improving. In 2 barrel questions, one always relates to the other so do it together( another reason why econ. is integrated and you can't tell prelim from hsc). In your question the level and changes of unemployment rates ->will be impacted by types of unemployment -> impact economic growth -> effects of unemployment etc. So I usually do it together. In your question i would structure it economic concept (rates of changes in unemployment rate e.g hidden unemployment increasing) -> Impact to unemployment rate -> policy to combat.  (pardon all the flow charts its just how I explain how my brain works when I write)

Before I write I'd scribble down all the concepts that relate to the question beforehand and then each paragraph tackles that one point.
e.g in your question:
-cyclical unemployment (Business cycle)
-hidden unemployment (Falling participation rates)
-underemployment and casulisation of the workforce (increasing part-time jobs)
-Structural unemployment (Manufacturing)
-Infrastructure; boost of foreign investment due to globalization funding -> comparative advantage-> job creation lower growth

This would see me through the essay pretty much and makes the writing flow better I found

Hope this helps

Thank you!!
This is very helpful
With the essay, would you have an example or statistic in each paragraph? I have tried to get as many stats to cover all aspects of the syllabus, hence why my trends are 17 pages long as I thought I had to have some sort of trend in each paragraph (i.e. cyclical unemployment 1st paragraph, structural 2nd, long-term 3rd...)

Also, what are the positive and negative effects of both low and high inflation - I can't think of more than one for some of them...

And also, when it says Analyse the effects of protection policies on the Australian economy - does this mean protectionist policies of o/s trading partners on the Australian economy, or of Australian protection on our economy??

Sorry for the spam of questions!!!

[Deng]

In reference to the crowding out effect, how would you talk about it in an essay? In the sense that due to the deregulation of global financial markets, the government can borrow from overseas markets and consumers can also use overseas financial market

[Deng]

Thank you!!
This is very helpful
With the essay, would you have an example or statistic in each paragraph? I have tried to get as many stats to cover all aspects of the syllabus, hence why my trends are 17 pages long as I thought I had to have some sort of trend in each paragraph (i.e. cyclical unemployment 1st paragraph, structural 2nd, long-term 3rd...)

Also, what are the positive and negative effects of both low and high inflation - I can't think of more than one for some of them...

And also, when it says Analyse the effects of protection policies on the Australian economy - does this mean protectionist policies of o/s trading partners on the Australian economy, or of Australian protection on our economy??

Sorry for the spam of questions!!!

Not sure what you have right now, but benefits of high inflation would be higher government revenue as inflation increases revenue for government from GST ( rising prices + tax receipts ), real interest rates would be lower as nominal interst rates - rising inflation = lower servicing costs , increasing investment in real assets since inflation lowers the value of monetary assets faster than it lowers the value of real assets, lower risk of deflation

Not sure about low

[hermansia12]

Thank you!!
This is very helpful
With the essay, would you have an example or statistic in each paragraph? I have tried to get as many stats to cover all aspects of the syllabus, hence why my trends are 17 pages long as I thought I had to have some sort of trend in each paragraph (i.e. cyclical unemployment 1st paragraph, structural 2nd, long-term 3rd...)

Its good that you have that- I was never really any good at memorising the statistics like that so I worked on connecting the stats. I did know to the question.
Those topics that I listed I I would pretty much know that:
cyclical unemployment -> based on current trends in data -> supply demand
high structural unemployment  -> mining boom -> low exports base
infrastructure -> Projected growth of population
hidden unemployment -> falling participation rate -> Long term growth and reduction of UE
etc.

Everything I knew in statistics was basically in the news that last week before the economics test (like the summaries I gave to the news) and then I just linked it in different ways.

e.g if question was on role of Foreign investment in econ growth:
Projected growth of pop. -> Increased need of infrastructure -> Need investment for future growth 
Narrow export base -> under-utilization of labor -> high structural unemployment -> low econ growth therefore despite effect of CAD and how beneficial it has been for econ. growth
etc. 

[hermansia12]

In reference to the crowding out effect, how would you talk about it in an essay? In the sense that due to the deregulation of global financial markets, the government can borrow from overseas markets and consumers can also use overseas financial market

Yeah I would use it in that way- Only use it if it makes sense to in the essay

[hermansia12]

And also, when it says Analyse the effects of protection policies on the Australian economy - does this mean protectionist policies of o/s trading partners on the Australian economy, or of Australian protection on our economy??

You can use them both! This is a classic example of how the world economy is integrated (globalisation) so that if something impacts one country -> many other countries are impacts due to to loss of export buyers and imports. E.g EU had a major effect on shifting trade flows in Aus even though we weren't part of the trade bloc

[hermansia12]

Also, what are the positive and negative effects of both low and high inflation - I can't think of more than one for some of them...

High Inflation:
-Distort consumers' decisions to spend or save disposable income -> More likely not to spend therefore lower growth
-Employees seeks higher wages as propensity to spend decreases -> Wage price inflationary spiral (Higher wages tend to stay high -> higher prices and never ending cycle)
-Distribution of income -> Lower income will see their propensity to spend decrease at a more rapid rate than those with higher wages (More affected)
-Unemployment -> Direct link with NAIRU
-Increased price of our exports -> uncompetitive therefore less aggregate demand 
-High inflation can cause exchange rates short term appreciation of $AU- speculation that RBA will raise cash rate in contraction of monetary policy leading to increased financial flows
(However in long term, sustained low inflation leads to greater confidence in Aus economy strengthening the dollar in the long term)

Then low inflation impacts are pretty much the opposite that of higher inflation

Hope this helps Sorry about staggering your questions I had a lot on my plate in the last 2 hours so I couldn't address all aspects of your question in one go.

[Deng]

What would be the mininal statistics we would need to know for economics exam e.g inflation/unemployment/cash rate/EG/ avg cad/ part rat etc

[hermansia12]

What would be the mininal statistics we would need to know for economics exam e.g inflation/unemployment/cash rate/EG/ avg cad/ part rat etc

Minimum for Band 6 I would say is that you can link statistics in essays in all 5 economic issues, globalisation, microeconomics and your case study. The RBA snapshot gives a good glance at the state of the economy:

http://www.rba.gov.au/snapshots/economy-snapshot/

This would be the absolute basic minimum I would say.

Side note: When I went into the exam, I didn't know anything about the CAD amounts in each category - only that it was 5% of GDP

[Deng]

What would the higest mark be in an essay with minimal stats or trends ? Because i feel i might get a question i wont have stats for and i have to juggle my legal stuff which is causing me headaches

[hermansia12]

What would the higest mark be in an essay with minimal stats or trends ? Because i feel i might get a question i wont have stats for and i have to juggle my legal stuff which is causing me headaches

I can't give a definite answer on that - It depends on how well you link back to the question and how well your stats and trends match as well as your writing skills. If it makes you feel better in my trials I misread the time and only had 20 min to complete section 4. (no joke this is actually what happened I was in tears after the exam) I only used mining boom, gfc, falling cash rate to address the question on economic growth as well as what I remembered of the RBA snapshots off the top of my head in the 20 min adrenaline rush. Don't know how it happened but I still managed to score a 18/20.

I know how stressed you guys are feeling with the statistics and the anxiety of worrying about getting blindsided in essays. BOSTES is generally really nice and the questions they give have about 2 pages of topics you could have talked about in the marking guidelines. Just think about the concepts that link towards the topic and what policies and trends you know that will go towards attacking that question.

Hope this helps Good luck in your exams!

[MagmaMeerkat]

Is the 2016-17 Budget contractionary or expansionary?
Because the 2015-16 Budget deficit was $29.8bn, and 2016-17 is forecasted a deficit of $37bn

[AFix]

Is the 2016-17 Budget contractionary or expansionary?
Because the 2015-16 Budget deficit was $29.8bn, and 2016-17 is forecasted a deficit of $37bn

It's still a contractionary stance nonetheless (My teachers said to put that) -  but someone else could come and clarify if need be.

[Deng]

May haved asked this before, but i cant seem to find the old post but how would i find consumer consumption on a tariff diagram

[Essej]

Is the 2016-17 Budget contractionary or expansionary?
Because the 2015-16 Budget deficit was $29.8bn, and 2016-17 is forecasted a deficit of $37bn

Hi Magma

Is that information correct? I thought the 2015/16 budget deficit was closer to $37.4 b (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-15/budget-deficit-increased-as-myefo-released/7029472).

In any case, it is definitely expansionary as long as the budget is in deficit. The government right now is attempting to get us back to a surplus, hence the 'forecasts' that show declining figures over the next 5-6 years. So whilst it may seem like the deficit is declining, you must remember that G>T for a deficit budget and thus they are all expansionary.

Hope this helps!