AS Economics Data Response - 25 mark question

Hi, I'm relatively new here, and would appreciate some help with a query of mine. :biggrin:

"Evaluate different economic policies that could be used to encourage schoolchildren to undertake more exercise" (25 marks)

How would one go about planning this question? What would you mention in an answer?

Help would be appreciated immensely, thank you. :tongue:

Reply 1

hemant1

11

I have no clue xD should it come with a case study?

Reply 2

Tateco

14

Original post by PoliticallyDiverse

Hi, I'm relatively new here, and would appreciate some help with a query of mine. :biggrin:

"Evaluate different economic policies that could be used to encourage schoolchildren to undertake more exercise" (25 marks)

How would one go about planning this question? What would you mention in an answer?

Help would be appreciated immensely, thank you. :tongue:

Okay, so the first thing that should spring to mind when you see the work 'encourage' is positive externalities, merit goods, under provided in a free market economy, socially desirable.

First what I would do is write a short introductory paragraph, stating that exercise is a merit good (define merit good and explain why it is a merit good, also mention positive externalities, could be a good excuse to put a MSB>MPB graph?)

Then in the second paragraph I would suggest why it causes market failure (it is socially desirable and is under provided/ the price mechanism allocates less resources to the supply of exercise because of the positive externalities which go unaccounted for by the price mechanism.)

The third paragraph could either be about another source of market failure, for example inadequate information. The children/ parents do not know how beneficial exercise will be to them in the long run and therefore do not undertake, you could suggest possible solutions to this information barrier, e.g. more education.

From then on, in, I would just discuss different forms of government intervention that could help to solve the issue, and then I would evaluate the policy (e.g. subsidies can increase the amount of a product consumes but there is an opportunity cost in providing the subsidy.) I would do this throughout whilst trying to construct a balanced for and against argument, also quoting the extracts given and defining key terms throughout.

The final paragraph should be a summary along the lines of "Based upon the evidence, the best strategy to encourage exercise in younger generation would be too..." Be positive in your summary, don't say; 'I think' or 'The government might'

Sorry I wrote that really quickly! hope it was helpful!

EDIT: Who neg repped me? I'm trying to help the guy

(edited 13 years ago)

More info needed.

By turning to the economic theory in the syllabus which you've learned, the first idea sparked should be merit goods and market failure/imperfections.

From the examiner's report:
" While virtually all candidates were able to identify appropriate policies, relatively few were able to analyse the chosen policies. All too often, answers were devoid of any economic theory or analysis. Some relied simply upon copying out or paraphrasing the information in Extract E. It is worth repeating the advice given earlier that good evaluation first requires some focused analysis of the issue or issues posed by the question. The best answers used relevant economic analysis (often of subsidies) and the data to address the question. The least successful candidates mainly reworked the points in Extract E in a purely descriptive manner, adding little or no economic analysis of their own.
Some ways in which candidates can improve their answers:

The standard of answer can be improved by:
(i) taking care to answer the question as it is set;
(ii) remembering to quote the until of measurement when asked to identify features of data or when comparing data;
(iii) obeying the key instruction word(s) for each part of the chosen question;
(iv) defining key terms and concepts used in answers to all parts of the question (except possibly the second part);
(v) reminding candidates that good evaluation is built upon strong analysis"

Source: http://www.maltby.rotherham.sch.uk/site_data/downloads/june_2010_econ1_report_4cff50437c862.pdf

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 5

PoliticallyDiverse

OP

1

Original post by tateco

Okay, so the first thing that should spring to mind when you see the work 'encourage' is positive externalities, merit goods, under provided in a free market economy, socially desirable.

First what I would do is write a short introductory paragraph, stating that exercise is a merit good (define merit good and explain why it is a merit good, also mention positive externalities, could be a good excuse to put a MSB>MPB graph?)

Then in the second paragraph I would suggest why it causes market failure (it is socially desirable and is under provided/ the price mechanism allocates less resources to the supply of exercise because of the positive externalities which go unaccounted for by the price mechanism.)

The third paragraph could either be about another source of market failure, for example inadequate information. The children/ parents do not know how beneficial exercise will be to them in the long run and therefore do not undertake, you could suggest possible solutions to this information barrier, e.g. more education.

From then on, in, I would just discuss different forms of government intervention that could help to solve the issue, and then I would evaluate the policy (e.g. subsidies can increase the amount of a product consumes but there is an opportunity cost in providing the subsidy.) I would do this throughout whilst trying to construct a balanced for and against argument, also quoting the extracts given and defining key terms throughout.

The final paragraph should be a summary along the lines of "Based upon the evidence, the best strategy to encourage exercise in younger generation would be too..." Be positive in your summary, don't say; 'I think' or 'The government might'

Sorry I wrote that really quickly! hope it was helpful!

EDIT: Who neg repped me? I'm trying to help the guy