**********OFFICIAL OCR ECONOMICS F582 21st MAY 2014 THREAD************

I put Interest rate and exchange rate u?

It's astonishing how arrogant many people on this thread are, passing off their answers as though they are facts, implying that they are correct and no aynone who opposes them is wrong. Like most people who sat the paper, I thought it was fairly difficult, and everyone who I have spoken to agrees that reading these threads is demoralising. What's happened to the team spirit of exam season?

Guys for the 3 influences of consumer expenditure i put inflation rate, income tax rate and i crossed out consumer confidence and put interest rates but i feel i shouldnt. Are all these valid for 3 marks?

For the 18 mark question I thought it was quite ambiguous in the way that they wanted you to answer the question. I interpreted it as what methods can be used to move the deficit to a surplus and how these methods will also prove beneficial to the economy. I spoke about lowering interest rates which then lowers the exchange rate thus increasing net exports. Beneficial to the economy because output increases therefore there is economic growth. Drew a demand pull inflation diagram and explained this as my evaluation point. Also said that if AS increases in line with AD then demand pull inflation won't occur.

That was my first point and then I went on to talk about corporation tax increasing productive potential of firms. Finally, if you looked at the very final line of the case study the exact words were that Turkey can use supply side policies such as education and training to move the current account from a deficit to a surplus. This is why I thought I was answering the question correctly and my final point was talking about how education and training provides a better skilled workforce etc etc.

Anyone got any thoughts on how I answered this because I've been going through the comments and I'm not sure if I've answered the question correctly now...

Hey mate, i opted for an almost identical approach. I explained the BOP and disequilibria, spoke about how interest rates can cause a devaluation, followed by explaining how training in the production of high quality goods could boost exports, evaluated both approaches in the sense that one wont persist and the other can persist into the long term, said how the latter was more likely to benefit the economy, concluded by saying it depends upon the cause of the surplus. Didn't include any strong AD/AS unemployment etc analysis however, but my answer was very high level, could end up being locked in a 9mark level three.. we'll see, seems we've got a bunch of examiners in the thread however so we must be wrong ^^

I was initially worried but after reading on tutor2u I think I should be eligible for the full 4 marks. Its definition for Monetary Policy...Monetary policy involves changes in the base (policy) rate of interest to influence the growth of AD, the money supply, output, jobs and inflation. It goes onto say how interest rates can have an effect on demand and supply currencies. Quantitative easing is also mentioned, but changing interest rates is certainly the main monetary policies.

If you've used interest rates twice, then you'll only get 2/4. Tutor2u can say what they want, but for this OCR exam, monetary policy is made up of the exchange rate, rate of interest and the money supply. So you will have had to use two out of those three.

Quantitative Easing would be fine as that is basically the money supply.

For the 18 mark question I thought it was quite ambiguous in the way that they wanted you to answer the question. I interpreted it as what methods can be used to move the deficit to a surplus and how these methods will also prove beneficial to the economy. I spoke about lowering interest rates which then lowers the exchange rate thus increasing net exports. Beneficial to the economy because output increases therefore there is economic growth. Drew a demand pull inflation diagram and explained this as my evaluation point. Also said that if AS increases in line with AD then demand pull inflation won't occur.

That was my first point and then I went on to talk about corporation tax increasing productive potential of firms. Finally, if you looked at the very final line of the case study the exact words were that Turkey can use supply side policies such as education and training to move the current account from a deficit to a surplus. This is why I thought I was answering the question correctly and my final point was talking about how education and training provides a better skilled workforce etc etc.

Anyone got any thoughts on how I answered this because I've been going through the comments and I'm not sure if I've answered the question correctly now...

First set of questions (4,6,10) will be on the UK economy and how it has recovered from 2007/2008. The role of IMF a possible 4 marker. 6/10 marker evaluation of the government's fiscal/monetary decision making. Second set will be on exchange rates and the Latvian/Icelandic economy. Discussion of floating and fixed exchange rate, perhaps. Which has had the stronger recovery? I am almost certain last 20 marker will be on development and sustainability in SSA. What do you guys think? Regarding the f582 exam I think coming on here can sometimes make any concerns worse and you can convince yourself you've done really badly. Is interesting to discuss answers though.

What was the answer to the question around why turkeys future is looking good? (something like that)

*edit - what do you reckon the grade boundaries will be about? one of the hardest papers in comparison to the past papers.

This- if you explain interest rates in the first one and then mentioned it again in the second part, but you went to explain its effect on quantitative easing or the exchange rate and how that would impact AD, you should get all marks

I did this paper last year.

Looking at the questions, I'd say everything was fairly simple besides the 18 mark essay question (which IMO is probably the most difficult one they've asked since the spec started).