** Economics 2014 - All levels - predictions, discussion **

Dcsmall

My own predictions and what I'm studying from now until Tuesday night :

Demand, Supply and Elasticity: I know Demand came up last year but it has come up every year in some shape or form since 2008 so I'll have it just to be prepared. At least on of these will make up Q1 maybe Equilibrium might be thrown it but that's not a hard chapter (IMO). Unless I'm mistaken all of the elasticity formulae are in tables so that's really the difficulty of that chapter gone, just focus on what affects PED etc.

Markets: I'm looking at Oligopoly, Imperfect and possibly Perfect. Monopoly was up the last two years and it has never done that before since 1999 so I highly doubt it'll be three years in a row. Perfect skips a year and appears and it wasn't on last year, Oligopoly and Imperfect are the favourites this year and were on both our Mocks, Examcraft and DEB so I'll focus on them mostly. That'll be Q2.

Factors of Production: Capital and Labour mostly but some people think Land even though last time it came up was 2005, but who am I to judge? Labour comes up most years so I'd really keep an eye on that but that chapter is very big, I did three Labour qs this morning and each on had different qs and even Cost of Production mixed in.

Since last year was 4 Micro, chances are we are getting 3 Micro and 4 Macro, pity but that's the way it looks.

National Income and Multiplier defiantly
International Trade (LOCA, terms of trade etc)
Central Bank, IMF and National Debt/Budget Deficit and Surplus.

What do you guys think? Would I be safe enough with this, I got a C1 in the mocks with little study done, literally the night before, I'd like to push up into the high Bs if I could since I have a lot of time left between now and Wednesday with no exams in between.
One thing I should mention is that my teacher said there were complaints that the economics paper has become too predictable so my teacher reckons they will change it up a bit this year, so that's why I included Land.
Best of luck to us all.

Smash The House

Another thing that has been topical for the last two years: the massive amount of money Irish savers are putting into state savings. Even with the interest rate cuts they are still more favourable than saving in banks because of the 41% DIRT rate (up from 33%). One of the aims of increasing DIRT was to get consumers spending, but its just made people take out their money and put it into the state savings.
A question could come up to discuss the economic effects/ advantages and disadvantages of this. E.g. Cheap funds for government, Limits availability to create credit in banks, decrease in consumer spending

MightyMandarin

Would 2 economic advantages/disadvantages to the LPT be: Additional Govt. revenue + Improved State services/ Regressive Tax + Reduced Aggregate Demand?

Are there better adv. and disadvantages which I could use if it came up?

oncex

Dcsmall wrote: »

Markets: I'm looking at Oligopoly, Imperfect and possibly Perfect. Monopoly was up the last two years and it has never done that before since 1999 so I highly doubt it'll be three years in a row. Perfect skips a year and appears and it wasn't on last year, Oligopoly and Imperfect are the favourites this year and were on both our Mocks, Examcraft and DEB so I'll focus on them mostly. That'll be Q2.

Doing the same thing myself... hoping for an oligopoly. This NEEEDS to be over. Tired of studying.

KellyR18

I got an A2 in 2 mocks by just doing Micro topics and going through all short questions it's possible to do well and leave out ½ the course

thelad95

Dcsmall wrote: »

Since last year was 4 Micro, chances are we are getting 3 Micro and 4 Macro, pity but that's the way it looks.

I'm not sure what paper you were looking at but there was 3 micro and 5 macro last year....

teach432

thelad95 wrote: »

Not necessarily. The macro course makes up about 50-60% of the paper but is ridiculously long and often just bull-shíttable without any prior knowledge, just a bit of common sense.

Not true. Nobody who approaches the Macro like this is going to get an A or even a high B. The answers in the Macro section are very specific and need to be explained in good detail. If they were that easy why would anyone study Micro?

Silver Sniper

Is the new property tax progressive or regressive?????? I know that it is based on the value of your house, but does this make it progressive because it doesn't technically take your ability to pay into account!??!!!!

paddybarry

It is a regressive form of tax as it does not take into account a person's ability to pay. One could be asset rich (live in an expensive house) but cash poor.

thelad95

This probably sounds like a stupid Q but is the water thing a tax or a public service charge? And if it is a tax, it is regressive isnt it?

paddybarry

thelad95 wrote: »

This probably sounds like a stupid Q but is the water thing a tax or a public service charge? And if it is a tax, it is regressive isnt it?

It is a stealth tax i.e, tax on a pubic service. It is also regressive.

Silver Sniper

For history of economic thought is it right to say one of Keynes ideas was paradox of thrift? I know it's one of his ideas but I never see it on marking schemes.

thelad95

Silver Sniper wrote: »

For history of economic thought is it right to say one of Keynes ideas was paradox of thrift? I know it's one of his ideas but I never see it on marking schemes.

Yep. Apparently that was the worst ever answered short Q when it came up last year.

a0ifee

guys what would be an example of imposition of tax and incidence of tax if they're not the same?

paddybarry

a0ifee wrote: »

guys what would be an example of imposition of tax and incidence of tax if they're not the same?

Imposition refers to the company/product the tax is imposed upon whereas incidence refers to who actually ends up paying the tax. The incidence is largely determined by the PED of the product. If the product is price inelastic e.g. cigarettes, then cigarette manufacturers can pass the excise duty onto consumers.

jazz101

thelad95 wrote: »

Yep. Apparently that was the worst ever answered short Q when it came up last year.

I had that paper as my mock and I didn't know what the hell it was when I saw it. It wasn't mentioned anywhere in my textbook either.

Dee15

thelad95 wrote: »

Yep. Apparently that was the worst ever answered short Q when it came up last year.

Yeah it's not even in my book, hope there's nothing like that this year!

Silver Sniper

Dee15 wrote: »

Yeah it's not even in my book, hope there's nothing like that this year!

In fairness it's actually pretty easy once you get it

Dee15

Silver Sniper wrote: »

In fairness it's actually pretty easy once you get it

Oh I know, I just mean something people haven't heard of

thelad95

Paradox of Value could come up which means something can have lots of utility (eg. water) but worth little in exchange, and other things can have little utility (eg. diamonds) but are worth a lot in exchange.

Do we need to know much about the EU/IMF/ECB etc. apart from their functions?

Do people think something could come up on population or LDC's etc?

Dazza

Just a quick question , for answering questions where you have to state and explain , how long should the explanation be ? In the marking schemes it's usually a brief one liner but do i need to add to that. ? Maybe add examples? Thanks

mcratsix

If someone can explain this, I will be forever grateful. In my economics book (Positive Economics), it says on pg 136 that since Imperfectly Competitive firms advertise, they don't produce at the lowest point of the AC curve. That's fine. Then, on pg 160 it says the Oligopolistic firms engage in advertising, but that they also produce at the lowest point of the AC curve and so use scarce resources efficiently (pg 163). How can they be using scarce resources efficiently if they advertise???

thelad95

mcratsix wrote: »

If someone can explain this, I will be forever grateful. In my economics book (Positive Economics), it says on pg 136 that since Imperfectly Competitive firms advertise, they don't produce at the lowest point of the AC curve. That's fine. Then, on pg 160 it says the Oligopolistic firms engage in advertising, but that they also produce at the lowest point of the AC curve and so use scarce resources efficiently (pg 163). How can they be using scarce resources efficiently if they advertise???

I'm sorry if this sounds sarcastic but don't question it, just learn it and regurgitate it tomorrow.

mcratsix

thelad95 wrote: »

I'm sorry if this sounds sarcastic but don't question it, just learn it and regurgitate it tomorrow.

I will, but I was just hoping maybe someone knew something that could explain it. I guess it's just one of those economics things that never actually work in real life, like perfect competition, or perfectly inelastic demand etc.

thelad95

mcratsix wrote: »

I will, but I was just hoping maybe someone knew something that could explain it. I guess it's just one of those economics things that never actually work in real life, like perfect competition, or perfectly inelastic demand etc.

A lot of micro-economics is just theoretical and some of it just complete pie in the sky stuff like Perfect competition or even elasticity. Just learn it, you won't be quizzed on your original Q tomorrow at least I hope not :eek:

jazz101

Haha glad I'm not the only one who thinks microec is pure bull**** that would be subject to numerous variables IRL.

little sis...

So what will I cram for this tonight? Just finished chem and need to get into economics mode!

Poliana.xo

little sis... wrote: »

So what will I cram for this tonight? Just finished chem and need to get into economics mode!

microooo :cool: seriously there better not be any surprises tomorrow I need them 3 micro questions :eek:

little sis...

I'm not doing labour so I may not do one of the micro questions if it's on that.
So I will have to cover a good bit of macro. Maybe just national income and international trade will do and then my long term memory will hopefully do me for the rest :rolleyes:

Mr. G

mcratsix wrote: »

If someone can explain this, I will be forever grateful. In my economics book (Positive Economics), it says on pg 136 that since Imperfectly Competitive firms advertise, they don't produce at the lowest point of the AC curve. That's fine. Then, on pg 160 it says the Oligopolistic firms engage in advertising, but that they also produce at the lowest point of the AC curve and so use scarce resources efficiently (pg 163). How can they be using scarce resources efficiently if they advertise???

An oligopolistic firm has other aims than to make a profit. They may have other aims, such as to prevent Govt intervention and discourage new firms to enter the industry.

They always aim to make a profit in oligopoly.

I don't you're going to be asked that specifically anyway.

I think that's why. May be wrong though.