Each day, millions of economic decisions are made by individuals, business and governments both here in Australia and overseas. Increasingly, these decisions affect the wellbeing of families, nations and regions. Under the exciting VCE course (2017-22), this study adopts both an Australian and international perspective. The VCE Economics course in Units 3 and 4, is designed to increase student awareness, interest and understanding of areas including:
Microeconomics including the nature and operation of various markets
Contemporary national and international economic issues
Macroeconomics issues such as Australia’s economic prosperity and key government economic goals (low inflation, strong and sustainable economic growth and full employment)
The Australian government’s economic policies that are used to help manage the economy (e.g. interest rates, the annual budget, infrastructure and immigration policy).
In studying VCE Economics Units 3 and 4, students will not only develop an educated and informed position about these matters, but should also cultivate vital intellectual skills and understanding. Some students may even choose to go on and study Economics at university, since this study can be a means of entry into a wide range of interesting careers in both the private sector (e.g. business economist in a large company, CEO/manager, environmental economist, marketing, journalism, education, health, investment advisor, market researcher, solicitor, town planning) and government sector (e.g. in agriculture, environment, international trade, immigration, sport and recreation, Treasury, Reserve Bank, diplomatic services, international organisations within the United Nations, communications) of the economy.
The study of Economics Units 3 and 4 at Year 12, is designed to be taken as a sequence. The course follows on from Units 1 and 2 at Year 11.
Students will investigate three key topics:
An introduction to microeconomics: the market system, resource allocation, market failure and government intervention.
Australia’s domestic macroeconomic goals and recent performance: the government's aims of low inflation, strong and sustainable economic growth and full employment as influences on our standard of living.
Australia and the world economy: the factors that influence Australia’s international competitiveness and international trade, and the effects on Australian living standards.
Students will examine the Australian government's two key types of economic policy:
Using aggregate demand policies (ie, budgetary policy and monetary policy) to help promote domestic economic stability (low inflation, strong and sustainable economic growth and full employment) and improve living standards.
Using aggregate supply policies (including aspects of budgetary policy, tax and welfare reforms, and immigration policies) to help promote domestic economic stability (low inflation, strong and sustainable economic growth and full employment) and improve living standards.
Skills
Apart from developing knowledge related to Units 3 and 4, students will also acquire valuable skills including the ability to define, construct and interpret graphs, use economic models, compare alternative viewpoints, evaluate government policies and identify key factors affecting our economic conditions and living standards over the last two years.
There are two types of assessment used for VCE Economics, Units 3 and 4:
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The main resources required are as follows: