Edexcel IAL Unit 1 · Markets in action (WEC11)
IAS · 25% of IAL · 1 hour 45 minutes · 80 marks
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The International A Level (YEC11) comprises four units. Units 1 and 2 form the International AS (XEC11); Units 3 and 4 complete the full qualification. Unit 3 can draw on Units 1–2, and Unit 4 on Units 1–3.
IAS · 25% of IAL · 1 hour 45 minutes · 80 marks
Browse this paper’s news →IAS · 25% of IAL · 1 hour 45 minutes · 80 marks
Browse this paper’s news →IA2 · 25% of IAL · 2 hours · 80 marks
Browse this paper’s news →IA2 · 25% of IAL · 2 hours · 80 marks
Browse this paper’s news →Units 1 and 2 include one 20-mark essay chosen from two; Units 3 and 4 include two 20-mark essays chosen from three. A 20-mark evaluation response allocates 12 marks to knowledge, application and analysis, and 8 to evaluation. Use the exact unit, session and question’s mark scheme. Official IAL assessment guidance →
This library covers selected news-friendly topics, not every part of the course. Keep revising the underlying models, calculations and diagrams alongside your classroom notes. An article about one topic is not a substitute for the rest of a unit.
Use this original practice routine with a story you have read in full. These prompts are not official exam questions or teacher-reviewed Study Tips.
Higher borrowing costs → weaker spending on credit → lower aggregate demand → reduced demand-side pressure on prices. This is a possible mechanism, not an automatic result. Fixed-rate mortgages may delay the spending response, and a supply shock may keep costs elevated.
Your next step: Find a report that supports or challenges this chain. Save it to your Revision Vault and add your own evidence and qualification.
Select a topic for an explanation, evidence checklist and practice question. The same connections appear in matching article study pages.
Edexcel IAL Unit 2 · Macroeconomic performance and policy (WEC12) · Edexcel IAL Unit 4 · Developments in the global economy (WEC14)
An interest-rate change can alter borrowing costs and saving incentives, affecting consumption and investment. Trace those spending changes through aggregate demand before discussing output and prices.
Record the rate decision, its date and the inflation measure cited. Separate the central bank’s forecast from outcomes already observed.
Fixed-rate borrowing, confidence and time lags can weaken transmission. A supply-driven price shock may respond differently from excess demand.
Construct a chain from a rate rise to household spending. Under what conditions would inflation fall with only a small reduction in output?
Find news for this topic →Edexcel IAL Unit 2 · Macroeconomic performance and policy (WEC12)
Distinguish a rise in demand from a rise in production costs. Both can raise prices, but they imply different output effects and policy choices.
Check whether the statistic is a price level or an annual rate of change. Identify the period, index and largest contributing categories.
A falling inflation rate usually means prices are rising more slowly, not falling. Different households face different effective cost increases.
Sketch the appropriate AD/AS shift and explain why one headline inflation figure may conceal different household experiences.
Find news for this topic →Edexcel IAL Unit 2 · Macroeconomic performance and policy (WEC12) · Edexcel IAL Unit 4 · Developments in the global economy (WEC14)
Government purchases contribute directly to aggregate demand; tax changes act through disposable income and incentives. Trace the spending response and possible multiplier effects.
Record the size, timing and funding of the measure. Distinguish an announced budget allocation from money already spent.
Spare capacity, import leakages, implementation delays and debt-servicing costs affect the result. Ask which groups receive the benefit.
Compare a tax cut with public investment as responses to weak growth. State the conditions behind your preferred policy.
Find news for this topic →Edexcel IAL Unit 2 · Macroeconomic performance and policy (WEC12) · Edexcel IAL Unit 3 · Business behaviour (WEC13)
Demand for workers depends partly on demand for their output. Changes in productivity, skills or bargaining power can alter wages and employment.
Look for real rather than only nominal pay, vacancies, hours worked and sector differences. Avoid treating one firm as the whole labour market.
A wage floor has different predicted effects in a competitive labour market and one with employer buying power. Explain the model you use.
Draw and explain a labour-market diagram for the reported change, then identify a feature of the actual market that limits the model.
Find news for this topic →Edexcel IAL Unit 1 · Markets in action (WEC11)
Identify the gap between private incentives and costs or benefits to others. Explain how that gap could lead to too much or too little of an activity.
Find a specific affected third party and evidence of the external effect. A high price alone is not proof of market failure.
Policy requires information and enforcement. Compare the likely welfare gain with administrative costs and unintended behaviour.
Explain how a tax, subsidy or regulation would change incentives in this case. Which information would you need to judge the policy?
Find news for this topic →Edexcel IAL Unit 3 · Business behaviour (WEC13)
Consider how barriers to entry and rival behaviour influence price, output and innovation. A merger may increase market power while also lowering unit costs.
Define the relevant market before using market shares. Look for entry barriers, substitutes and changes in price or quality.
Concentration is not sufficient proof of weak competition. Potential entry and the strength of buyers can constrain firms.
Develop one consumer-benefit argument and one consumer-harm argument about a merger. Explain what evidence would distinguish them.
Find news for this topic →Edexcel IAL Unit 2 · Macroeconomic performance and policy (WEC12)
Separate an increase in spending from an expansion of productive capacity. Explain whether the story concerns a short-run output change or long-run productivity.
Check real GDP, the comparison period and population growth. GDP per person can move differently from total GDP.
Growth may be unevenly shared or environmentally costly. Output data alone cannot establish an improvement in everyone’s living standards.
Connect one reported change to aggregate demand or aggregate supply, then qualify what it tells you about welfare.
Find news for this topic →Edexcel IAL Unit 4 · Developments in the global economy (WEC14)
A trade barrier changes relative prices and incentives for domestic producers and consumers. Trace effects on imports, production and resource allocation.
Identify the product, tariff rate, affected partners and whether retaliation has occurred or is only threatened.
Short-run protection of jobs may come with higher input costs and weaker competitive pressure. Elasticities and retaliation affect the balance.
Use a tariff diagram to distinguish transfers from welfare losses. Explain why a domestic producer and consumer might disagree.
Find news for this topic →Edexcel IAL Unit 4 · Developments in the global economy (WEC14)
Connect trade flows and income flows to the current account. A deficit can reflect strong import demand, weak exports or income payments abroad.
Check whether the report refers to goods trade alone or the whole current account. Use a consistent period and, where possible, a share of GDP.
The cause, persistence and financing of an imbalance matter. A deficit is not automatically proof of poor economic performance.
Explain two possible causes of a current-account deficit and how the appropriate policy response would differ.
Find news for this topic →Edexcel IAL Unit 4 · Developments in the global economy (WEC14)
A depreciation changes export and import prices, potentially affecting demand, production costs and inflation. Trace these channels separately.
Identify the currency pair, period and size of the change. Check whether firms pass exchange-rate movements into prices.
Contracts, capacity and demand elasticities affect adjustment. An improvement in trade performance may take time or fail to appear.
Build a case for and against depreciation improving the current account. Identify a short-run constraint.
Find news for this topic →Edexcel IAL Unit 4 · Developments in the global economy (WEC14)
Cross-border investment or production can change costs, employment and access to technology. Separate effects on the host economy from effects on the investing economy.
Identify whether investment creates new productive capacity or transfers ownership. Look for employment and local supplier evidence.
Benefits depend on skills, tax arrangements and the ability of domestic firms to learn. Mobile investment can also weaken bargaining power.
Explain one productivity benefit and one distributional risk of multinational investment, with a condition for each.
Find news for this topic →Edexcel IAL Unit 4 · Developments in the global economy (WEC14)
Link a specific constraint, such as unreliable infrastructure or limited education, to productivity and living opportunities. Explain how a policy addresses that constraint.
Pair output data with health, education or poverty indicators. Identify who receives the benefits and over what period.
Institutional capacity, debt obligations and local conditions can change a policy’s effectiveness. Rising GDP alone does not demonstrate broad development.
Compare two ways to address one development constraint. Explain why the choice may differ between countries.
Find news for this topic →Pearson International A Level Economics specification — Issue 2 (PDF) →
References checked 24 September 2026. Course facts and reference numbers are checked against the relevant Pearson or AQA specification. Explanations and practice prompts are original Dispatch material. Dispatch is independent of Pearson Edexcel and AQA; matches are suggested connections, not verified coverage of an article’s full text.