Economics Marathon 2014 anyone??? (2 Viewers)

Phaze

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If it doesn't specify, go with what's easiest. In this case, inflation has lots and lots of negatives that can be easily elaborated on, whilst it lacks quite a lot in positives. If the question was worded explain two, just jump to the negatives. If it was worded compare two, then going one positive and one negative would probably be more suited to the question.
Cheers
 

mreditor16

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If it doesn't specify, go with what's easiest. In this case, inflation has lots and lots of negatives that can be easily elaborated on, whilst it lacks quite a lot in positives. If the question was worded explain two, just jump to the negatives. If it was worded compare two, then going one positive and one negative would probably be more suited to the question.
Exactly! Agreed :) +1 :lol:
 

avi888

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Examine two recent labour market policies? (4 marks)
 

Cleavage

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Examine two recent labour market policies? (4 marks)
Loosing economics marathon virginity...

1. Paid Parental Leave Scheme (perhaps more suited to income/wealth distribution, please do criticise)
Pertained within the 2014-15 fiscal budget is a new Paid Parental Leave Scheme. This policy allows for the supplementation of expectant mothers' incomes during childbirth and maternity leave. In funding this program, firms are less inclined to hire male employees, with the knowledge of a government supplemented income, during periods in which the firm will be without an employee, thus making the labour market more equitable for women.

2. Tertiary Education Reform
The 2014-15 budget also focuses upon higher education reform. Of this, the government will be expanding its expenditure on scholarships and allowing for the deregulation of university fees, in an attempt to make universities more dynamic and technically efficient. All of this is to increase the effectiveness of tertiary education, as a means of providing the labour force with work skills, and as such the economy with productivity growth in the future.
 

Cleavage

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Explain the role of trade and investment in promoting the Globalisation process in an economy other than Australia (5 Marks)

I've never really seen a trade/investment + globalisation question answered effectively (I haven't looked through other pages of this thread, sorry if it's already been asked).
 

this_guy22

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Explain the role of trade and investment in promoting the Globalisation process in an economy other than Australia (5 Marks)
Globalisation is my weakness in economics, so I had a go. I just typed this up from a 20 line handwritten response, warts and all. Feedback will be appreciated.

Increasing trade and investment in the Indian economy was the centrepiece of the Indian Government’s Liberalisation, Privatisation, Globalisation (LPG) reforms in 1991. This has contributed to international convergence of the Indian economy, with the economy shifting from a self-reliant socialist economy, to a more open, mixed market economy. Increased trade in the Indian economy has seen trade volumes increase from $4 billion in 1991 to $800 billion in 2011-12. This has increased access for millions of Indians to cheaper and better quality imported consumer goods, thus increasing their purchasing power and material standard of living. Increased investment and more relaxed investment rules has also promoted globalisation by increasing financial flows and the encouraging the entrance of TNCs into the Indian economy. As a low-cost labour economy, several TNCs have invested in India, opening up labour intensive operations such as call centres, providing much needed employment and infrastructure.

Explain TWO strategies that the government could use to lower Australia's NAIRU. (4 marks)
 
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GOsie

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Explain TWO policy options available to governments in achieving environmental sustainability (4 marks)
Tax Governments can use a tax on carbon emissions to try achieve environmental sustainability. In 2012 the Australian government imposed a 'carbon tax' on carbon emissions. The tax initially started at 23c/tonne and was due to raise by 5% each year until 2015 in which the tax would be replaced by a 'cap and trade' scheme. The tax was not imposed with the purpose of generating government revenue, but rather to encourage 'green investment' and structurally change the way we use energy, which is important as Australia currently uses the most energy per capita in the world. Since it was imposed, it generated over $7b in revenue for the government and a study shows that 2013 carbon emissions had decreased by 0.8% suggesting that the tax was successful. However the change of government in 2014 has seen that the carbon tax has been abolished to be replaced by a 'Direct Action Plan'

Cap and Trade The government also has the option to use a cap and trade scheme to achieve environmental sustainability. The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) that was suggested would have meant that governments allocate or sell permits to carbon emitters and they could trade them for money to allow for more emissions. The ETS would not have raised money for the government, but would have been an incentive for businesses to use 'greener' alternatives and invest in renewable energy projects. The ETS had criticisms including that the permits may be given in too high supply which causes a little cost for businesses to continue emitting carbon, a problem that has been seen in the European Union where an ETS was implemented. Another issue is that if the permits become too expensive, businesses would possibly move offshore and lead to no net change in carbon emissions.
Bumpity Bump

Feel free to mark my answer to a previous question :devil:
 

Intrinsic

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Gosie - you pretty much hit the nail on the head, but in an exam situation you should aim to make your response more succinct. Also, the carbon tax was $23 per tonne of carbon emissions, not cents.
 

enigma_1

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Gosie - you pretty much hit the nail on the head, but in an exam situation you should aim to make your response more succinct. Also, the carbon tax was $23 per tonne of carbon emissions, not cents.
yah defs

chuck in the tax diagram showing the MSC
rest is fine I'd think 4/4
 

mreditor16

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Okay here's a toughie.

For 5 marks, answer this short answer Q - Explain how deregulation may promote productivity growth in the Australian economy.

Rep on offer for answers which I judge to be 4 marks or higher (i.e. 4/5 or 5/5) :)
 

GOsie

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Nice question!
I'll give it a shot on Wednesday night :drink:
 

Intrinsic

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Okay here's a toughie.

For 5 marks, answer this short answer Q - Explain how deregulation may promote productivity growth in the Australian economy.

Rep on offer for answers which I judge to be 4 marks or higher (i.e. 4/5 or 5/5) :)
Not an easy one but I'll give it a go.

Deregulation is the eradication of government involvement in domestic markets or industries. This is employed to increase competition in domestic markets, and promote productivity through the govts disengagement with, or alleviation of funding to, domestic industries.

With reference to productivity growth, the 1983 floating of the exchange rate by the Hawke-Keating government allowed the RBA to conduct monetary policy more effectively with demand and supply forces determining the exchange rate. Paul Keating considered this deregulation as the greatest structural change in the Australian economy - with a move towards the exchange rate being determined more efficiently.

On the other hand, in recent decades, there has been a move towards a decentralised or deregulated industrial relations system. This promotes productivity in the Australian economy by wages being determined at the enterprise level. Despite the Fair Work Australia’s increase in the minimum wage rate by 4.8% in 2010 ($26 a week), a decentralised wage determination system provides an incentive for employees to work by linking wages with productivity. This reduces demand inflation, as in the long-term, the labour market becomes more capable to match their supply with demand.

Not expecting a full :D
 

Cleavage

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Explain how deregulation may promote productivity growth in the Australian economy.

Cleavage I will give you lots of rep anyways because youre a mad dog
Deregulation involves the steady removal of government intervention into Australian markets. In order to improve productivity, the government can deregulate factor markets. Deregulation of labour market institutions, such as the national award, allow firms greater ability to employ and retrench workers alongside economic conditions. As such, labour market deregulation directly improves the dynamic efficiency of businesses. Deregulation of resource use also allows firms greater ability to make production decisions, based upon market conditions, while allowing firms greater access to all resources to fulfill demand, thus improving both dynamic and allocative efficiency. Deregulation in product markets, such as the legal disbandment (?) of natural monopolies, increase the ability of firms to enter the market. As such, greater competition in these markets provide greater incentive for the innovation of new production methods, thus increasing technical efficiency. The Australian government's deregulation agenda in both factor and product markets in the past two decades has underpinned the productivity growth rate average of 2.21% in this period.
 
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enigma_1

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Okay here's a toughie.

For 5 marks, answer this short answer Q - Explain how deregulation may promote productivity growth in the Australian economy.

Rep on offer for answers which I judge to be 4 marks or higher (i.e. 4/5 or 5/5) :)
lol I'm terrible at micro policy, but here goes

Deregulation is the removal of government intervention in the operation of markets with the objective of promoting efficiency and productivity. Deregulation has occurred in Australian markets since 1983 to increase efficiency, productivity and to promote technological innovation.

In 1992, Telecommunications industry underwent deregulation where Telstra was privatised and was no longer owned by the government. This reduced government expenditure in this industry, resulting in reallocation of government’s resources to other sectors of the economy. Since private companies are more interested in making profits (unlike government owned enterprises), Telstra underwent rapid increases in efficiency through reducing costs to increase its profitability and increasing productivity, which increased productivity growth in the economy.

In 1991 under the Prices Accord, there was the introduction of enterprise bargaining. Enterprise bargaining agreements are made by negotiation between employers and employees with the potential advantage of employees being offered minimum pay rates which are above the employment conditions in awards. Enterprise bargaining is also efficient because wage rises are linked to productivity increases, and thus employees are indirectly paying for their wage increase, also preventing cost – push inflation from rising.

With enterprise bargaining however, there is the problem of the greater labour market segmentation where employees on higher incomes have a higher bargaining power than low income earners. Nevertheless, this encourages those on low incomes to increase their skill levels, allowing them to increase their bargaining power. Increased bargaining power can result in increased productivity and thus wage rises can be offered via enterprise bargaining. In effect, this would further increase productivity growth in the Australian economy. As a result, productivity increased from 1.3% in 1983 to 2.1% in 1990s.
 

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