Ignoring the economics market failure chapter ? Would that be wise?

[Guest]

HI there. So I am doing Economic SL and it is like hell.  OMG I regret it so much, it is the hardest subject for me (harder than Maths HL and Bio HL in my opinion) and I have no clue what to do next. I just finished off the microeconomic section and I have big big confusion with Market failure, utterly doesn't make sense in my head. I am considering skipping the  whole Market failure as I heard someone saying that there will be 2 Essay questions in paper 1, from different topics of Microeconomic. Therefore , Would It be recommended to merely focus on topics like Elasticity , equilibrium, indirect tax and price floor and ignore the market failure ? Cause I don't have to chose to answer the Market failure essay question in the real exam anyway. Would that make sense? And is it guaranteed that the paper 1 will consist of questions apart from the market failure chapter? 

 

Any reply will be appreciated  . Thank you.

Edited January 17, 2015 by Guest

[veregudmen]

Don't skip it, just buckle down and power through it. You don't really have to understand the topic FULLY; but you should be having at least a basic overview of the topic in your head else it most probably will bite you somewhere down the road. 

There is no guarantee that the exam questions will include any specific topic; but there will be questions on micro, and it does happen that questions require knowledge from various points in the syllabus. For this reason, you should have at least some knowledge of market failure. 

There are 2 microeconomics questions in the paper; however they very well could both include market failure.

[Guest]

Don't skip it, just buckle down and power through it. You don't really have to understand the topic FULLY; but you should be having at least a basic overview of the topic in your head else it most probably will bite you somewhere down the road. 

There is no guarantee that the exam questions will include any specific topic; but there will be questions on micro, and it does happen that questions require knowledge from various points in the syllabus. For this reason, you should have at least some knowledge of market failure. 

There are 2 microeconomics questions in the paper; however they very well could both include market failure.

Thank you. but that chapter is just so annoying and i am destroyed by economic. 

[Djsporting]

Don't skip it, it can be extremely useful when doing your economics IA's. I'd suggest going to Tutor2u, or DineshBakshi and looking at the revision notes. Also, try looking at explanations on youtube that can sometimes ease the process of learning. 

[veregudmen]

Don't stress out over it; it's not too complex if you take on it in a calm, focused manner. The chapter consists of effectively the following:

1. Public Goods: What they are and what constitutes a public good 

2. Market Failure: What it is 

3. Causes of Market Failure: a) Oversupply of demerit goods, undersupply of merit goods and externalities 

4. Types of Externalities: 1) Positive Consumption Externality 2) Negative Consumption Externality 3) Positive Production Externality 4) Negative Production Externality + Government responses to the existence of each type of externality

5. Common Access Resources: What they are

6. Sustainability: What it is and threats to sustainability 

7. Government Responses to threats to Sustainability 

 

Maybe tackle one section of each and make detailed notes and have it all done in a week if it's too much? 

The point is it isn't too difficult if you break it down into smaller sections and just power through each small section, to eventually have all of it done. 

 

Good luck!

[Guest]

Don't stress out over it; it's not too complex if you take on it in a calm, focused manner. The chapter consists of effectively the following:

1. Public Goods: What they are and what constitutes a public good 

2. Market Failure: What it is 

3. Causes of Market Failure: a) Oversupply of demerit goods, undersupply of merit goods and externalities 

4. Types of Externalities: 1) Positive Consumption Externality 2) Negative Consumption Externality 3) Positive Production Externality 4) Negative Production Externality + Government responses to the existence of each type of externality

5. Common Access Resources: What they are

6. Sustainability: What it is and threats to sustainability 

7. Government Responses to threats to Sustainability 

 

Maybe tackle one section of each and make detailed notes and have it all done in a week if it's too much? 

The point is it isn't too difficult if you break it down into smaller sections and just power through each small section, to eventually have all of it done. 

 

Good luck!

HAHA Thank you again!!! U r right , maybe i should break it down and study it.... but studying economic is just gonna be a hard time ..... Good luck with your exam too.

[Guest Aniruddh]

Hey!

That chapter is not that bad! In fact, we had the same topic in IGCSE and I guess that helped me 'get' the IB chapter, but if you think about it a bit, it actually all makes sense. As veregudmen said, for all you know, both the questions might be related to market failure.

 

One tip that I can offer is that read the material once or twice, and then when you feel confident, write a summary of what you understood from the chapter. Also, Jason Welker has some great videos at econclassroom.com. After doing all this, do a past paper or two, and you should be done!

 

The paper 1 questions are very straightforward and direct and thus doing them will help you cement the topic in your brain.

 

Also remember, never memorize diagrams in Economics because some of them get a bit too complex (especially the effects of taxes and subsidies) IMO and you are bound to make some mistake while drawing them from memory. Instead, try to understand the theory and then apply that knowledge to draw the diagrams.

 

The first time I did Economics, I wasn't too comfortable with it either, mostly because it was unlike any other subject I had ever done before, but also because I didn't work as hard as I could have to get those basic concepts down. Remember that Economics SL isn't that hard, it's all about how much time you give it. Of course, there are a few topics that you might not 'get', and that is why I recommend skimming through your textbooks or at least having a basic idea about what the topic is about before your teacher starts it. This way, you'll be able to ask questions about things you did not understand fully right in the class itself and get your doubts cleared which means you have to devote less time to studying that same concept later.

 

Happy Studying!