LC Economics

Wants are unlimited but resources are scarce, so every choice has an opportunity cost.

How price, income, tastes and related goods affect the quantity consumers want to buy.

How price, costs, technology and other factors affect the quantity firms offer for sale.

How demand and supply set the market price, and what happens when the State fixes prices.

Measuring how strongly quantity responds to changes in price, income and the prices of other goods.

Marginal utility, diminishing marginal utility and how a rational consumer reaches equilibrium.

Fixed, variable, average and marginal costs in the short run and economies of scale in the long run.

The assumptions and short-run and long-run equilibrium of a perfectly competitive firm.

A single seller protected by barriers to entry, its equilibrium and price discrimination.

Markets with many sellers of differentiated products, and markets dominated by a few large firms.

Land and rent, labour and wages, capital and interest, enterprise and profit.

Measuring national income, the circular flow of income and the multiplier effect.

Functions of money, credit creation by commercial banks and the role of the ECB and Central Bank of Ireland.

Measuring price changes with the Consumer Price Index, and the causes and effects of inflation.

Why countries trade, comparative advantage, and free trade versus protectionism.

Recording a country's transactions with the rest of the world and how exchange rates affect trade.

The budget, principles of taxation, the national debt and using fiscal policy to manage the economy.

The main aims of government economic policy and the conflicts between them.

The difference between growth and development, and the challenges facing developing countries.

Population structure, the labour force and the types, causes and costs of unemployment.

The key contributions of economists such as Adam Smith, Malthus, Ricardo, Marx, Keynes and Friedman.