A-Level Economics Events (2023–2025)

Big Tech platforms face antitrust actions on search, app stores, ad tech, and self-preferencing. The EU's Digital Markets Act imposes gatekeeper duties; the US DOJ targets dominance in search and ad tech. Economic mechanisms: network effects, economies of scale/scope, data advantages. Consequences: pricing power, barriers to entry, innovation trade-offs. Policy aims: restore contestability, protect consumer surplus, preserve dynamic efficiency while avoiding over-regulation.

How it's tested: (i) Explain market failure from dominance; diagram DWL under monopoly pricing; (ii) Evaluate remedies (conduct rules, structural separation, interoperability) and risks of government failure; (iii) Paper 1 data: market shares, price indices, innovation metrics; (iv) Paper 2 evaluation: dynamic vs allocative efficiency, global spillovers.

• DMA explainer (EU official) — European Commission
• Antitrust enforcement 2023 year in review — Goodwin
• US v Google search case overview — Reuters

OPEC+ coordinated supply cuts in 2023–24 to support prices. With short-run inelastic oil demand, price spikes transmit into energy, transport, and food costs. Mechanisms: leftward supply shifts; pass-through depends on PES/PED and inventories. Macro spillovers: higher CPI, compressed real incomes, tighter monetary policy. Long-run responses: substitution to renewables, efficiency tech, diversification of suppliers.

How it's tested: (i) Use S-D to show equilibrium changes and CS/PS; (ii) Discuss PED/PES on revenue/expenditure; (iii) AD–AS for inflation/growth trade-off; (iv) Policy options: subsidies, taxes, buffers; evaluate fiscal cost and distortions.

• Explainer: what OPEC+ cuts are in place? — EnergyNow/Reuters
• OPEC+ production cuts losing steam — Columbia SIPA
• Global oil market dynamics — ShipUniverse

MAS manages the S$NEER within a band to achieve price stability in a highly import-dependent economy. Appreciation reduces imported inflation; trade-off with external competitiveness. 2022–23: successive tightenings slowed core inflation; 2024–25: pause/easing as inflation cooled.

How it's tested: (i) Explain why FX-based policy suits a small open economy; (ii) Trace pass-through to CPI; (iii) Contrast with interest-rate regimes; (iv) Evaluate conflicts (exports vs inflation) and credibility.

• MAS: Exchange-rate-based policy (official) — MAS
• Pass-through to inflation in Singapore — IMF
• How Singapore's policy works — EFG International

CBAM phases in carbon cost on imports (cement, steel, aluminium, fertilizers, electricity, hydrogen). Aim: prevent carbon leakage and preserve EU ETS integrity. Raises landed costs for high-emission producers; nudges decarbonisation globally; raises fairness and WTO questions.

How it's tested: (i) Externality diagram (MSC>MC); (ii) Compare tax vs permits vs border charges; (iii) Evaluate efficiency, enforcement, and equity across countries; (iv) Trade impacts, retaliation risk, and dynamic incentives.

• CBAM overview (EU official) — EU Taxation & Customs
• CBAM overview and timelines — Deloitte
• CBAM deep dive (PDF) — Compass Lexecon

US export controls on advanced semiconductors/equipment and outbound-investment screening; Chinese controls on critical minerals. Firms diversify to ASEAN ("friend-shoring"). Efficiency costs vs resilience benefits; trade diversion; strategic-trade arguments emerge.

How it's tested: (i) Gains from trade vs security constraints; (ii) Tariff/NTM welfare effects; (iii) Dynamic efficiency and innovation; (iv) Small-economy opportunities (FDI inflows to ASEAN).

• Export controls at center of US–China talks — WSJ
• US–China framework on export controls — Mondaq
• Tariff truce & curbs context — CNA

Weather shocks and domestic inflation led major exporters to restrict staples. India's rice curbs lifted world prices, hitting import-dependent countries. Policy tension: secure domestic prices vs harming global welfare. Small, open economies pursue diversification, stockpiles, and targeted subsidies.

How it's tested: (i) AS shift and CPI pass-through; (ii) Discuss BoT and terms-of-trade impacts; (iii) Evaluate export bans vs safety nets; (iv) Singapore's resilience strategy.

• India rice restrictions disrupt markets — IFPRI
• Implications for global food security — ORF
• Policy updates (example) — LiveMint

Developer defaults, weak household confidence, local-government debt, and subdued private investment have weighed on growth. Authorities use targeted easing and infrastructure but avoid large-scale stimulus. Spillovers to Asian trade partners via goods demand and tourism.

How it's tested: (i) AD–AS showing I and C drags; (ii) Multiplier and accelerator; (iii) Evaluate fiscal space, crowding-out, and exchange-rate effects; (iv) Regional spillovers (Singapore exports/tourism).

• Why China's economy is struggling — Goldman Sachs
• Evolution of China's growth model — ECB
• China's long slowdown (critique) — Dissent

Rapid rate hikes exposed duration/liquidity risk (SVB), while Credit Suisse required a forced rescue. Authorities provided liquidity backstops while continuing to fight inflation. Channels: credit to investment and confidence effects; moral hazard considerations.

How it's tested: (i) AD–AS with credit channel; (ii) Lender-of-last-resort role; (iii) Evaluate stability vs inflation control; (iv) Data prompts on deposits, yields, I growth.

• The Failure of SVB & the Panic of 2023 — AEA / JEP
• Lessons from SVB collapse — LSE Business Review (PDF)
• Regulatory shortcomings (SVB) — Journal of Banking Regulation

GST rose to 8% (2023) and 9% (2024) to fund long-term spending needs. The Assurance Package delivered cash/vouchers to offset cost of living, protecting lower- and middle-income households. One-off inflation effects vs broader disinflation trend; distributional implications and fiscal prudence.

How it's tested: (i) Tax incidence and regressivity; (ii) AD impact tempered by offsets; (iii) Equity and Gini; (iv) Evaluate alternative tax mixes and intergenerational fairness.

• GST & inflation remarks — Straits Times
• GST for importers/exporters — Declarators
• Assurance Package explainer — MAJU

ABSD hikes (esp. for foreigners), tighter financing limits, and record BTO launches aimed to prioritise end-user demand and affordability. Micro mechanisms: shift in demand; tax wedge; rental pass-through; long-run supply expansion. Monitor unintended consequences and market segmentation.

How it's tested: (i) Demand–supply with tax wedge and DWL; (ii) Elasticities for incidence; (iii) Equity vs efficiency trade-offs; (iv) Evaluate investor behaviour and spillovers to rental/nearby assets.

• Govt view on further measures — CNA
• Cooling measures explainer — RedBrick
• 2025 outlook — PropertyNet

High import dependence exposes Singapore to global price spikes and export bans. Policy levers: source diversification ("30 by 30"), strategic stockpiles, logistics redundancy, and targeted transfers. Empirics show incomplete pass-through with lags.

How it's tested: (i) AS shocks and CPI; (ii) Evaluate buffers vs market signals; (iii) Role of international cooperation; (iv) Case-study data on pass-through and household budgets.

• Singapore's food challenge — SG101
• Food price pass-through — LKYSPP/NUS
• Resilience strategies — RSIS

Geopolitics rewire shipping and commodity routes; Singapore invests in port/airport capacity, digital trade, dispute resolution, and finance to keep flows predictable. Firms use Singapore as neutral node for price discovery and hedging.

How it's tested: (i) Benefits/costs of openness; (ii) Terms-of-trade and BoT dynamics; (iii) Evaluate concentration risk vs economies of scale; (iv) Role of agreements (RCEP/CPTPP).

• Supply chain resilience (SG) — US Trade.gov
• Anchor for trade in uncertainty — FT / EnterpriseSG
• Commodity hub importance — EnterpriseSG / BT