AQA A Level Economics Paper 1: Markets and market failure June 2024 question paper 7136/1

Inflation resulted in a basket of goods and services that cost £100 in 2015 costing £112 in 2021. Using this information and the data in Extract A (Table 1), calculate the percentage increase in average university rent, in real terms, between 2015 and 2021.

Give your answer to one decimal place.

Explain how the data in Extract A (Figure 1 and Table 1) show that the supply of university and private rental accommodation has failed to match the increase in student numbers between 2015 and 2021.

Extract B (lines 3–4) states that ‘Universities have expanded the number of places on offer to students, but the supply of student accommodation is highly inelastic’.

With the help of a diagram, explain the impact of the increase in the number of students attending university on the market for student accommodation.

Extract C (lines 14–16) states that ‘A maximum rent can help keep the cost of student accommodation lower than it would otherwise be, but risks some landlords withdrawing from the market’.

Using the data in the extracts and your knowledge of economics, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of policies the government might introduce to improve the market for student accommodation.

Using the data in Extract D (Table 2), calculate the difference between the mean percentage trade union membership in the private sector and the mean percentage trade union membership in the public sector over the period 2001–2021.

Give your answer to one decimal place.

Explain how the data in Extract D (Figure 2), show that, since 2015, living standards of people working in the private sector are likely to have increased compared to those working in the public sector.

Extract E (lines 9–10) states that ‘In November 2022, 13.3% of businesses reported experiencing a shortage of workers leading to upward pressure on wages’.

With the help of a diagram, explain how and to what extent a shortage of labour is likely to affect the wage in a competitive labour market.

Extract F (lines 12–13) states that ‘Collective pay bargaining, reinforced by the threat of strikes, has achieved some notable successes for workers’.

Using the data in the extracts and your knowledge of economics, evaluate the view that trade unions improve the operation of labour markets by protecting the interests of workers.

Explain why imperfect and asymmetric information may lead to market failure in the market for food.

Evaluate the view that the consumption of unhealthy foods can best be reduced through the use of nudges and other techniques from behavioural economics.

Explain the likely impact on consumer surplus and producer surplus as an industry moves away from a competitive market structure to one that is dominated by a few large firms.

Evaluate the view that price discrimination is damaging for consumers.

Explain, using examples, how the existence of economies and diseconomies of scale affect firms’ average costs of production.

Assess the view that privatised industries, such as electricity and gas, should be taken back into public ownership.