Edexcel A-Level Economics B Active Recall Guide (9EB0)
Edexcel · A-Level
Edexcel A-Level Economics B Active Recall Guide
Every topic of specification 9EB0 written as exam-style questions with the answers printed after them. 2,933 questions across 23 topics and 206 subtopics, covering all four themes with no optional content left out.
- Edexcel
- A-Level
- Specification 9EB0
- 2,933 questions
Guide overview All 23 topics Sample questions Papers and weighting Look inside Questions and answers
What the exam asks of you
Edexcel A-Level Economics B teaches economics through the firm: the entrepreneur, business growth, competition and the business in a global market. It is three written papers of 2 hours and 100 marks each. Paper 1 draws on Themes 1 and 4 and is 35 per cent. Paper 2 draws on Themes 2 and 3 and is 35 per cent. Paper 3 draws on all four against a context released the previous November and is 30 per cent.
The marks are for applying named theory to a business in a market, with the right diagram and an evaluation supported by evidence. The theory has to be in memory before any of that is possible.
| Paper | Covers | Length | Marks | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Paper 1 Markets and how they work |
SCARCITY, CHOICE AND POTENTIAL CONFLICTS ENTERPRISE, BUSINESS AND THE ECONOMY INTRODUCING THE MARKET THE ROLE OF CREDIT IN THE ECONOMY MARKET FAILURE AND GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION REVENUE, COSTS, PROFITS AND CASH COMPETITION AND MARKET POWER MARKET POWER AND MARKET FAILURE MARKET FAILURE ACROSS THE ECONOMY MACROECONOMIC POLICIES AND IMPACT ON FIRMS AND INDIVIDUALS RISK AND THE FINANCIAL SECTOR |
2 hours | 100 marks | 35% |
|
Paper 2 Competing in the global economy |
BUSINESS GROWTH AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE FIRMS, CONSUMERS AND ELASTICITIES OF DEMAND PRODUCTIVE EFFICIENCY LIFE IN A GLOBAL ECONOMY THE ECONOMIC CYCLE INTRODUCTION TO MACROECONOMIC POLICY GLOBALISATION ECONOMIC FACTORS IN BUSINESS EXPANSION IMPACT OF GLOBALISATION ON GLOBAL COMPANIES IMPACT OF GLOBALISATION ON LOCAL AND NATIONAL ECONOMIES GLOBAL LABOUR MARKETS INEQUALITY AND RE-DISTRIBUTION |
2 hours | 100 marks | 35% |
|
Paper 3 The economic environment and business |
Draws on all four themes Section A: the broad context in a pre-released document issued in November of the previous year Section B: at least one strand within that context Unseen quantitative and qualitative stimulus material in both sections |
2 hours | 100 marks | 30% |
What is in the guide
All 23 topics
Every topic has its own page with its subtopics, what it covers and sample questions.
Sample questions
Taken from the guide. Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
-
Scarcity and the economic problem
Are economic resources the same thing as money?
Show the answer
No, economic resources are the land, labour, capital and enterprise actually used to produce goods and services, whereas money is only a claim on them. -
The entrepreneur and creative destruction
What is the main cost of creative destruction to workers?
Show the answer
Workers in declining industries lose their jobs and can face long-term structural unemployment where their skills do not transfer. -
Consumer objectives and the demand curve
State the law of demand.
Show the answer
Other things being equal, as the price of a good rises the quantity demanded falls. -
Banks and the channelling of savings into investment
What is meant by risk transformation by a bank?
Show the answer
The bank absorbs the risk of individual loans by spreading its lending across many borrowers, so a saver's deposit is far safer than any single loan would be. -
Private, external and social costs
Who is the third party when a factory discharges waste into a river?
Show the answer
The anglers, water companies and residents downstream, who bear the cost of the pollution without taking any part in the factory's transactions. -
Sales volume and sales revenue
A firm's sales revenue is £81,000 and its selling price is £18 per unit. Calculate its sales volume.
Show the answer
Sales volume is 4,500 units. -
Objectives of business growth
Why is brand recognition valuable to a growing business?
Show the answer
A recognised brand reduces the effort consumers spend searching, builds loyalty and lowers the cost of winning each new customer. -
Calculating and interpreting price elasticity of demand
What does a price elasticity of demand of −0.3 tell a firm about the response to a price rise?
Show the answer
Demand is highly inelastic, because a 1% rise in price reduces quantity demanded by only 0.3%.
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
-
Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
-
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
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Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Look inside
Questions for a subtopic print together and the answers for that section print after them.
- Scarcity, Choice and Potential Conflicts91
- Enterprise, Business and the Economy90
- Introducing the Market195
- The Role of Credit in the Economy121
- Market Failure and Government Intervention91
- Revenue, Costs, Profits and Cash131
- Business Growth and Competitive Advantage182
- Firms, Consumers and Elasticities of Demand139
- Productive Efficiency90
- Life in a Global Economy155
- The Economic Cycle190
- Introduction to Macroeconomic Policy104
- and 11 more
- Define an entrepreneur.
- What is meant by creative destruction?
- Which economist is associated with the idea of creative destruction?
- Give an example of creative destruction in a consumer market.
- Why can creative destruction raise living standards even though established firms fail?
- What is the main cost of creative destruction to workers?
- State three risks an entrepreneur takes when setting up a business.
- What does it mean to say the entrepreneur is a residual claimant?
- Give three decisions an entrepreneur must make when starting a business.
- An entrepreneur is the person who organises the other factors of production into a business and bears the risk of the venture.
- Creative destruction is the process by which innovation creates new products and methods that destroy the market position of established firms and the older ways of producing.
- Joseph Schumpeter is associated with creative destruction.
- Streaming services displaced high-street film and DVD rental, destroying that business model while creating a new one.
- The resources released by failing firms are redeployed into more productive uses, and consumers gain better or cheaper products.
- Workers in declining industries lose their jobs and can face long-term structural unemployment where their skills do not transfer.
- The entrepreneur risks losing the capital invested, forgoing the income of paid employment and damaging their personal reputation.
- It means the entrepreneur receives whatever is left of revenue once every other factor has been paid, so the reward is uncertain.
- They must decide what to produce, how to raise the finance and where to locate the business.
questions
Scroll sideways to turn through the pages.
Questions students ask first
Am I on Economics B or Economics A?
Edexcel runs two A-Level Economics specifications. This guide is Economics B, 9EB0, taught through the firm. The other is Economics A, 9EC0, the market-led route, organised completely differently.
The code is on your exam timetable. If yours says 9EC0 you need the Economics A guide instead.
Which themes are on which paper?
Paper 1 is Themes 1 and 4, markets and how they work. Paper 2 is Themes 2 and 3, competing in the global economy. Paper 3 draws on all four. The full breakdown is here.
What is the pre-released context for Paper 3?
Pearson releases a context document the November before the exam. Section A of Paper 3 is set against it. You research it in advance; what the guide provides is the theory the questions apply.
Do I need to draw diagrams?
Yes, and they carry marks on all three papers. The guide asks what each diagram shows, what shifts each curve and what the shift means.
Edexcel A-Level Economics B Active Recall Guide
Every question paired with its answer, grouped by topic and subtopic, ready to work in three passes.