Examiner's Tips: How to write an A* Economics Essay | The UK & Globalisation | A Level |  AQA
Channel: Rougemont Tutoring
Date: 2020-10-26

swithun@rougemont-tutoring.co.uk 
www.rougemont-tutoring.co.uk 

Economics examiner and Manchester United fan, Swithun Dobson, provides a step by step guide to help you produce A* Economics essays for A Level. He helps you to get behind the question to understand what the question is really about and what the examiner wants to read. 

The key is getting the structure right so you put the information in the best place to maximise your analysis and evaluation marks. The structure presented helps you evaluate all the way through.

The question could be taken many ways but the easiest split is to analyse free trade and free immigration. Whilst related, they are quite distinct which provides clear sections to analyse and evaluate. 

The arguments for free trade revolve primarily around the maximisation of total welfare, in particular that of consumer surplus. In addition, the exploitation of comparative advantage allows a greater level of specialisation which increases average productivity and hence wages.

The argument against free trade, that is the argument for protectionism, is that foreign competition could kill infant industries and generally cause structural unemployment.

The argument for free immigration is that a greater quantity of labour increases LRAS and also reduces costs for firms.

The argument against free immigration is that it lowers wages of native employees, particularly those of low skilled workers. Further, immigration will likely increase costs to schools and the NHS in the long-run as well as increasing house prices.

This question is taken from an AQA past paper but the principles can help you achieve top marks for all exam boards such as Edexcel, OCR, WJEC and more.