Singapore · MOE Syllabus Outcomes
Secondary 4 Economics
This course introduces students to the fundamental economic problem of limited resources versus unlimited wants. Students analyze how individuals, firms, and governments make decisions through the lens of opportunity cost, market mechanisms, and national policy interventions.
The Economic Problem and Decision Making
Explores the core concepts of scarcity, choice, and opportunity cost as the foundation of all economic reasoning.
Investigating how the conflict between finite resources and infinite wants forces agents to make trade-offs.
Using graphical models to illustrate the concepts of efficiency, growth, and opportunity cost.
Comparing how market, planned, and mixed economies allocate resources differently.
Price Signals and Market Equilibrium
Focuses on how the forces of demand and supply interact to determine prices and allocate resources in a market.
Analyzing the factors that influence consumer willingness to buy and producer willingness to sell.
Measuring the responsiveness of consumers and producers to changes in price and income.
Examining how markets clear and the consequences of price ceilings and floors.
Market Failure and Government Intervention
Analyzing why markets sometimes fail to allocate resources efficiently and how policies attempt to correct these failures.
Studying the spillover effects of production and consumption on third parties.
Differentiating between goods that the market will not provide and goods that are under-consumed.
Exploring how unequal access to information leads to inefficient market outcomes.
Macroeconomic Indicators and Performance
Measuring the health of a national economy through growth, inflation, and employment metrics.
Understanding how national income is measured and what drives long term prosperity.
Analyzing the causes and consequences of changes in the general price level.
Investigating different types of unemployment and their impact on society.
Macroeconomic Policy and Management
Evaluating how governments use fiscal, monetary, and supply side policies to achieve economic goals.
Examining how government spending and taxation influence aggregate demand.
Understanding the role of central banks in managing interest rates and the money supply.
Analyzing policies designed to increase the productive capacity of the economy.
International Trade and Globalisation
Exploring why nations trade and the economic implications of living in an interconnected world.
Applying the concepts of absolute and comparative advantage to global commerce.
Evaluating the arguments for and against trade barriers like tariffs and quotas.
Understanding how the value of a currency is determined and how it affects trade balance.