Aqa econ3-qp-jun12

General Certificate of Education
Advanced Level Examination
June 2012
Economics ECON3
Unit 3 Business Economics and the Distribution of Income
Tuesday 12 June 2012 1.30pm to 3.30pm
For this paper you must have:
 an AQA 12-page answer book
 a calculator.
Time allowed
 2 hours
Instructions
 Use black ink or black ball-point pen. Pencil should only be used for drawing.
 Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Examining Body for this
paper is AQA. The Paper Reference is ECON3.
 In Section A, answer EITHER Context 1 OR Context 2.
 In Section B, answer one essay.
Information
 The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
 The maximum mark for this paper is 80.
 There are 40 marks for Section A and 40 marks for Section B.
 This paper is synoptic. It assesses your understanding of the relationship between the different
aspects of Economics.
 You will be marked on your ability to:
– use good English
– organise information clearly
– use specialist vocabulary where appropriate.
Advice
 You are advised to spend 1 hour on Section A and 1 hour on Section B.
ECON3G/J78816/Jun12/ECON3 6/6/6/6

2
G/J78816/Jun12/ECON3
Section A
Answer EITHER Context 1 OR Context 2.
EITHER Total for this Context: 40 marks
Context 1
THE GLOBAL CONTEXT
Study Extracts A and B, and then answer all parts of Context 1 which follow.
Extract A: Carbon emissions from fossil fuels, world and selected countries, 2007
(i) Total CO2 emissions (ii) Per capita CO2 emissions
Millions of tonnes Tonnes per head
China 6 500 Qatar 55.5
USA 6 000 USA 19.0
Russia 1 500 Russia 11.0
UK 500 UK 9.0
Brazil 400 China 5.0
Nigeria 95 Brazil 2.0
Qatar 60 Morocco 1.5
Morocco 45 Nigeria 0.5
World 29 300 World 4.5
Note: Figures are rounded
Source: ofﬁcial statistics
Extract B: Climate change
In 2004, Russia signed up to the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement on policies
to manage climate change. This committed Russia to a United Nations programme to
reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. In 2010, Russia’s emissions were as low as
their 1990 levels, but this was less to do with environmental policy and more to do with
the collapse of heavy industry following the fall of the Soviet Union. A large contribution
towards the UK’s Kyoto targets also came from deindustrialisation. However, China, like
the USA, did not sign up to the Kyoto Protocol.
International action to control carbon emissions is necessary. One policy is known as
‘carbon trading’. Countries agree overall emissions limits and try to create an international
market for permits to pollute. The idea is to put a money value on emissions and, over
time, to create incentives for businesses to invest in less-polluting technology. As well
as the large compulsory ‘compliance’ market for carbon credits, there is also a smaller
voluntary market for ‘carbon offsets’.
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For example, an organisation can be paid to plant trees to allegedly offset the damage
that an airline journey does to the ozone layer. Some companies are using these offsets,
together with greater energy efficiency and reduced polluting activities, to claim to be
‘carbon neutral’. Some environmentalists are suspicious of offset schemes and claim, for
instance, that offset schemes have hidden environmental costs.
Some economists argue that the pollution and depletion of communal resources such
as clean air, water reserves and fish stocks are made worse by a lack of property rights.
Critics say that carbon trading amounts to ‘privatisation of the atmosphere’, with property
rights in this vast new market being grabbed by speculators or by those who already
pollute the most. They also claim that activities such as buying credits from Russia are an
‘accounting fraud’ because they do not necessarily arise from energy efficiency but from
the collapse of heavy industry. There is concern that carbon trading is a further blow to
manufacturing and that service industries are treated more leniently. If the UK relies on
manufactured imports, it can be argued that factories located in China are actually creating
UK emissions.
Some major UK businesses appear happier with permit trading than with alternative
policies such as quotas on emissions or the taxation of fuel. There is a suspicion that
carbon trading might mislead the public into believing that pollution from airlines and other
industries is no longer damaging. Governments are accused of being overgenerous
in allotting permits to industries that they see as nationally important, such as car
manufacturing and electricity generation. While the UK might reduce its domestic demand
for carbon, it continues to contribute to the world supply of fossil fuels through activities
such as oil prospecting and opencast mining. Russia, China and less-developed countries
with coal reserves show few signs of reducing their output of this form of carbon.
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25
30
35
Source: news reports, 2010
0 1 Using Extract A, calculate to one decimal place the percentage of world CO2 emissions
generated by the UK and identify one other significant feature of the data shown.
(5 marks)
0 2 Explain what is meant by ‘property rights’ (Extract B, line 20) and analyse how an
absence of property rights can worsen the environmental market failures of both
pollution and the rapid depletion of natural resources. (10 marks)
0 3 ‘Some major UK businesses appear happier with permit trading than with alternative
policies such as quotas on emissions or the taxation of fuel’ (Extract B, lines 29–30).
Using the data and your economic knowledge, evaluate the possible impact on UK
businesses of policies to reduce pollution and climate change. (25 marks)

4
Do not answer Context 2 if you have answered Context 1.
OR Total for this Context: 40 marks
Context 2
THE EUROPEAN UNION CONTEXT
Study Extracts C and D, and then answer all parts of Context 2 which follow.
Extract C: Some comparisons of pay in the EU and UK
(i) Estimated monthly minimum wage, (ii) Comparative pay over time,
selected EU countries, 2007 selected UK occupations
€ (euros) Year
Luxembourg 1570 Typical annual pay of: 1980 (£) 2009 (£)
Ireland 1400 Ofﬁce cleaner 4 500 14 000
UK 1360 Nurse 5 000 29 500
France 1250 Teacher 6 500 35 000
Spain 670 Doctor 12 500 78 500
Portugal 470 Chief Executive of a
FTSE 100 company
85 000 4 900 000
Poland 250
Bulgaria 90
Note: Figures are rounded
Source: ofﬁcial statistics
Extract D: Policies for fairness
The European Union is one of the richest areas in the world but both absolute poverty and
relative poverty exist within the EU. Although unemployment is a major cause of poverty,
the working poor, whose wages are at or below the ‘poverty line’, are estimated to number
20 million across the EU.
The EU named 2010 as the ‘European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion’,
but this hardly featured at all in the UK media. However, the concept of fairness is very
much on the national agenda. For example, the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron,
did at one stage suggest that the earnings of the highest paid public servant should be no
more than 20 times that of the lowest. Furthermore, many commentators have suggested
that, if such a formula were introduced, the idea could spread to the private sector.
The UK is one of 20 out of 27 EU member states with a minimum wage. Across those
20 countries, minimum wages are between 30% and 50% of average earnings. The
European Parliament has floated the idea of an all-EU ‘minimum income’ but this is not
expected to be taken up by governments just yet. And how long before there are also
serious proposals for a national, or even an all-EU, maximum wage?
Between 1980 and 2005, the distribution of income in the UK became less equal. In 1980,
the top 1% of earners received 12% of all income. However, by 2005 the top 1% of earners
received 16% of all income, with bonuses in the financial sector pushing this figure nearer
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to 18%. The trend towards greater income inequality in the UK in recent years has largely
been justified by the idea that market forces provide ‘incentives’ for successful businesses
and that the spending power of high earners ‘trickles down’ to the rest of society.
Fairness is difficult to define. One view, suggested by the UK’s Institute for Public Policy
Research, is that fairness involves basic minimum entitlements and equal opportunities,
plus an absence of obstacles created by factors such as where an individual is born or
where they happen to live. Addressing unfairness in the UK tends to focus on policies to
redistribute income after it has been earned: for example, through the tax and benefits
system. On the other hand, much EU policy is aimed at reducing the unequal distribution
of income at source, through what are called cohesion policies to target supply-side
obstacles.
EU policies are, to a large extent, aimed at boosting the employability and earning potential
of workers through measures such as skills training and business advice. They work on
the ‘supply side’ of the labour market but the demand for labour cannot be ignored. For
example, despite receiving significant levels of EU funding, recently Wales lost 900
well-paid, skilled jobs when the German company Robert Bosch moved its factory to
Hungary, where wages are much lower. Perhaps an all-EU minimum wage would have
helped to prevent this.
20
25
30
35
Source: news reports, 2010
0 4 Using Extract C, calculate to one decimal place the typical annual pay of a teacher in
1980 as a percentage of the typical annual pay of a teacher in 2009 and identify one
other significant feature of the data. (5 marks)
0 5 Explain the distinction between absolute poverty and relative poverty (Extract D,
lines 1–2) and analyse two causes of poverty. (10 marks)
0 6 ‘Addressing unfairness in the UK tends to focus on policies to redistribute income after
it has been earned… On the other hand, much EU policy is aimed at reducing the
unequal distribution of income at source…’ (Extract D, lines 25–28).
Using the data and your economic knowledge, evaluate the view that a fair distribution
of income can better be achieved by policies which aim to redistribute income after it is
earned rather than by policies which tackle supply-side obstacles in the economy.
(25 marks)
Turn over for the next question

6
Section B
Answer one essay from this section.
Each essay carries 40 marks.
EITHER
Essay 1
‘Bigger is better.... Small is beautiful.... Size does not matter.’
0 7 Explain how a firm can experience diminishing returns in the short run and economies of
scale in the long run. (15 marks)
0 8 Discuss whether large firms in the UK today are necessarily more efficient than small
firms. (25 marks)
OR
Essay 2
An oligopolistic firm is trying to decide on the selling price and output of its product, and is also
considering colluding with other firms in the industry.
0 9 Explain why oligopolistic firms are affected by both interdependence and uncertainty
when selling their product. (15 marks)
1 0 Evaluate policies which a UK government could use to control the activities of
oligopolists. (25 marks)
OR
Essay 3
1 1 Explain the main principles that would be involved in a cost-benefit analysis (CBA).
(15 marks)
1 2 In December 2010, the Federation of Small Businesses estimated that UK industry had
lost at least £1 billion due to the disruption caused by one week’s heavy snow. It was
suggested that both product markets and labour markets would benefit from investment
in snow-clearing equipment.
Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using CBA when deciding whether or not
to invest in snow-clearing equipment. (25 marks)
END OF QUESTIONS

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Aqa econ3-qp-jun12

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