HSC Economics past exams 2015–2024, by year and topic

The rest of the syllabus

Question-level mapping for these areas is still being verified. Every official paper covering them is in the year table above.

• The Global Economy — Globalisation — trade in goods/services, financial flows, investment and transnational corporations, technology, transport and communication, international division of labour and migration; effects on growth, quality of life, unemployment, inflation, external stability and the environment · Trading blocs — multilateral agreements and monetary unions (EU, APEC, ASEAN), bilateral and regional free trade agreements, advantages/disadvantages · Protection — methods (tariffs, subsidies, quotas, local content rules, export incentives), arguments for protection (infant industry, employment, dumping, defence), effects on domestic and global economies · International organisations — WTO, IMF, World Bank, United Nations, OECD, and forums such as the G20/G7
• Australia's Place in the Global Economy — Australia's trade and financial flows — composition, direction and value of trade over time · Balance of payments — current account, capital and financial account, causes and trends in the CAD/CAS · Free trade and protection in Australia — trade agreements, tariff reduction, effects on competitiveness · Exchange rates — measurement (TWI), floating exchange rate determination, factors affecting the $A, RBA intervention, effects on the economy · Foreign investment — debt and equity flows, FDI vs FPI, net foreign liabilities
• Economic Issues — Economic growth — measurement (real GDP), the multiplier, aggregate demand/supply, sources and effects of growth, the business cycle · Unemployment — definition and measurement, types (structural, cyclical, frictional, seasonal, hardcore), NAIRU, trends and causes, economic/social costs · Inflation — measurement (CPI), causes (demand-pull, cost-push), trends, economic/social effects · External stability — CAD, net foreign debt/liabilities, exchange rate stability, terms of trade · Distribution of income and wealth — measurement (Lorenz curve, Gini coefficient), causes of inequality (including family structure), economic/social costs · Environmental sustainability — ecologically sustainable development, market failure and externalities, growth vs environment trade-offs
• Economic Policies and Management — Objectives of economic management — growth, full employment, price stability, external stability, income distribution, environmental sustainability · Fiscal policy — budget outcomes (surplus/deficit/balanced), budgetary stance (expansionary/contractionary), automatic stabilisers, discretionary changes, effectiveness and limitations · Monetary policy — RBA cash rate target and interest rate corridor, transmission mechanism, effects on asset prices/investment/consumption, effectiveness and limitations · Microeconomic policy — labour market reform, National Competition Policy, trade liberalisation, industry policy, effects on efficiency and structural change · Environmental management policies — market-based instruments, regulation, targets (e.g. net-zero commitments) · Policy conflicts and constraints — trade-offs between objectives, global influences on domestic policy