IMPORTANT THINGS TO NOTE FOR H2 ECONS PAPER 14/11/07

from emb

Dear all,

Most of you are glad the essay paper is over. So what's for case
studies? As usual, my take is NEVER spot as Cambridge is avoiding to
be predictable and will catch you by surprise.

Though my take is to study everything, we can still draw
some 'hints' from the essay paper and have some focus for case study
tomorrow.

Below is input from Mr Andrew Tan and myself.

REMEMBER: IT'S NOT A PREDICTION! YOU WILL BE REALLY SORRY AND UPSET
IF WHAT IS BELOW DOESN'T APPEAR FOR CASE STUDY. THIS IS JUST FOR YOU
TO FOCUS - STILL, STUDY EVERYTHING IS THE BEST.



MICRO
(1) A possible MICRO-CASE STUDY on MARKET STRUCTURE and ECONOMIES OF
SCALE.

Cambridge seems to be have carefully avoided setting a 'meaty
question' on market structure. The question on monopoly is only
scratching the surface - perhaps they are " indirectly" dropping a
strong hint that they are reserving the "meaty questions" for case
study tomorrow! Part(b) which is on alternative theories and not the
usual market structure question reinforces this suspicion.


(2) Demand/supply determinants and govt intervention.
Possible case - oil-related. Govt intervention in this context is to
prevent both "cost of living" ( equity reason - avoid socio-
political unrest like in Myanmar) as well as "business cost" from
spiralling out of control ( avoid oil-induced inflationary
pressures derailing economic growth).
The other possible case study involving demand/supply and govt
intervention could be the currency markets e.g. fixing exchange
rates.


REMINDER: IT DOES NOT MEAN A CONTEXT ON OIL WILL APPEAR TOMORROW -
IT'S ALWAYS A HOT ISSUE BUT CAMBRIDGE JUST WON'T SET A QUESTION ON
IT. RATHER, THE CONCEPTS DEMAND AND SUPPLY ARE NOT TESTED.


MACRO:
(3) They have noticeably avoided questions related to monetary
policy (be it interest rate - Monetary Transmission Mechanism or
more important to Singapore will be exchange rate centred policy
emphsise by MAS and inflation (overheating) for essays. A topic to
watch out for tomorrow.

(4) They are also leaving room for questions on international trade,
protectionism and exchange rate for case study. So, the so-called
hot issues might make an appearance here. But, since a question on
BOT deficits appeared in the essay, the focus is unlikely to be on
US-China Trade deficit. We have actually covered on this issue in
post-prelim lecture 2 essay by CJC.

(5) Unemployment? Perhaps, in the context of our ageing
population.

(6) Rise of China/India. This issue has many possible applications
spanning the entire spectrum of macro economics.

Our prelim is on this context and many case studies by other JCs are
also on this issue.