Economics course outline based on the CSEC Economics Syllabus effective from September 2017. The outline covers the course content for Grades 9 - 11.

1. 1
ECONOMICS
CURRICULUMFORMS3 – 5
A division of the Caribbean Secondary Education
Certificate Syllabus
Effective September 2017
Based on the followingallocationof periods
Form 3 3 – 35 minutes periods per week
Form 4 & 5 5 – 35 minutes periods per week
Jacqueline Richardson
BusinessEducationOfficer

2. PreparedbyJacqueline Richardson
BusinessEducationOfficer
FORM 3
SECTION TOPIC
CONTENT
1
Term 1
The Nature of
Economics
a) Economics as a Social Science
- The allocation of scarce resources and the creation of
wealth
- The production, distribution and consumption of
goods and services
- The behaviour, interactions and welfare of those
involved in the process
b) Branches of Economics
- Microeconomics
- Macroeconomics
c) An economy as a mechanism
- Organization of resources for production of goods and
services
- Satisfaction of society’s needs and wants
d) Main agents in an economy
- Households
- Firms
- Government
e) Concepts of scarcity, choice and opportunity cost,
efficiency and inefficiency
f) Distinguish between free goods and economics goods
g) Illustration of Production Possibility Curve
h) Scarcity, choice, opportunity cost, shifts , efficiency
and inefficiency
i) Shifts of Production Possibility Curve (causes and
illustration)
a) Definition of Production
b) Differences between production and productivity
c) Factors of production:.
- Resources both human and non-human, required to

3. PreparedbyJacqueline Richardson
BusinessEducationOfficer
2
Term 2/3
Production,
Economic
Resources
andResources
Allocation
Production,
Economic
Resources and
Resources
Allocation
(cont’d)
produce goods
d) Types and description of economic resources as
factors of production
j) Land
- Definition
- Characteristics
- Types
- Importance
- Productivity
ii) Labour
- Definition
- Characteristics
- Functions
- Division of labour
- Specialization of labour
- Advantages and disadvantages of division of labour
and specialisation
- Productivity
- Efficiency
- Supply
ii) Capital
- Definition
- Characteristics
- Types
- Accumulation
- Importance as a substitute for labour
iii) Entrepreneurial talent
- Definition
- Importance
- Functions
e) Rewards of factors of production
- Rent
- Wages and salaries
- Interest
- Profit
f) Main sectors in an economy
- Primary

4. PreparedbyJacqueline Richardson
BusinessEducationOfficer
- Secondary
- Tertiary
g) Fixed, variable, total, average and marginal costs
- Calculation of cost
h) Cost Curves
i) Differences between short run and long run
j) Goods (tangible) and services ( intangible)
k) Resource allocation
- What to produce
- How much to produce
- For whom to produce
l) Types of economic systems
- Traditional (subsistence farming, bartering)
- Command or planned (socialist)
- Free or capitalist (market)
- Mixed ( public and private)
m) Characteristics of each economic system in relation to
- ownership of the factors of production
- Role of government
- Role of the private sector
- How each economic system allocates resources
l) Merits and demerits of economic system in terms
- of its efficiency in allocating scarce resources
- in providing goods and services to each sector of the
population

5. PreparedbyJacqueline Richardson
BusinessEducationOfficer
FORM 4
SECTION TOPIC CONTENT
2
Term 1
Production,
Economic
Resources and
Resources
Allocation
m) Types of business organizations in a free market
- How firms in general operate under different market
structures as profit maximizes
n) Concept of economies scale
- Control, communication and industrial problems
- Technical, marketing, financial, managerial and risk-
bearing economies
- Diminishing returns of scale
- Concepts of diseconomies of scale
- Social and economic benefits of producing goods in large
quantities.
3
Term 1
Market and
Prices (cont’d)
a) Concept of a market
- A situation where buyers and sellers communicate
for the purpose of exchanging goods and services
- The elements of a market: buyer, seller, goods and
services and place
b) Market forces
- The forces of demand and supply
- Conditions, non-price factors, determinants of
demand and supply
c) The relationship between price and quantity
demanded, and price and quantity supplied
- The first two laws of demand and supply
respectively
- The schedules and diagrammatic representations of
demand curve and supply curves

6. PreparedbyJacqueline Richardson
BusinessEducationOfficer
d) The concept of ceteris paribus and its use in illustrating
the effect of price on demand and supply
e) Demand and supply conditions – factors determining the
environment for price movement
f) Diagrammatic representations and analyses of how
changes to the determinants affect demand and supply
curves
g) Market equilibrium
Agreement between consumer and supplier on the
price and quantity of goods demanded and offered
- Equilibrium point- the point where the demand
and supply curves intersect
- Equilibrium price- price where quantity
demanded is equal to the quantity supplied
- Equilibrium quantities- consumer and supplier
quantities are equal. No surplus, no shortage (The 3rd
Law)
h) Schedules and diagrammatic representation of market
equilibrium
- The effects of prices set below and above the
equilibrium price respectively
i) The impact of changes in market conditions on market
equilibrium
j) Illustration of the market equilibrium and disequilibrium
k) Price elasticity of demand
- Concept of price elasticity of demand and its
determinants
- Concept of income and cross elasticity of demand and
their determinants
- Measurements of each
l) Factors affecting price elasticity of demand
m) Illustration, by graphs and tables, of changes in
conditions of demand and supply
n) Illustrations to explain the non- price determinants of
demand and supply

7. PreparedbyJacqueline Richardson
BusinessEducationOfficer
o) Calculations using the simple formulae and interpretation
for price, income, and cross price elasticises
p) Price elasticity of supply
q) Illustration, by graphs and tables, of changes in
conditions of demand and supply
r) Calculations and interpretation of price elasticity of
supply
- Factors affecting price income and cross-price
elasticises of demand
4
Term 2
Market
Structure and
Market Failure
a) Definition of Market Structure
- Behaviour and performance of firms in a variety
of situations: number of buyers and sellers, types of
goods, freedom of entry and exit, control on price
b) Types of Market Structure
- Perfect Competition
- Monopoly
- Oligopoly
- Monopolistic Competition
c) Characteristic of Market Structure
- Number of buyers and sellers
- Types of goods
- Freedom of entry and exit
- Control over price
- Barriers to entry and exit in the long run
- Short run and long run equilibrium including
graphs
d) Advantages and disadvantages of each market Structure

8. PreparedbyJacqueline Richardson
BusinessEducationOfficer
e) Illustration and interpretation of graphs related to short
and long run equilibrium
f) Definition of Market Failure
g) Causes of market failure
- Monopoly
- Merit goods and public goods
- Negative or positive externalities
h) Consequences of market failure
- Retrenchment
- Unemployment
- Economic depression
- Rise in levels of poverty
- Decline in provisions for societal welfare
- Micro consequences such as over or under
pricing, inefficiency in production in terms of over or
underproduction, and inefficient use of resources

9. PreparedbyJacqueline Richardson
BusinessEducationOfficer
5
Term 3
The Financial
Sector
a) The financial Sector: the complex mix or network of
markets, households, businesses, governments, laws and
institutions interacting with one another
b) The roles of the Financial Sector in mobilizing and
making loanable funds available from savers to spenders
for consumption and investment purposes
c) Economic activities that are not officially regulated and
which take place outside the formal norms of business
transactions.
d) Money as any item considered acceptable to be used as
payment for goods and services and for settling debts
e) From bartering to modern forms of payments
f) Four main functions of money
- As a medium of exchange
- As a store of value
- As a measure of value
- As a standard of deferred payments
g) Four main qualities of money
- Acceptability
- Scarce or limited in supply
- Homogeneity
- Divisibility
- Portability
- Durability
h) Money supply: the total stock of money in the economy
at any moment
i) Roles of the CentralBank and its roles in:
- Monetary Policies
i. Interest Rates
ii. Reserve requirements
iii. Open market operations
iv. Moral Suasion
- Supervising other financial institutions

10. PreparedbyJacqueline Richardson
BusinessEducationOfficer
j) Roles of the following financial institutions:
Commercial Bank
Stock Exchange
Share Market
Credit Union
Development Bank
Insurance Company
Mutual Fund
Building Society
Investment Trust Company
Informal credit institutions (Sou Sou, Box, Partner,
etc.)
k) Financial instruments;
- treasury notes and bonds
- corporate bonds
- municipal bonds
- equity securities
- share stock certificates
- Certificates of deposit
6
Economic
Management:
Policies and
Goals
a) Role of government
- Full employment
- Price Stability
- Favourable balance of payments
- Taxation and expenditure
- Transfer policies
- Economic growth and development
i. Types of taxes: Direct and indirect
b) Definition of the following terms and concepts
- national budget
- national income
- disposal income
- national debt
- fiscal policy
- fiscal deficit
- monetary policy
- economic growth
- economic development
- developing economy
- developed economy
- balance of payment
- GDP

11. PreparedbyJacqueline Richardson
BusinessEducationOfficer
Economic
Management:
Policies and
Goals
- GNP
- employment
- unemployment
- inflation
- deflation
- savings
- investment
- closed and open economies
c) Flows of goods and services and factors of production
between firms, households and government
d) Injections and withdrawals/Government linkages
e) Illustration of basic flow diagram consisting of
households, firms, government and financial institutions
f) GDP: a measure of national output
GNP: a measure of a national’s output
NI: the increase or decrease in the standard of living
Calculation and interpretation of GDP, GNP and NI
g) Nominal output, real output and potential output. Include
numerical examples
h) Economic growth and economic development
i) Inflation and recession
j) The major causes and consequences of inflation and
recession
k) Government’s role in reducing inflation
l) Government’s role in relieving recession
m) Types of unemployment
- structural
- cyclical
- frictional
- seasonal
- real-wage

12. PreparedbyJacqueline Richardson
BusinessEducationOfficer
n) Causes and measures to reduce each type of
unemployment
o) The role of Trade Unions in a free market economy
FORM 5
SECTION TOPIC CONTENT
7
Term 1
International
Trade
a) Definition of the following terms and concepts
- Balance of trade
- Current account
- Capital account
- Net international reserves (NIR)
- Balance of payments
- Balance of payments Disequilibria
- Tariff
- Common Eternal Tariff (CET)
- Quota (non-tariff barriers)
- Exchange rate
- Exchange rate regimes
- World Trade Organisation (WTO)
b) The concept of, absolute advantages, comparative
advantage and gains from trade. International trade as a
“win-win” situation
c) Factors that influence International Trade
- On the import side
- On the export side
d) Factors that influence the level of an exchange rate
e) Fixed, Floating and managed exchange rate regimes
f) Appreciation and depreciation of a currency
g) Revaluation and devaluation

13. PreparedbyJacqueline Richardson
BusinessEducationOfficer
h) Downward and upward adjustment to the value of a
currency
i) Balance of payments as a balance sheet indicating all
the international transactions with the rest of the world
j) Balance of trade as the difference between the values of
exports and imports of visible and invisible
k) Current account, capital account and the official
financial account
l) Entries that would appear in the balance of payments
account
m) Explanation and articulation of the values for balance of
payments surplus and deficits
n) Surplus as excess of receipts over payments: deficit as
excess of expenditure over receipts
o) Factors that give rise to surpluses
p) Factors that give rise to a deficit
q) Possible consequences of balance of payment surpluses
and deficits
r) Possible remedies for balance of payments surpluses
and deficits
a) Main characteristics of Caribbean economies: market
size, resources, nature of dependency
b) Economic problems associated with Caribbean
economies

14. PreparedbyJacqueline Richardson
BusinessEducationOfficer
8
Term 1
Caribbean
Economies in
a Global
Environment
c) Benefits and costs of preferential tariff arrangements in
light of discussions within the World Trade
Organisations (WTO)
d) Trade liberalisation in the context of the termination of
all preferential tariff arrangements worldwide
e) Globalisation in the context of open competition on a
world scale
f) The free movement of goods, capital, labour and
technology
g) Effects of globalisation and trade liberalisation on firms,
consumers and the sovereignty of territories.
h) Shocks: external, demand, and supply
i) Definition of the following terms and concepts
- Debt burden
- Structural adjustment
- Economic integration
- Protectionism
- Laissez-faire
- Common market
- Economic union
- Customs union
- Globalization
- Trade liberalization
- Bi-lateral agreement
- Multi-lateral agreement
- International monetary Fund (IMF)
- Caribbean Community (CARICOM)
- African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)
- Free Trade Area of America (FTAA)
- Association of Caribbean States (ACS)
- Caribbean and Canadian Association (CARIBCAN)
- Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME)
- World Bank
- Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS)
- European Union (EU)
- Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI)
- Caribbean Development Bank (CDB)
- Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

15. PreparedbyJacqueline Richardson
BusinessEducationOfficer
Caribbean
Economies in
a Global
Environment
i) Definition and explanation of preferential tariffs
including those offered by the European Union (EU)
j) Possible social and economic benefits to be delivered
from the free movement of capital, goods and
CARICOM
k) Concepts and challenges of e-commerce
l) Definition of e-commerce or e-business
m) Benefits of e-commerce or e-business
n) Challenges of e-commerce or e-business
Students should be testedusing past paper question under exam conditions.
Students should be given clear guidelines on their SBA Projects as outlined in the Syllabus. The
SBA component should begin no later than Term 1 in Form 5.
Term 2 Form 5 should be used for completion of SBA Projects, revision and further practice on
Past Papers.