Pancyprian Economics study plan

Define scarcity, opportunity cost, and the three basic questions every economy answers, and apply them to five real allocation decisions (e.g. a student choosing work vs. study hours).

Distinguish positive from normative statements and classify ten given statements correctly with a one-line justification each.

Construct and label a demand curve and a supply curve from tabulated data, then identify equilibrium price and quantity algebraically and on a diagram.

Explain and diagram the difference between a movement along a curve and a shift of a curve for at least three demand-side and three supply-side determinants.

Read a production possibility frontier and state what points inside, on, and outside the curve represent, including the meaning of a bowed-out shape.

Calculate equilibrium price and quantity from linear demand and supply equations, and predict the new equilibrium after a specified shift.

Apply the four-step 'shift the curve, find new equilibrium, compare price and quantity, state effect' method to six market scenarios (e.g. a subsidy on bread, a rise in fuel costs for transport).

Compute price elasticity of demand using the formula and the midpoint method, and interpret the coefficient as elastic, inelastic, or unit elastic.

Link elasticity of demand to total revenue changes and to the incidence of a tax on buyers versus sellers.

Define price elasticity of supply, income elasticity, and cross elasticity, and state the sign each takes for normal, inferior, substitute, and complement goods.

Distinguish fixed from variable costs and calculate total, average, and marginal cost from a cost schedule, including a correctly labelled short-run cost-curve diagram.

Explain the law of diminishing returns and show its link to the shape of the marginal cost curve.

Derive the profit-maximising output rule (marginal revenue equals marginal cost) and apply it to a table of output, revenue, and cost figures.

Compare the four market structures on number of firms, product differentiation, barriers to entry, and long-run profit, and place each on a spectrum from competition to monopoly.

Explain why a perfectly competitive firm earns only normal profit in long-run equilibrium and why a monopolist can sustain supernormal profit.

Identify and illustrate with diagrams the main sources of market failure: negative and positive externalities, public goods, merit and demerit goods, and monopoly power.

Explain the divergence between private and social cost or benefit for one externality case and show the deadweight loss area on a diagram.

Evaluate three government responses (tax, subsidy, regulation, tradable permits, provision) against criteria of effectiveness, efficiency, and unintended consequences.

Explain government failure and give two concrete examples of intervention worsening an outcome.

Solve two cost-and-revenue problems that combine firm theory with an externality calculation.

Define GDP, GNP, nominal and real output, and explain what the circular flow of income shows, including injections and withdrawals.

Calculate the multiplier from a given marginal propensity to consume and apply it to a change in investment.

Distinguish the macroeconomic objectives (growth, price stability, employment, balance of payments equilibrium, redistribution) and explain conflicts between them, such as the inflation-unemployment trade-off.

Explain the functions of money and the main functions of a central bank, including how open market operations and reserve requirements change the money supply.

Distinguish demand-pull from cost-push inflation and describe who gains and loses from unanticipated inflation.

Classify government spending and revenue sources and distinguish a budget deficit from the national debt.

Explain automatic stabilisers and discretionary fiscal policy, and evaluate expansionary versus contractionary stances in a named recession scenario.

Explain crowding out and the difference between direct and indirect taxation, including one merit and one drawback of each.

Describe how monetary and fiscal policy interact and evaluate which is more appropriate in a deep recession versus an overheating economy.

Interpret a simple set of policy indicators (inflation rate, unemployment rate, budget balance as a share of GDP) and recommend a policy mix with justification.

Explain the gains from trade using comparative advantage and calculate opportunity cost ratios for two countries and two goods.

Distinguish the current account from the capital and financial account and classify six transactions correctly.

Explain how a depreciation of the exchange rate affects exports, imports, and the current account, including the Marshall-Lerner condition.

Describe the main features and structural challenges of the Cyprus economy (small open economy, tourism and shipping, services share, dependence on external demand, post-2013 banking-sector adjustment) and link them to exam-relevant concepts.

Evaluate protectionist instruments (tariffs, quotas, subsidies) against free-trade arguments.

Complete two full-length timed mock papers under exam conditions and record a score per domain.

Re-teach the two weakest domains from memory by writing a one-page summary without notes, then check against source material.

Drill diagram accuracy: redraw the six highest-frequency diagrams (demand/supply shift, externality, cost curves, monopoly, circular flow, exchange rate) from blank paper.

Practise evaluation-style answers using a fixed structure: point, mechanism, consequence, judgement.

Build a one-page final revision sheet of formulas and definitions and test recall against it.