LC Economics case studies
LC Economics · Put your knowledge to work in context.
Leaving Certificate Economics is the senior-cycle economics subject examined by the State Examinations Commission on behalf of the Department of Education, typically taken over two years and assessed in a written examination available at Higher and Ordinary level. It suits students who want to understand how households, firms, markets and governments make decisions under scarcity, and who are comfortable reading data, graphs and short case material rather than only memorising definitions. The course blends microeconomics (scarcity and opportunity cost, demand and supply, elasticity, costs, market structures), macroeconomics (national income, money and banking, inflation, fiscal policy, unemployment) and the international and applied dimension (trade, the balance of payments, exchange rates, the EU, and interpretation of economic data). Preparation works best as a spiral: master definitions and diagrams early, then practise applying them to stimulus material and past-paper wording, and keep a glossary plus a folder of current Irish and EU data you can quote accurately. The LC Economics case studies are 5 cases and about 3,713 words.
1Housing versus greenway on a fixed council budget
Mayo County Council has a three-year capital budget of €60 million and 900 construction worker-years. It is choosing between social housing and a greenway.
795 words, about 4 min2Rent cap in a tight city rental market
Cork City's private rental market is in equilibrium at €2,000 per month with 30,000 tenancies. The city council introduces a legally binding rent cap of €1,600.
706 words, about 4 min3Automation, minimum efficient scale and a price-matching rival
Atlantic Precision is a small Irish-owned manufacturer of components for medical devices. It produces 30,000 units a year using a labour-intensive process: fixed costs are €90,000 and variable cost is €4 per unit.
755 words, about 4 min4GDP, GNP and a fragile corporate tax base
A small open economy reports GDP of €500 billion and GNP of €440 billion. Net factor income outflows are therefore €60 billion, mostly profits of foreign-owned multinationals.
708 words, about 4 min5ECB rate decision and Irish mortgage transmission
The ECB's Governing Council is deciding whether to cut its deposit rate from 4.00% to 3.75%. Euro-area HICP inflation is 2.9%, core inflation 3.1%, unemployment 6.5% and GDP growth 0.3%.
749 words, about 4 min