Principles of Economics
Short-answer Assignment V1 (20% of final mark)
The assignment consists of four questions. You should allocate at least half a page (or 250 words) to each answer or 1000 words for all four answers depending on the nature of and/or marks allocated for the question/s. You may refer to academic literature and textbooks to help answer the questions.
You must write your answers in a Microsoft Word document and submit it online in vUWS on or before the due date.
You should provide a ‘reference list’ of the literature you have used. Plagiarism is forbidden and all assignments will be electronically checked for plagiarism before they are marked.
In this assessment task, students will not be able to meet the learning outcomes 1-5 by using generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Working with another person or technology in order to gain an unfair advantage in assessment or improperly obtaining answers from a third party including generative AI to the questions in this assessment task may lead to sanctions under the Student Misconduct Rule
i Note: Wikipedia and anonymous amateur blogs should not be used as references. For definitions and basic concepts, your first ‘port of call’ should be a textbook.
A sensible font should be used (e.g., Time New Roman, Gotham Narrow Book, Cambria, or Garamond). Where graphs or diagrams are required, it is permissible to take screenshots of the original drawings by the student to be cut-and-pasted into the document.
Readings on pages 18 and 19 of the marking criteria
- The Australian Federal Budget 2025-26 announced a cut of ‘combined $19 billion student loan debt for 3 million Australian and will make the student loan repayment system fairer’. 250 WORDS
- What kind of externality will be created by this debt cut in education loan? Using appropriate diagrams, compare the market output of education and optimal (efficient) level of education and their price after government decision to cut $19 billion student loan debt. (4 marks)
| TEXTBOOK – Sloman, John, et al. Principles of Economics, Pearson Education Australia, 2013. Externalities = Costs or benefits of production or consumption experienced by society but not by the producers or consumers themselves. Sometimes referred to as ‘spillover’ or ‘third-party’ costs or benefits. There are 4 main types of externalities: External costs of production ( MSC > MC )External benefits of production ( MSC < MC )External costs of consumption ( MSB < MB )External benefits of consumption ( MSB > MB ) |
- Explain briefly the mechanism of the effects of this policy implementation on Australia’s short and medium run growth, employment and price level (cost of living) using AD-AS (aggregate demand-aggregate supply) model. (4 marks)
- “Donald Trump has singled out Australia for not importing American beef. But do we even need it and what will US tariffs mean for our producer?” (Calla Wahlquist, The Guardian, 4 April, 2025) 250 WORDS
Using appropriate diagram/s, show the world price of beef before and after the imposition of 10% tariff on beef. Also, explain the change in consumer surplus, producer surplus, total surplus, price and total quantity of Australian beef in the US market after imposition of 10% tariff by US president Donald Tramp in April 2025. (4 marks)
- Explain briefly why economists and observers are expecting a growing risk of recession in US as well as in global economy as Trump’s trade war escalates the tariff retaliation by other countries. (3 marks) 250 WORDS
- “The US and China are locked in a rapidly escalating tit-for-tat tariff war, triggered by aggressive trade measures introduced on Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day”. On April 9, the US’s 145 percent tariff on Chinese goods came into effect, along with a range of additional duties on other global trade partners. This came after China announced it would impose an 84 percent tariff on US goods starting April 10.” (China Briefing, April 11, 2025) 250 WORDS
- Explain briefly the consequence of this on Australian exports in general, and on the exports of education, in particular as US and China engaged in this vicious tariff war. (3 marks)
- Explain the concept of discouraged or hidden unemployment. Briefly explain the likely consequence of tariff war announced by the US President Trump on Australian employment. (2 marks)
