Unit 4 Topic 2: Economic Indicators and Past Budget Stances

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Subject matter

Topic 2: Economic Indicators and Past Budget Stances

In Topic 2, students apply their knowledge of economic indicators and theory to analyse and evaluate past economic events and decisions made in the annual federal budget of the government of the day.

Explain and categorise economic indicators of past economic performance, including leading, lagging, and coincident indicators, using current data from objective sources, e.g. the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Calculate the rate and changes of economic data, including real economic growth, inflation, the rate of unemployment, and the participation rate.
Select data and information to analyse and evaluate
- past economic indicators, to assess the position of the Australian economy on the
  
  economic cycle at previous points in time
- the relationship between the economic cycle and economic objectives using past economic indicators and trade-offs, including conflicting objectives, intertemporal relationships, and the short- and long-run Phillips curve.
Select data and information to analyse and evaluate
- the accuracy, reliability and efficacy of common indicators used to measure econ omic
  
  objectives in a past scenario
- recent Australian federal budget outcomes including cyclical and structural causes and effects of expansionary and contractionary fiscal policy stances within the last 3–10 years
- the Australian Government’s economic management and achievement of its macroeconomic objectives for a period within the last 3–10 years.
Create responses that communicate economic meaning using data, information and diagrams to suit the intended purpose in paragraphs and extended responses that form an analytical essay format.

Reproduced from Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority, Economics 2025 v1.2 General senior syllabus October 2024

Internal Assessment 3

Extended Response to Stimulus: Exam Specifications

Assessment objectives

Specifications

The teacher provides an examination that:

1. Comprehend features and economic concepts, principles and models of macroeconomic objectives, theories, economic indicators and budget stances.
2. Analyse an economic issue that involves economic indicators and budget stances .
3. Evaluate an economic outcome relevant to economic indicators and budget stances.
4. Create a response that communicates economic meaning to suit the intended purpose in an analytical essay.
- relates to Unit 4 Topic 1 and Unit 4 Topic 2
- is focused on a contemporary economic issue that is of national, state and/or regional significance to Australia
- requires an analytical essay in response to an unseen question with seen and unseen stimulus
- allows students to choose two economic criteria for their evaluation
- must elicit a variety of possible responses.
Stimulus specifications
The teacher provides seen and unseen stimulus that:
- enables a selection of current, accurate and relevant data and information from a variety of sources, e.g. government and other institutional websites, published reports, media articles and expert commentaries
- is a minimum of nine sources that include data and information in visual and written forms that fit on both sides of four A4-size pages or equivalent
- facilitates both the analysis and evaluation components of the task
- allows for unique responses.
  The teacher provides unseen stimulus that:
- fits on both sides of one A4 page or equivalent
- is succinct enough for students to engage with during planning time
- includes information that is critical to the item, so that students cannot write pre -prepared
  
  responses or predict the focus of the unseen question.

Reproduced from Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority, Economics 2025 v1.2 General senior syllabus October 2024