Unit 2

After completing your study of Unit 1 Economics you should now have a sound understanding of the basic models that economists use every day. Throughout the rest of your study you will continue to use supply and demand graphs, the five sector model, the production possibility frontier and the many terms that you have already learned.

In particular, the skills that you have learned in Unit 1 are transferable. By now you will be very familiar with the economic skill of analysing a supply and demand factor to examine its impact on the economy. So far you have looked at some of the domestic economic goals of the Australian government. You will begin your study of Unit 2 by looking at another one - employment.

After that you will begin to consider Australia's economic relationship with the rest of the world. We live in a globalised world. The Australian economy is dependent on many other countries around the world for food, clothing, electronic goods and much more. If you have ever stopped to wonder why Australia can’t exist independently of other countries, ask yourself this simple question – how would you be reading these words if it wasn’t for our willingness to trade? There are no Australian made computers, and even if there were the infrastructure of the internet was all developed in other countries. We could not do the things that we do today if it wasn’t for our willingness to trade.

This topic is broken down into several sections. Each class will tackle this in a different way. For example, your class might choose to begin by looking at Australia’s trading patterns, and the composition of our trade. At some stage you will also begin to examine the way in which Australia’s external relationships are measured. If you have ever wondered why the dollar changes in value every day, you will find out all about it here. (You might also learn how to predict the changes before they happen….)

Following this, you will look at economic globalisation. This has been a controversial topic for many years, and there have been protests all over the world. During this unit you will develop your own, informed opinion about economic globalisation. There are also many countries in the world that are still classified as developing economies; you will have a chance to learn about them here.