Humanities & social sciencesReviewed 26 Jun 2026

GCSE Economics specification

GCSE Economics introduces students to how economies allocate scarce resources, examining markets, prices and market failure at the micro level and the workings of the national and global economy at the macro level. It develops analytical, evaluative and quantitative skills applied to real-world economic data, policy and behaviour through the lens of consumers, producers and government.

How it's assessed
Untiered, linear (single tier of entry, all assessment at the end of the course) across all boards offering it.

Assessed entirely by two written exam papers (no NEA/coursework). One paper covers microeconomics (markets/market failure) and the other macroeconomics (the national and global economy). Papers combine multiple-choice, short-answer, calculation/data-response and extended-response questions, and require quantitative skills (interpreting data, calculations such as percentages, elasticity and index numbers). Calculators are permitted.

High-level topics

The main areas of content and what a student is expected to know and do.

The economic problem and resource allocation

Scarcity, choice and opportunity cost, the factors of production, the basic economic problem and how resources are allocated through the market mechanism.

AQA: How markets work
How markets work: supply, demand and prices

How prices are determined by supply and demand, shifts and movements, price elasticity of demand and supply, and inter-relationships between markets.

AQA: How markets work
Production, costs, revenue and profit

Production and productivity, economies of scale, the costs, revenue and profit of producers, and how these influence business and market behaviour.

AQA: How markets work
Competition and market failure

The role of competition in resource allocation, competitive vs concentrated markets, and the causes of market failure with emphasis on externalities and government responses.

AQA: How markets work
The labour market and the role of money/financial sector

How the labour market works, wage determination, and the role of money, banks and financial markets in a modern economy.

OCR: Specification (labour market, financial sector)
The national economy and government objectives

Introduction to the national economy, measuring economic performance, and the principal government objectives - stable prices, economic growth, full employment and a satisfactory balance of payments - including how they are measured and their causes and effects.

AQA: How the economy works
Government economic policy

How government uses fiscal, monetary and supply-side policies (including taxation, spending and interest rates) to manage economic performance, influence income distribution and correct market failures.

AQA: How the economy works
International trade and the global economy

Why countries trade, exchange rates, globalisation and interdependence, and the place of the UK in the wider global economy.

AQA: How the economy works

Exam boards

The awarding bodies that offer this qualification, how their papers are structured, and what's distinctive about each - with links to the official specification.

AQA
Spec 8136

AQA GCSE Economics

Papers & assessment

2 papers, each 1h45 and 80 marks (160 total), each 50%. Paper 1: How markets work (microeconomics); Paper 2: How the economy works (macroeconomics). Each paper has Section A multiple-choice plus Section B case-study/data questions, mixing calculations, short and extended responses. Untiered, linear, no NEA.

What's distinctive

Uses longer 1h45 papers (vs OCR's and Edexcel's 1h30). Paper 1 opens with 10 multiple-choice questions; clean micro/macro split between the two papers.

Specification

Specification (web)Full specification PDF

Past papers & mark schemes

Past papersMark schemesExaminer reports
Pearson Edexcel
Spec 1EC0

Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) Economics A

Papers & assessment

2 papers, each 1h30, each 50%. Paper 1: Introduction to markets and market failure (microeconomics); Paper 2: The national and global economy (macroeconomics). Both externally assessed with multiple-choice, short-answer, calculation/data-response and extended-response questions. Untiered, linear, no NEA; calculators allowed.

What's distinctive

Same micro/macro paper split as the other boards but in shorter 1h30 papers; Paper 2 explicitly foregrounds the national AND global economy, giving prominence to international/global content.

Specification

Specification (web)Pearson Economics subject page

Past papers & mark schemes

Past papersMark schemesExaminer reports
OCR
Spec J205

OCR GCSE (9-1) Economics

Papers & assessment

2 components, each 1h30 and 80 marks (160 total), each 50%. Component 01: introduces the main economic agents, the basic economic problem, markets (including the labour market) and the financial sector; Component 02: the wider/national economy. Both papers share an identical format - Part A with 20 multiple-choice questions, Part B with three short case-study questions plus short, medium and extended responses. Untiered, linear, no NEA.

What's distinctive

Distinctively identical structure across both papers (20 multiple-choice + three case studies each) and the heaviest multiple-choice load (20 MCQs per paper vs AQA's 10). Fully linear with two mandatory components.

Specification

Specification (web)Full specification PDF

Past papers & mark schemes

Past papersMark schemesExaminer reports
How the boards differ

GCSE Economics is offered by fewer boards than Business: AQA (8136), Pearson Edexcel (1EC0, branded Economics A) and OCR (J205). WJEC and Eduqas offer Economics only at AS/A level, not at GCSE, so they are not listed here. All three GCSE boards run an untiered, linear qualification assessed by two equally weighted written papers with no coursework, with the standard split of one microeconomics paper (markets/market failure) and one macroeconomics paper (the national and global economy), each requiring calculation and data-response skills. Differences are mostly in format: AQA uses longer 1h45 papers with 10 multiple-choice questions on Paper 1; OCR and Edexcel use 1h30 papers, with OCR notable for an identically structured pair of papers each carrying 20 multiple-choice questions. Edexcel's Paper 2 places explicit weight on the global as well as national economy. For students and parents, the syllabus content is broadly equivalent across the three; the choice mainly affects paper length and the volume of multiple-choice questions.

Original sources

Straight from the awarding bodies - the specifications these summaries are drawn from.

AQA GCSE Economics 8136Edexcel GCSE Economics A 1EC0OCR GCSE Economics J205

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