11–12Economics 11–12 Syllabus (2025)
The new Economics 11–12 Syllabus (2025) is to be implemented from 2027 and will replace the Economics Stage 6 Syllabus (2009).
2026
- Plan and prepare to teach the new syllabus
2027, Term 1
- Start teaching the new syllabus for Year 11
- Start implementing new Year 11 school-based assessment requirements
- Continue to teach the Economics Stage 6 Syllabus (2009) for Year 12
2027, Term 4
- Start teaching the new syllabus for Year 12
- Start implementing new Year 12 school-based assessment requirements
2028
- First HSC examination for the new syllabus
Content
Year 11
The Business and Economics Life Skills 11–12 Syllabus and its outcomes are being developed alongside the Business Studies 11–12 Syllabus.
Role of households in the economy
Consumers as utility-maximising agents, including choices at the margin and the law of diminishing marginal utility
Consumers as socially and ethically motivated agents, including the influence of collective values, culture and social norms
Relationship between consumption, savings and income, including the marginal propensity to consume (), marginal propensity to save (), and
- Determine the marginal propensity to consume
Savings as deferred consumption, dissaving and the paradox of thrift
Role of consumer sovereignty and factors that challenge its functioning, including marketing and behavioural sludges
Effect of changes in income on types of consumption, including expenditure on normal goods, inferior goods and Veblen goods
Contribution of consumption and income to wellbeing
Factors affecting supply of labour from households, including wage and non-wage benefits, working conditions, population, workforce participation, education, training and skills, occupational and geographic mobility of labour
Disincentives to participation in the workforce, including workplace inflexibility and culture, inadequate leave entitlements, and affordability and availability of care
Role of businesses in the economy
Producers as profit-maximising agents, including the differences between economic profit and accounting profit
Classification of businesses, including public enterprises, private enterprises and industries
Relationship between production and productivity, and the importance of productivity to profitability and living standards
Factors affecting the productivity of businesses, including technological innovation, capital deepening, worker skills, internal and external economies and diseconomies of scale
Interpret long-run average cost (LRAC) curves that model economies and diseconomies of scale, including the technical optimum
Income earned by labour, including wage benefits, non-wage benefits and the role of the minimum wage
Arguments for and against the equitable distribution of income from work
Factors affecting demand for labour by businesses, including total output, relative cost of labour and capital, artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, profitability of businesses and government policy