CIE AS Topical Past Paper 2
1.5 Production possibility curves
9708/23/M/J/24
a) Use a production possibility curve (PPC) diagram to explain how a government in a mixed economy might allocate more resources to consumption and fewer resources to investment and consider a limitation of this approach to resource allocation. [8]
b) Assess whether producers are the only ones to benefit when an economy decides to allocate additional resources to investment. [12] [Sample answer]
9708/21/O/N/22
a) Explain, with the use of a diagram(s), how the production possibility curve of an economy could be affected by a decrease in the quantity of labour available, but an increase in its quality. [8]
9708/22/O/N/22
a) Explain how a production possibility curve can be used to demonstrate scarcity, choice and opportunity cost. [8]
9708/22/F/M/22
a) Explain with the help of a production possibility curve diagram(s) how a decision to re-allocate resources in an economy to produce more capital goods and fewer consumer goods would affect consumers in both the short run and the long run. [8]
9708/22/O/N/21
a) Use a diagram(s) to explain how a production possibility curve can be used to show opportunity cost and why such a curve is usually drawn with increasing opportunity costs. [8]
9708/21/O/N/21
a) With the aid of a diagram, compare what happens to an economy’s resources to cause a movement along its production possibility curve with what happens to an economy’s resources to cause a shift of its production possibility curve. [8]
9708/22/M/J/20
a) Use a production possibility curve diagram(s) to distinguish between the growth of an economy and a reduction in the number of unused resources in an economy and explain one reason that might cause each to occur. [8]
9708/21/M/J/20
a) Explain, with the aid of a production possibility curve (PPC) diagram, why scarcity makes choice inevitable for firms and how each choice has an opportunity cost. [8]
9708/21/M/J/19
a) Explain, with the help of diagrams, how (i) constant and (ii) increasing opportunity costs determine the shape of an economy’s production possibility curve. [8]
9708/22/F/M/19
a) Show how a production possibility curve can be used to explain scarcity, choice and opportunity cost. [8]
9708/21/O/N/18
b) Discuss whether enterprise is crucial to the outward shift of the production possibility curve in a mixed economy. [12]