AQA A-Level Economics: The Economic Problem

AQA A-level Economics lesson on scarcity and the economic problem, covering needs and wants, factors of production, and what, how and for whom to produce.

This is a complete 60-minute lesson exploring the enquiry question: Why can’t an economy produce everything people want? It begins with a retrieval Connect quiz before guided questioning leads students from an “unlimited money” thought experiment to the real constraint of scarce resources. Students then build the factors of production through a pizza restaurant example, apply the economic problem independently to a new hospital scenario and finish with a misconception-focused plenary.

Students learn how to:

• distinguish needs from wants;
• explain why production requires scarce resources;
• identify land, labour, capital and enterprise;
• explain why money is not itself a factor of production;
• explain why the environment is a scarce resource;
• explain the decisions of what, how and who is to benefit.

The lesson uses guided discovery throughout. Students test whether unlimited money would really solve scarcity, classify resources needed for a pizza restaurant, consider environmental resources such as clean air and fish stocks, and finally apply their understanding to competing demands for healthcare resources.

The accompanying teacher guide follows the PowerPoint slide-by-slide with timings, exact teacher questions, expected responses and misconception prompts.

This lesson follows Economic Methodology and leads directly into Opportunity Cost. Check out the other lessons in the sequence.