The Mint Magazine covers a wide range of topics that align with the A Level/IB syllabus enriching student learning by offering different perspectives that build the critical capacity of students. Below we have sought to illustrate this by matching recent articles, columns, reviews and interviews against the topics in the AQA Economics syllabus.
We have also given a word or phrase you can use to search for more relevant material for each topic, including news items.
Microeconomics - Individuals, Firms, Markets and Market Failure
The Economic Problem
Understanding economics as a social science, what the economic problem is and the economic rationale. Use the search term ‘economics’ for more.
How scarce is an opportunity
William Darity Jr. explains why scarcity isn’t everything. One of the consistent obstacles for aggressive action to address global warming is encapsulated in the question, “How will we pay for
When economists shut off your water
This account is based on the findings of ethnographic research conducted in Kayole Soweto, Nairobi, in 2022 by Adrian Wilson, Irene Nduta and Somo Abdi and written by Adrian and Irene with
Fighting inflation with flat-earth monetary policy
Blair Fix puts interest rates to the test in the treatment of inflation and raises a laugh. Advances in science almost invariably arise from questioning received wisdom — taking ideas
Individual Economic Decision Making
Consumer behaviour, imperfect information and behavioural economics. Search using the term ‘behavioural economics’ for more.
Nudge theory: the elbow or helping hand?
There is a backlash against Nudge Theory. In the original “nudge manifesto”, Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness, Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein promoted the political value of
Impoverished economics? Unpacking the economics Nobel Prize
When the world is facing large systemic crises, Ingrid Kvangraven asks why is the economics profession celebrating small technical fixes? This week it was announced that Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo
Revealing the fudge in ‘Nudge Economics’
Professor Sugden, a renowned and celebrated pioneer of behavioural economics, has written an important book. In it he skewers the “nudge economics” fudge that maintains the illusion of the possibility
Price Determination in a Competitive Market
How do the demand and supply forces work in tandem? How are prices determined? Do all consumers behave the same way? Use the search term ‘markets’ for more.
Holding it all together
Isaac Stanley explains why care is infrastructure. Biden’s much-discussed Infrastructure Bill eventually passed into law in October in the US. This followed extensive political wrangling between different wings of the
Off the scale
Locally grown food is growing. Can data help plough the furrow? By Lynne Davis 2020 was a year like no other, but for those of us working in community-led food
Algorithm and blues: whose tune do we dance to?
Artificial intelligence rarely gets it wrong – it’s the culture that programmed it that’s messed up, says Madhavi Venkatesan. I have become accustomed to my smart phone alerting me in
Production, Costs and Revenue
How much can a business compromise to survive in the market, who reaps the benefits in the short- and long-term? Search using the term ‘costs and revenue’ for more.
Selling the circular
Thinking out of the box: currently, retail is largely about mass, transactional relationships. Can business ever be good? Henry Leveson-Gower explores. A year ago I was on the hunt for examples
Life in the cross hairs
Being a good corporate citizen comes with risks. Andrew Black tells the tale of a close escape. For corporates that have medium-term planning regimes, taking seriously the considerable challenges posed
The right chemistry
“Do we have anything for a serious case of chronic CEO?” Boots was the most trusted brand for decades – Victorian values and all. Now it has slipped down the
Perfect Competition, Imperfectively Competitive Markets and Monopoly
Do business always look at profit maximisation? In what markets do firms compete? How are these markets regulated? Is it better or worse to compete or collaborate with each other? Search using the term ‘markets’ for more.
Why didn’t the balloon go up?
When the US military shot down an unmanned Chinese aircraft many thought the worst. Joshua Brown looks at why things might have even grown better. When a Chinese surveillance balloon
Down to business
Martin Parker asks whether business schools might be able to help address carbon capitalism, rather than simply teaching it. On Wednesday 3 June 1970, the Board of Social Studies at
Big guy for the little guy
Tim Cowen is a campaigning barrister representing small businesses against the dominant players in digital. The Mint heard from him about the new international coordination of anti-trust action against the
Labour Market
What causes demand and supply for labour? Which industries are more competitive? What factors cause barriers in entering the marketplace? How are wages determined between and within regions? Search using the term ‘labour markets’ for more.
How artificial intelligence is recolonising the Global South
Patricia Gestoso tells how the Global North exploits poverty and weak laws in the South to accelerate its digital transformation. The hype around idyllic tech workplaces that originated in Silicon
A change of key
How can we make work in the post-pandemic world work for us? Richard McNeill Douglas plays with some ideas. Covid has not been the only pandemic we have had to
The K in recovery
A post-Covid divergence in fortunes is leaving women in the trailing leg. Selvin Kwong reports. Jenny is one of many women who lost their jobs or had their hours reduced
The Distribution of Income & Wealth: Poverty and Inequality
How can wealth and income be better distributed? How has capitalism played a role in paving the path? Use the search term ‘inequality’ for more.
Is the opposition equal to the challenge?
Stewart Lansley provides a measure of the task faced by any party that might genuinely seek to tackle poverty in the UK. Labour’s shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has said that a Labour
Money talks
Willy Diddens on why philanthropists think they have to evade tax. Call it branding, public perception, corporate image or optics, ultimately the great majority of people, businesses, governments spend a
Deception and perception
When money is the messenger, why do the poor believe it? Paul Frijters questions the truth. According to Max Lawson of Oxfam, who recently gave a fascinating interview in The
Market Mechanism, Market Failure and Government Intervention in Markets
How may governments intervene when markets fail? What policies are implemented on the national level? What to do when governments go wrong? Search using the term ‘market failure’ for more.
Who will save the world?
Raj Thamotheram is, in theory, betting on pension funds. Covid has transformed global politics and the Omicron variant has caused markets to tumble. Meanwhile COP26 failed to address, adequately, the
Living off a box of chocolates
Private equity in the care sector is thriving on growing demand and dwindling state provision. Vivek Kotecha asks whether its sweet tooth for debt might not bode well for its
The economics of corruption and the corruption of economics
The true meaning of corruption has been distorted, leaving research, policy and the public to allow it to continue unchecked. Geoffrey M. Hodgson explains. Some authors – particularly economists –
Macroeconomics - The National and International Economy
Measures of Economic Performance
Is GDP the only way to measure growth? What factors are missed out in economic calculations? Are there better alternatives to measure a country’s performance? Search using the terms ‘measures of economic performance’ for more.
Why we should abandon GDP
Gross Domestic Product is the most popular and useless quantity in economics say Erald Kolasi and Blair Fix. For all that it purports to say, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fails
Here We Go
Incheon towards the future: the city hosted 3,000 people for the 6th Wellbeing Forum. There is an international group of government officials labouring to make life better for people. Wellbeing
The human touch
There is a world of innovation and entrepreneurism where the bottom line is the last thing that matters. René Kemp tells. We live in a world of marketisation with its
How the Macroeconomy Works - AD/AS, The Circular Flow and Related Concepts
How do the levers of consumption, investment, government expenditure and net trade work? How does the government look to build capacity? Search using terms ‘macroeconomics’ and/or ‘austerity’ for more.
Covid economics: the European variants
An injection of cash or lockdown and fear? Dirk Ehnts and Michael Paetz look at the options. Last summer, we were mildly optimistic about Europe’s economic response to Covid. It
Long covid
Dr Hanna Szymborska asks what does Sunak’s labour market policy mean for women? Ever since the first national lockdown was imposed in March 2020, rising unemployment has been one of
Flogging a dead horse
Japan’s new leader is looking to revive the nation’s economy with the same strategy that floored it. Dr. Chris G. Pope explains. Abe Shinzo stepped down in September after becoming
Economic Performance
What determines growth? How does an economy build (back better) and maintain itself? What impacts does this have on stakeholders and their living standards? Search using term ‘economic growth’ for more.
Cents and sensibility
Fifty years ago the Limits to Growth report started a debate that pitted environmentalists against economists — and the economists won. Richard McNeill Douglas investigates why and what comes next.
Debt crisis: paradox or plain wrong?
Guy Dauncey says we can dig ourselves out of the accumulating mountain of private debt but a lot needs to change. The Paradox of Debt is a new book by
Broken China
The world’s second largest economy may have reached its zenith, says Richard Vague. China failed to deliver anything close to its historically-robust growth in the September 2022 quarter, with 3.9%
Financial Markets and Monetary Policy
What are the role of financial markets? How do central banks play a role and what does market failure look like in the financial sector? Search using terms ‘finance’ and ‘central banking’ for more.
Lose change
There’s a digital revolution in money on the way. Barry James reports. A major new disruption to global monetary systems, perhaps the greatest yet, is moving in fast from left
Dependency issues
Coming out of the pandemic crisis will be a difficult political and economic balancing act for the Eurozone. And Germany stands to topple, says Dirk Ehnts. The Eurozone is a
National interest
How might a National Investment Bank serve the real UK economy? Stephany Griffith-Jones and Natalya Naqvi explain. An election pledge by the Labour Party to create a National Investment Bank
Fiscal and Supply-side Policies
What policies does the government consider during a boom, a recession, in protecting the environment, in achieving a more equitable distribution of income? How does the government learn from its mistakes? Search using terms ‘macroeconomics’ and/or ‘austerity’ for more.
Paradigm Shift
Our collective memories of the lessons learned from wars and crises past have faded. Frances Coppola looks for future guidance. The longer our financial and economic system goes without a
Behind the curtain
The Macro Economics Anti-Textbook: A Critical Thinker’s Guide by Tony Myatt. Review by Henry Leveson-Gower Paul A. Samuelson – an economics colossus who bestrode the economics profession in the three
Inflation is a supply-side problem
When you damage the supply side of an economy, the result is inflation. This ought to be obvious. But forty years of monetarist orthodoxy seems to have rendered people unable
The International Economy
Exploring globalisation, international trade and patterns in trade over time. What bodies regulate trade, what advantages do trading blocs have and how do countries remain internationally attractive? Search using the terms ‘international economics’ and/or ‘developing countries’ for more.
Why didn’t the balloon go up?
When the US military shot down an unmanned Chinese aircraft many thought the worst. Joshua Brown looks at why things might have even grown better. When a Chinese surveillance balloon
Was Truss on the money?
Dirk Ehnts suggests that Liz Truss’s downfall may have not been because she was wrong. Shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said in 2021 that delaying tackling climate breakdown would be at
More ore or less waste?
Paul Ekins warns of the need for low-carbon-economy policymakers to consider the full circle. Many of the technologies seen as critical for the shift to low-carbon energy, as well as