Evaluating Supply Side Policies (Online Lesson)

In this online lesson, we consider some of the key evaluation points in relation to supply side policies.

Before you complete this lesson, we recommend that you have already completed this introduction to supply-side policies.

WHAT YOU'LL STUDY IN THIS ONLINE LESSON

• a review of the main macroeconomic objectives and the nature of supply side policies
• evaluating the impact of supply side policies (free market and interventionist) on the macro objectives
• the fiscal impact of supply side policies
• supply side policies and their impact on equality

Additional teacher guidance is available at the end of this lesson. Thank you to Penny Brooks and Jon Clark for their contributions to this lesson.

HOW TO USE THIS ONLINE LESSON

Follow along in order of the activities shown below. Some are interactive game-based activities, designed to test your understanding of supply side policies. Others are based on short videos, including activities for you to think about and try at home, as well as some extra worksheet-based activities.

If you would like to download a simple PDF worksheet to accompany the video activities, you can download it here: Evaluating Supply Side Policies. You can print it off and annotate it for your own notes, or make your own notes on a separate piece of paper to add to your school/college file.

ACTIVITY 1: VIDEO - SUPPLY SIDE POLICIES AND MACRO OBJECTIVES

In this video, we briefly review the nature of supply side policies and the main macroeconomic objectives. We then consider the impact of supply side policies when the economy is operating at full employment and also with a negative output gap. The video finishes by introducing a thinking and diagram activity looking at the different impact of free market and interventionist supply side policies.

ACTIVITY 2: VIDEO - FISCAL IMPACT OF SUPPLY SIDE POLICIES

Many students focus on the cost and time-lags associated with supply side policies when they write their exam answers. This video explores these issues in more depth, and encourages students to be a little less simplistic in their evaluation.

ACTIVITY 3: GAME - CONNECTIONS

Test your knowledge of supply side policies by having a go at this Connection Wall activity - how quickly can you make all the right connections?

ACTIVITY 4: THINKING TASK - PROS AND CONS

Download this Supply Side Policy Grid. This activity provides a list of different supply side policies - you need to explain how each policy affects the supply side of the economy, and then consider some advantages and disadvantages of each policy. Choose the level of challenge that you would like - the grids become progressively easier to complete. Check your answers against ours, or discuss with your teacher and classmates.

ACTIVITY 5: VIDEO - SUPPLY SIDE POLICIES AND INEQUALITY

This video explores how supply side policies may impact on wealth and income inequality, with focus on the UK economy.

ACTIVITY 6: SYNOPTIC ACTIVITY - PRIVATISATION

The topic of privatisation is one that many students meet in the 2nd year of their A level Economics course. However, it is a brilliant synoptic connection to make to the topic of supply side policies!

Start by reading the tutor2u study note on Privatisation here.

Next, download this tutor2u Privatisation Pros and Cons resource here. Your task is to categories each of the statements on this list either as advantages or disadvantages of privatisation. If you want to give yourself an extra challenge, see if you can justify a "ranking order" for your lists i.e. from most persuasive argument to least persuasive.

ACTIVITY 7: MULTIPLE CHOICE QUIZ

Download this supply side policy multiple choice quiz. There are 35 questions - some of them are straightforward, others will take a bit more thinking! Send your answers to your teacher for checking.

ADDITIONAL TEACHER GUIDANCE

This lesson comprises:

• around 25 minutes of guided video, spread across 3 videos
• around 20-30 minutes of student thinking and activity time across those videos
• 1 interactive game, testing student knowledge of supply side policies
• a revision grid activity, asking students to consider pros and cons of different supply side policies
• an additional synoptic task introducing privatisation as a type of supply side policy
• a 35 question MCQ test (answers available to download here)

Overall, we anticipate that the core of the lesson would take around 90 minutes, plus an additional 30-40 minutes for the MCQ test.