CIE IGCSE Topical Past Paper 2

1.2 The factors of production

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Estonia’s factor of production are employed in a range of industries including education. In 2022, the country experienced a shortage of teachers. The government increases teachers’ wages to attract workers from other industries. Two of Estonia’s other industries are building and clothing. Estonia’s clothing industry has firms of different sizes. Estonia’s firms were affected in 2022 by the government increasing the money supply.

a) Define factor of production. [2]

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Botswana uses both capital goods and labour in its diamond mining industry. The country had an average economic growth rate of 3.8% between 2015 and 2019 compared to a global average of 2.8%. Over this period, the country experienced a low inflation rate and a move away from protectionism and towards free international trade.

a) Define, with an example, a capital good. [2]

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Canada’s private sector firms have a number of different objectives. The quantity and quality of land used by these firms, including farms, has increased. There has also been increased investment with the firms buying more capital goods. In 2021, the Canadian government encouraged higher investment and aimed to prevent a rise in unemployment.

c) Explain one reason why the quantity of land may increase and one reason why the quality of land may increase. [4]

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Vietnam has a high number of female entrepreneurs. Some of their firms have grown and now compete with foreign multinational companies (MNC) and public sector firms. The Vietnamese government encourages MNCs to locate in Vietnam as a host country. It also intervenes in the economy to encourage the consumption of merit goods.

a) Identify two reasons why people become entrepreneurs. [2]

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Singapore is a high-income country with a shortage of land and labour. Singapore is often given as an example of a market economy. The Singaporean government does, however, intervene in the economy. For example, it encourages its population to eat two servings of fruit and two servings of vegetables per day.

a) Identify the reward to labour and the reward to land. [2]

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The economic problem means that countries have to decide what to produce. Ghana uses much of its agricultural land to grow cocoa. Cocoa is sold to chocolate producers. The world’s main chocolate producer in 2019 was a US firm with a 14% share of the global market. That firm was the largest seller of chocolate in the US and, if it merges, may become a monopoly.

c) Explain whether land is mobile. [4]

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Consumers in Uruguay are eating more processed foods. Factors of production, including enterprise, have responded to this change. Firms in the processed food industry have become more capital-intensive. All of Uruguay’s industries were affected by the rise in its inflation rate, from 6.2% in 2017 to 7.7% in 2018.

a) Define enterprise. [2]

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In the Netherlands in 2018, there were 1.3 bicycles per person and the world’s largest underground bicycle parking area was built in the capital city. Land is scarce in city centres, where most cycling takes place. Demand for bikes in the Netherlands is price-inelastic. Only a few people in the Netherlands borrow money to buy bikes. The government encourages cycling by spending on both bike parking areas and leisure cycle parks.

a) Identify one difference between land and labour. [2]

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Free trade has allowed the Mexican economy to specialise in low-cost manufacturing. Unemployment nationally is relatively low, but approximately 50 million people were still considered to be in poverty in 2016. In addition, there are worries that technological advances will soon replace labour with capital.

a) State the rewards for labour and capital. [2]

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In Nagicho, a small town in Japan, a woman on average has 2.8 children in her lifetime. In Japan as a whole, a woman on average only has 1.4 children in her lifetime. Nagicho’s higher birth rate is partly the result of a lower cost of living for families, as the prices of basic items are lower in Nagicho than in the rest of Japan. The local government not only offers housing at subsidised rates, to get more labour into the area, but also tries to get more investment into the town.

c) Analyse the influences on the mobility of two factors of production. [6]

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In 2017, the Brazilian paper industry was booming. Its total revenue increased and it employed both more, and better quality, factors of production. Brazil’s largest paper producer merged with an Indonesian paper-producing firm at the end of 2017. The performance of Brazil’s coffee industry differed from its paper industry. Brazilian coffee experienced a fall in demand and a fall in total revenue.

c) Explain two differences between capital and labour. [4]

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Gaytri Talwar

1.2 The factors of production CIE IGCSE Topical Past Paper 2