Singapore A-Level H2 Economics Syllabus 2026 (9570)

What is the H2 Economics Syllabus (9570)?
The Singapore-Cambridge A-Level H2 Economics (9570) syllabus focuses on the rigorous application of economic models to real-world contexts. It comprises three themes: The Central Economic Problem, Markets (Micro), and The National & International Economy (Macro). It is assessed via Paper 1 (Case Studies – 40%) and Paper 2 (Essays – 60%). If you are deciding between the two levels, read our guide on choosing H1 vs H2 Economics.

The 2026 A-Level H2 Economics Syllabus aims to develop in students:

An understanding of fundamental economic concepts, theories and principles, and of the tools and methods of analysis used by economists.
The ability to use the tools and methods of economic reasoning to explain and analyse economic issues, and to evaluate perspectives and decisions of economic agents.
The habit of reading critically, from a variety of sources, to gain information about changing economic activities and policies at the national and international levels. (This is why we publish economics articles and TET's TikTok reels.)
The ability to use evidence in making well-reasoned economic arguments to arrive at rational and considered decisions. (This is exactly what we train students to do in our H2 Economics Tuition programme.)

Syllabus Breakdown — Jump To

Theme 1: The Central Economic Problem
Theme 2: Markets (Microeconomics)
Theme 3: The National & International Economy (Macroeconomics)
How H2 Economics Is Assessed (Papers, Marks, AOs)

Before Theme 1: The Nature of Economics

As an introduction to the subject, candidates are expected to have an awareness of Economics as a social science, as distinct from the natural sciences, and to understand two distinctions that recur throughout both papers:

Positive vs normative economics — statements of fact and causation that can in principle be tested, versus statements of value about what ought to be done.
Microeconomics vs macroeconomics — the behaviour of individual agents and markets, versus the economy taken as a whole.

Both papers are built on the Decision-Making Approach: you are being asked, repeatedly, to analyse how consumers, producers and governments weigh benefits, costs, constraints and perspectives — and to recognise the trade-offs and unintended consequences that follow.

Theme 1: The Central Economic Problem

Scarcity, choice and opportunity cost — the foundation that both the micro and macro themes build on, framed through how consumers, producers and governments actually make decisions.

1.1 Scarcity as the Central Economic Problem

1.1.1 Scarcity, choice and resource allocation

The Central Economic Problem is scarcity, arising from limited resources and unlimited wants.
Scarcity implies that choices have to be made in allocating resources between different uses.
When choices are made, trade-offs and opportunity costs are incurred.
Scarcity, choice and opportunity cost can be explained from the perspectives of different economic agents: consumers, producers and governments.
The Production Possibility Curve (PPC) can illustrate scarcity, choice, opportunity cost, productive efficiency, full employment, unemployment or under-utilisation of resources, and changes in an economy's productive capacity.

📚 Study this topic: Scarcity, Choice and PPC Notes

1.1.2 Decision-making process of economic agents

Objectives of rational economic agents: consumers maximise utility, producers maximise profits, governments maximise social welfare.
In pursuing those objectives, agents gather information, weigh benefits and costs, and consider constraints and perspectives before deciding.
They take into account intended and unintended consequences, and any changes that occur, before reviewing the decision.

What SEAB expects — and what it doesn't. A marginalist approach to weighing costs and benefits is expected. Knowledge of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) as a project appraisal tool is not required. An awareness of how consumers allocate resources to maximise utility is sufficient — the formal derivation of utility maximisation is not required.

📚 Study this topic: Rational Decision Making Notes

Theme 2: Markets (Microeconomics)

How the price mechanism allocates resources, how firms compete, where markets fail, and what governments can — and cannot — fix by intervening.

2.1 Price Mechanism and its Applications

2.1.1 Price mechanism and its functions

How the price mechanism allocates scarce resources in the free market through its signalling, incentive and rationing functions.

2.1.2 Demand and supply analysis and its applications

Market demand and market supply as the summation of individual demand and supply.
A change in the price of the good itself causes a movement along the curve; a change in a non-price determinant shifts the curve.
Equilibrium price and quantity are determined by the interaction of demand and supply.
Changes in demand and supply affect equilibrium price and quantity, consumer expenditure, producer revenue, consumer surplus and producer surplus.
These outcomes are affected by price, income and cross elasticities of demand (PED, YED, XED) and price elasticity of supply (PES).

Often missed: application to real-world markets, including the labour market, is required. The Theory of Marginal Revenue Productivity (MRP) of labour is not required.

📚 Study these topics: Demand and Supply Notes | Elasticities (PED/PES/YED/XED) Notes

2.1.3 Government intervention in markets

Governments may intervene through taxes, subsidies, price controls (maximum and minimum prices) and quantity controls (quotas).
Intervention affects equilibrium price and quantity, consumer expenditure and producer revenue, and consumer and producer surplus.
The impact of intervention depends on the price elasticities of demand and supply.

Knowledge of tax and subsidy incidence is not required under 9570 — a common source of wasted revision time.

📚 Study this topic: Government Intervention Notes

2.2 Firms and Decisions (H2 only)

2.2.1 Objectives of firms

Firms aim to maximise profit — the difference between total revenue and total cost. Profit-maximising output occurs where MR = MC and MC is rising.
Firms may instead pursue revenue maximisation, profit satisficing, or market share dominance.
Firms may lack sufficient or accurate information to set the price and output that would actually maximise profit.

2.2.2 Costs and revenue

Cost and revenue concepts in the short run and the long run.
Internal and external economies and diseconomies of scale, and their link to the long-run average cost (LRAC) of production.

Derivation of cost and revenue curves is not required. Detailed explanation of each individual type of internal economy (technical, marketing) or external economy (concentration, information) is not required.

2.2.3 Firms' decisions and strategies

Firms engage in pricing, cost and product differentiation strategies aimed at raising revenue and/or lowering unit costs, including:
1. Growth, diversification and shut-down decisions.
2. Price competition.
3. Third-degree price discrimination.
4. Innovation, research and development.
5. Marketing.
6. Collusion with other firms.
Firms consider the existing and potential level of competition in the industry when making these decisions.
Impact of firms' decisions on efficiency (allocative, productive, dynamic), consumer welfare (choice, product quality, consumer surplus) and other firms (cost, revenue, profit).
Candidates must be aware that firms may apply knowledge of consumers' cognitive biases (sunk cost fallacy, loss aversion, salience bias), may be affected by technological disruption, and may weigh social and environmental concerns in their decisions.

Read this carefully — it is where most students over-revise. On market structures, only an awareness of how economists classify the four types (perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, monopoly) by number and size of firms, barriers to entry and nature of product is required. Diagrammatic analysis is not required for: comparison of market structures, price discrimination, the shut-down condition, or a firm's short-run to long-run equilibrium adjustment.

📚 Study these topics: Firms & Decisions Notes | Cognitive Bias Notes

2.3 Microeconomic Objectives and Policies

2.3.1 Governments' microeconomic objectives

The two objectives are efficiency and equity.
Efficiency occurs at the social optimum, where MSB = MSC, maximising society's welfare.
Deadweight loss is the reduction in net benefit to society when output is not at the social optimum.
An efficient allocation of resources may not produce an equitable outcome.
Equity occurs when there is fairness in the distribution of essential goods and services.

A distinction examiners test. Inequity is a distributional issue and is not classified as a market failure. Writing that inequity is a market failure is a straightforward accuracy error.

2.3.2 Market failure and its causes

Market failure occurs when the free market cannot allocate resources efficiently.
Public goods: non-provision due to non-rivalry and non-excludability (an awareness of non-rejectability is also required).
Externalities: non-socially-optimal levels of output, over-consumption of demerit goods and under-consumption of merit goods.
Information failure, including asymmetric information, which may lead to adverse selection and moral hazard.
Factor immobility and market dominance.

A two-diagram approach suffices for externalities: MSC above MPC for negative externalities, MSB above MPB for positive externalities. Diagrammatic analysis of factor immobility, asymmetric information, moral hazard and adverse selection is not required.

📚 Study this topic: Market Failure Notes

2.3.3 Microeconomic policies

Policy measures including taxes and subsidies, quotas and tradeable permits, joint and direct provision, rules and regulations, and public education.
The effectiveness of these measures, and the risk of government failure — intervention does not always achieve efficiency or equity.
Candidates must be aware that governments may apply knowledge of cognitive biases to nudge the decisions of economic agents.

Theme 3: The National & International Economy (Macroeconomics)

The economy as a whole: national income, AD-AS, the macroeconomic objectives, the policy toolkit, and Singapore's position as a small and very open economy.

3.1 Introduction to Macroeconomics

3.1.1 Circular flow of income

The circular flow as an interactive model involving households, firms, government and the foreign sector.
National income = national expenditure = national output.

📚 Study this topic: Circular Flow of Income Notes

3.1.2 Aggregate Demand (AD) and Aggregate Supply (AS)

AD and its components: C + I + G + (X – M), and how each is affected by its determinants.
How AS is affected by its determinants.
How the interaction of AD and AS determines equilibrium national output and the general price level.
The multiplier effect: how a change in a component of AD has a multiplied effect on national income.

A distinction between autonomous and induced expenditure is required. Knowledge of the marginal propensities (to consume, save, tax and import) and of the multiplier formula is required.

📚 Study these topics: AD/AS Framework Notes | The Multiplier Process Notes

3.2 Macroeconomic Objectives and Policies

3.2.1 Standard of living and macroeconomic indicators

Standard of living has material and non-material aspects, measured by real national income per capita alongside income distribution, leisure time and environmental quality.
Indicators of performance: real GDP or GNI, real GDP or GNI per capita, unemployment rate, CPI, and balance of trade.
HDI as an indicator of standard of living; the Gini coefficient as an indicator of income distribution.
Comparison of living standards over time and between economies.

An awareness of the components of the balance of payments (current, capital and financial accounts) is required; balance of payments accounting and sign convention are not required. Nominal vs real concepts and the interpretation of index numbers (base year, weights) are required. The meaning of the Gini coefficient via the Lorenz curve is required. Calculation of index numbers, national income, HDI and the Gini coefficient is not required.

3.2.2 Macroeconomic issues

Undesirable economic growth — persistently low or negative, unsustainable, or non-inclusive.
Unemployment — demand-deficient, structural and frictional.
Price instability — demand-pull inflation, cost-push inflation, deflation.
Balance of trade — persistently large deficits or surpluses.
The consequences of each for economic agents and for the standard of living.

3.2.3 Macroeconomic policies

Fiscal policy: how discretionary fiscal policy influences economic activity through government spending and taxation.
Monetary policy: how it influences economic activity through the management of exchange rates (the Singapore case) and interest rates.
Supply-side policies: improving the quantity, quality and mobility of factors of production to raise productive capacity.
Possible conflicts between macroeconomic objectives, and how these shape policy choice.

Required, and frequently missing from revision: knowledge of the Marshall-Lerner condition is required — though derivation of the formula and calculation are not. Also required: an understanding of how transfer payments improve income distribution and support inclusive growth, an awareness of long-term fiscal sustainability, and an understanding that different governments prioritise different objectives depending on the state and development level of their economy.

📚 Study these policies: Fiscal Policy | Monetary Policy | Exchange Rate Policy | Supply-Side Policy

3.3 Globalisation and the International Economy (H2 only)

3.3.1 Globalisation, international trade and economic co-operation

Globalisation as the increased trade in goods and services and the flow of capital and labour between countries, and the factors driving it.
The basis of free trade and specialisation.
Benefits and costs of free trade and factor flows for consumers (prices, choice, variety), producers (market size, competition, costs, innovation) and government (macroeconomic objectives and policy choice).
Benefits and costs of protectionism.
Why governments engage in economic co-operation and trade agreements, or impose protectionist measures, to achieve macroeconomic aims.

The Theory of Comparative Advantage must be understood in terms of opportunity cost; numerical illustration is not required. Diagrammatic analysis of the effects of tariffs is required. Detailed knowledge of the forms of economic integration, institutional knowledge and legislation is not required, and diagrammatic analysis of trade agreements is not required.

📚 Study these topics: Comparative Advantage | Globalisation | Protectionism | Free Trade Agreements

How H2 Economics (9570) Is Assessed

Two compulsory written papers, five hours of examination time in total. An approved calculator is permitted in both.

Paper	Format	Marks	Weighting	Duration
Paper 1 Case Studies	Two compulsory case studies, 30 marks each (20% each). Each presents two to three pages of textual, numerical or graphical data, followed by six or seven part-questions. About 12 marks per case study are data response; about 18 marks are higher-order.	60	40%	2h 30min
Paper 2 Essays	Six questions across two sections. Answer three: at least one from Section A (mainly microeconomics), at least one from Section B (mainly macroeconomics), and the third from either. Each question is 25 marks, split part (a) 10 marks and part (b) 15 marks.	75	60%	2h 30min
Total	—	135	100%	5h

The Four Assessment Objectives

Every mark in either paper is awarded against one of these four objectives. Understanding them is more useful than memorising any model answer, because they tell you what each sentence you write is for.

AO1

Knowledge & Understanding

Demonstrating knowledge of economic concepts, theories and principles, and stating them correctly.

AO2

Interpretation of Information

Interpreting data in textual, numerical or graphical form, and making valid inferences that respect its limitations.

AO3

Application & Analysis

Applying theory to contemporary issues, perspectives and policy choices, and constructing coherent chains of reasoning.

AO4

Evaluation

Evaluating issues and policy choices critically, recognising unstated assumptions, and synthesising arguments into a well-reasoned judgement.

Where the marks actually sit. In Paper 1, roughly 40% of marks come from questions testing AO1–AO3, and roughly 60% from questions that also test AO4. Paper 2 follows the same split. Evaluation is not a closing paragraph — it is the majority of both papers, and it is where the top mark bands are won or lost.

Source. This breakdown follows the official SEAB Singapore-Cambridge GCE A-Level H2 Economics (9570) syllabus document for the 2026 examination. Always check the current document for the year you are sitting.

Next Steps

Taking H1 instead?

H1 drops Firms, Globalisation and the essay paper entirely — but keeps the same evaluation standard.

H1 Economics Syllabus

Learn the essay technique

Paper 2 is 60% of your grade, and part (b) of every question demands evaluation.

Essay Writing Guide

Practise on real papers

Past A-Level essays and case studies, with worked model answers by Kelvin Hong.

Past Papers & Answers

Get it taught properly

Frameworks, marked scripts and evaluation coaching, with 80–90% of our students scoring an A.

H2 Economics Tuition