Paper 4 — The Global Economy

Topic frequency

How often each topic actually gets tested

Not an official Pearson weighting — Pearson doesn’t publish one for this paper. This is what this course’s own research found by reading real mark schemes and examiner reports series by series, counted honestly rather than assumed. Use it to prioritise review time, not to assume a topic near the bottom won’t appear.

Richest by series count

  • Balance of payments, exchange rates and international competitiveness

    4.3.3.1–4.3.3.3

    Seen in 10 of 14 series checked (Jan 2021, Oct 2021, Jan 2022, Jun 2022, Oct 2022, Oct 2023, Jan 2024, Jun 2024, Oct 2024, Jan 2025) — the deepest, most consistent Section B/C coverage in the archive. More often a Section B source-response booklet on a real country's currency or BoP story (7 of the 10 hits) than a Section C essay, though three distinct 20-mark essay types exist: current-account deficit, current-account surplus, and competitiveness factors.

  • Growth and development: measures (HDI), constraints, and strategies (market-orientated, interventionist, institutions)

    4.3.6.1–4.3.6.3

    Seen in 10 of 14 series checked, combining measures, constraints, strategies and institutions as the one lesson teaches them. Section A tests classification (Harrod-Domar vs Lewis, confused in both directions across two series) rather than definitions; Section C's four 20-mark essays always pair a real, named country's HDI figures with the theory and carry a country-gate, sometimes two stacked.

Also very heavily tested

  • Poverty and inequality

    4.3.4.1–4.3.4.2

    Seen in 9 of 14 series checked, combining both sub-points — poverty's bare definitions alone in 2 of 14, inequality's Lorenz-curve/Gini/causes content in 7 of 14. Causes of income inequality is this topic's recurring 20-mark Section C slot, confirmed in four series, always 12 KAA + 8 Evaluation with a country-gate; every Section A MCQ tests reading the direction of a shift, not just a static diagram.

  • Terms of trade, trade liberalisation and trading blocs, and restrictions on free trade

    4.3.2.3–4.3.2.5

    Uneven within this one bundled lesson: terms of trade alone is the strongest sub-point, seen in 8 of 14 series and named the single weakest-answered Section A MCQ in 5 of 13 examiner reports — a ninth series (Jan 2021 Q8) has since been found independently, not yet folded into either count. Trading blocs (2 of 14) and restrictions on free trade (5 of 14) are each thinner on their own; every trading-bloc citation is anchored to a real, named bloc and country.

Solidly, repeatedly tested

  • The role of the state: public expenditure, taxation, public sector borrowing and debt, and macroeconomic policies

    4.3.5.1–4.3.5.4

    Seen in 7 of 14 series checked, deduplicating across all four sub-points. A national-debt or fiscal-deficit Q7(a)/(b) calculation-and-definition opener is the dominant entry point (4 of the 7 series); a 20-mark Section C essay is rarer, confirmed only twice inside the archive (both on taxation). Public expenditure alone has zero standalone hits inside the 14-series archive itself.

  • Trade theory and comparative advantage

    4.3.2.1

    Seen in 5 of 14 series checked (Oct 2020, Jan 2022, Oct 2021, Oct 2024, Jan 2025) — this topic's own dedicated brief corrects the paper-wide table's 'Sec A MCQ only, 4 of 14' row after finding a fifth, essay-length citation (Oct 2021 Q9) the table had missed. A Section A MCQ, usually well-answered, is the dominant shape unless it takes the form of an opportunity-cost data table, which has been the weakest or near-weakest question of its series twice.

Thinner, but examinable

  • Globalisation: characteristics, causes and effects

    4.3.1

    Stated honestly rather than rounded to one number: seen in 3 of 14 series at high confidence (Jan 2022, Jun 2022, Oct 2022), or 4 of 14 counting one medium-confidence FDI citation (Oct 2024) — narrower than the paper-wide table's own 'seen in 5 of 14,' which this topic's own brief does not adopt, since the fifth series it counts (Oct 2021) traces to a question graded as anchored to a different spec point. The lowest-confirmed topic on this paper.