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Home > Edgenie Sunday Schroll: Newsletter > " Don't Waste Your Summer! 🌞?"

Welcome to the 95th edition of our Newsletter EdGenie's 📜 Sunday Scroll...

Every Sunday I send out actionable tips, tricks and real-world application insights from my 15 year experience coaching students to achieve As and A*s in their Economics A Levels via EdGenie.

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"Don't Waste Your Summer! 🌞"

Hey Genies, 👋

Last week I asked how your end-of-year exams or mocks went.

Some of you had good grades and some didn't achieve the grades you wanted.

Let's change that now.

Although, they shouldn't really play a humungous role in your predicted grades because it's 5-6 months before you apply for universities/apprenticeships.

...In a lot of scenarios... it does.

So by September/October, you need to provide what I like to call:

'That undeniable stack of proof' to your teachers, that you are worthy of achieving an A or A* in your final exams...

I actually got this from my hero Alex Hormozi!

Why do I say this?

Because if you have proof that you are improving, well guess what – they will be more inclined to give you a higher predicted grade.

So your next question should be:

"Well, how do I do that now?

I'm going into my summer holidays and don't have school, and the next time I see my teachers is in September where we will be tested."

I'm afraid you have to work throughout the summer.

  • Small, consistent efforts every other day or 2-3 times a week. Look at your mainframe:What went wrong in Year 12? What did I do well? Review where you were getting your guidance from and change it if you feel like you didn't do the work. 📝

  • Go over Year 12 Economics topics in detail – especially the ones you don't understand.Maybe the harder areas like market failure or macro policies – run through them in depth. 📚

  • Do question practice on them and get feedforward (constructive feedback). This is crucial for improvement. 🧠 This is the most important one.

  • Keep abreast of real-world application: We partnered with FT and The Economist (you get this free if you enrol with EdGenie). Ensure you are applying the news to the theory that you've learnt (The articles you read will come up in your exam) 🌐

  • Something really simple: Engage in discussions about current economic trends. The elections were this week – think about what this might mean for the economy and its different economic agents. 🗣️

If you just do these 5 things a a couple times a week and you have the right guidance throughout - by the time September comes around, you will be a completely different student, proving to your teachers, you are worthy of that top grade

Make your summer count.

Don’t waste it.

Best Regards,

Emre

​Airlines’ favourite new pricing trick

Summary

😊Airlines’ History of Price Discrimination
Airlines have long used price discrimination to boost profits by charging different prices based on booking behaviour and flexibility.
👩‍💼 Targeting Solo Business Travellers
Major US airlines—American, Delta, and United—have recently been charging higher fares to solo travellers, especially during weekdays.🧳
😠 Backlash from the Travel Community
Travel bloggers criticised the practice, calling it “greedy” and demanding government intervention. Delta and United backed off after criticism, but American Airlines persisted.
📊 Data Investigation Confirms the Strategy
The Economist analysed 19,000 fares across 3,200 routes and found that American and United still charge more per person for solo weekday travellers.
📈🪙 American Airlines Leads in Solo Fare Hikes
American applied the tactic most aggressively: on 57% of its routes, solo travellers paid at least 5% more—especially where there was no competition from low-cost airlines like Southwest.
🔄 Weekend Travel Offers Better Deals
Round-trip prices dropped significantly for both solo and paired travellers when the return leg was on Saturday, showing airlines tailor prices by expected demand.
💡 Unintended Consequences of Criticism
Public complaints led rivals to abandon the tactic, but rather than lower solo fares, they raised group prices—highlighting how exposure doesn’t always benefit consumers.

A Level Economics Questions:

Q. Define price discrimination and explain how airlines use it to increase revenue.
A. Price discrimination is when a firm charges different prices to different consumers for the same product, not based on cost. Airlines use third-degree price discrimination by segmenting travellers by characteristics like time of travel or group size. For example, solo weekday travellers—typically business passengers—are charged higher fares than weekend or group travellers. This allows airlines to extract more consumer surplus and increase total revenue.

Q. Using a diagram, show how a firm with market power can charge different prices to different consumer groups.
A. The diagram should show a monopolist with separate demand curves for two consumer groups (e.g. business vs leisure travellers), with a higher price and lower quantity for the inelastic group. The firm maximises profit where MR = MC for each group, setting a higher price for the inelastic demand. This reflects how airlines charge business travellers more than leisure travellers on the same route.

Q. Explain two conditions necessary for a firm to successfully implement third-degree price discrimination.
A. Firstly, the firm must have some degree of market power to set prices above marginal cost. Airlines like American and United operate in oligopolistic markets where they can influence price. Secondly, the firm must be able to separate markets and prevent resale. In this case, ticket names and boarding IDs prevent arbitrage. They can identify solo weekday travellers—often business clients—and charge them more based on expected willingness to pay.

Q. Using the example from the airline industry, explain how the elasticity of demand affects the firm’s pricing strategy.A. Business travellers usually have inelastic demand because their travel is urgent and paid for by employers. Airlines exploit this by charging them more, especially on weekday routes with fewer leisure travellers. Leisure travellers, who are more price-sensitive, are charged lower fares—especially on weekends or in groups. This use of PED lets firms maximise revenue by adjusting prices across different elasticities.

​​Q. Evaluate the extent to which price discrimination benefits consumers in the airline industry.
A.Price discrimination can benefit some consumers through lower fares—e.g. weekend or group travellers who get cheaper rates. It also helps firms cover fixed costs and maintain services on low-demand routes. However, solo travellers face higher prices simply due to their travel pattern, not consumption level, raising equity concerns. Transparency is low, and information asymmetries make it hard for consumers to compare. Overall, while some benefit, others—often without alternatives—are worse off, limiting net consumer gain.

Possible A Level Economics 25 Marker Question

Evaluate the consequences of reduced competition in oligopolistic markets such as the airline industry. (25 marks) 

Infographic of the Week

AI, Automation, and the Jobs of Tomorrow: The 15 Fastest Growing Careers by 2030

According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, the global labour market is undergoing a dramatic shift driven by artificial intelligence and robotics. The fastest growing roles between 2025 and 2030 are led by Big Data Specialists (+110%), followed by FinTech Engineers (+95%) and AI & Machine Learning Specialists (+85%). Almost all of the top 15 roles—including DevOps Engineers, Data Analysts, Cybersecurity Experts, and Renewable Energy Engineers—are technology-related, reflecting soaring demand for digital, data, and automation skills. While software development and information security remain vital, the findings suggest that future career growth will be overwhelmingly shaped by technological transformation, sustainability concerns, and the need for agile data-driven innovation across sectors.

Chart of the Week

Overshoot and Inequality: How Wealthy Nations Drain the Earth’s Resources Fast

Earth Overshoot Day in 2025 falls on July 24, marking the point where humanity’s demand for ecological resources exceeds what the planet can regenerate in a year. This means that from July onwards, we are effectively living beyond our environmental means. New data from the Global Footprint Network highlights the alarming disparity in resource consumption between countries. Wealthier, industrialised nations such as Qatar reach their national overshoot day shockingly early—by 6 February—while more sustainable countries like Uruguay don’t reach theirs until December. The analysis accounts for each country’s available biocapacity and the ecological footprint of its citizens, including demands for food, timber, energy, infrastructure, and waste absorption. The findings underscore not only the urgency of global sustainability efforts but also the deep-rooted inequality in how natural resources are consumed.

Macroeconomic Data


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A huge thanks for hopping on board EdGenie's Wednesday Wisdoms newsletter! 
I'm Emre, and I've got a big goal - to make A* education accessible to all A-level students.
And it Starts With You!

Emre Aksahin
Chief Learning Officer at Edgenie