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Regenerative Economics x AQA AS/A Level Economics Mapping
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This spreadsheet indicates possible footholds in the AQA AS/A Level Economics specification (7135/7136) for Regenerative Economics content. A Level section numbers are used, with the matching AS numbers in brackets. Note: This is a living document. More Regenerative Economics content will be added as we develop the work. Draft September 2026
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4.1 Individuals, firms, markets and market failure (4.1.1 to 4.1.3)
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AQA AS/A Level Economics SpecificationRegenerative Economics Textbook SectionsAdditional comments
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4.1.1 Economic methodology and the economic problem
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4.1.1.1 Economic methodology (AS 3.1.1.1)1.1.1 The economy and youAQA asks students to consider economics as a social science, how its methods differ from those of the natural sciences, and how value judgements shape decisions and policy. Regenerative Economics starts from the same idea and treats the choice of system boundary, model and indicator as decisions that carry values. Section 1.3.2 gives students a way to see that positive and normative statements are often intertwined.

It might be interesting to contrast the way students' mainstream textbook starts the course, with the way Regenerative Economics starts (Section 1.1.1).
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1.1.2 The embedded economy
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1.3.1 Human nature
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1.3.2 Values in the economy
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4.1.1.2 The nature and purpose of economic activity (AS 3.1.1.2)1.3.3 Human needsAQA describes the purpose of economic activity as producing goods and services to satisfy needs and wants, and frames the key decisions as what, how and for whom to produce. While this is the purpose of some current economic activity, there is a good deal of activity that is not oriented on human needs, but is instead focused on maximising the profits for the owners of capital. This is what capitalism is, and much market-based activity, and some state-based activity (through state capture and corruption) is directed this way.

Regenerative Economics starts from the purpose of meeting human needs within planetary boundaries. Section 1.3.3 distinguishes needs from wants, and Sections 1.3.5 and 1.3.6 show how households, markets, commons and the state each provision for people. You could ask students to answer the what, how and for whom questions separately for each institution.

The two sections here on capitalism help students distinguish between markets and capitalism. The two are not the same thing, and it's important that students understand the difference so that they do not confuse critiques of capitalism, with critiques of all market activity. However, these two sections can make it clear that though the purpose of economic activity SHOULD be to meet the needs of all within planetary boundaries, this is not the case currently.
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1.3.4 Doughnut Economics Model
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1.3.5 Provisioning systems
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1.3.6 Households, markets, state and commons
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3.1.1 Capitalism: definition and development

3.1.2 Capitalism: an evaluation
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4.1.1.3 Economic resources (AS 3.1.1.3)1.2 Ecology and the economy (any/all sections)AQA lists land, labour, capital and enterprise as the factors of production and states that the environment is a scarce resource. You could provide more context about the factors of production by looking more closely at the energy and matter resources needed for production. Subtopic 1.2 has sections that explain basic ecology to help students understand how dependent we are on ecosystems, and the negative impact of our economies on those ecosystems.

Section 1.1.2 shows the economy embedded in society and the living world, which lets students ask whether the environment is best described as one factor of production among four.
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1.1.2 The embedded economy
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4.1.1.4 Scarcity, choice and the allocation of resources (AS 3.1.1.4)1.3.3 Human needsYou could challenge the scarcity starting point of the course by asking whether human needs and wants are really unlimited. AQA states that scarcity results from limited resources and unlimited wants. This assumption underpins mainstream economics, but is contested. Section 4.1.3 looks at how assumptions of scarcity, selfishness and competition shape the way people see the economy, and its further exploration list includes a lecture on the assumption of unlimited wants.

Later, you could challenge students to consider how different the course might look if it started with the concept of sufficiency (Section 1.1.4), rather than scarcity.
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4.1.3 Perspectives on the commons
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1.1.4 Regenerative economies
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1.3.1 Human nature
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4.1.1.5 Production possibility diagrams (AS 3.1.1.5)1.2.7 Planetary boundariesRegenerative Economics does not use production possibility diagrams. Production possibility frontiers encourage binary thinking and do not show ecological limits. AQA asks students to use them to illustrate opportunity cost, unemployed resources and growth, and to explain productive and allocative efficiency, so they need to be taught separately.

It is important that PPF diagrams are NOT used to pose 'the enviornment' against 'the economy'. Healthy Earth systems are a fundamental condition for all economic activity, so putting them in opposition to one another is not helpful to understand ecological embeddedness.
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1.3.4 Doughnut Economics Model
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4.1.2 Individual economic decision making
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4.1.2.1 Consumer behaviour1.3.1 Human nature

1.3.3 Human needs		Utility theory, diminishing marginal utility and utility maximisation are not covered in the Regenerative Economics materials. Section 1.3.1 can be used to challenge and enrich the assumptions about human nature that sit underneath these models, in particular the assumption of the rational, self-interested individual, and unlimited human needs and wants. Human needs are limited, and human wants are socially shaped.
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4.1.2.2 Imperfect information3.1.4 Uses and limitations of marketsRegenerative Economics does not use a market failure approach (see the comments on 4.1.8.2). Section 3.1.4 looks at the uses and limitations of markets, which is a place to discuss what happens when buyers and sellers do not hold the same information. You could use Section 1.3.9 (Power in the economy) to ask how unequal information contributes to unequal bargaining power.
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1.3.9 Power in the economy
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4.1.2.3 Aspects of behavioural economic theory1.3.1 Human natureAQA A Level asks students to consider bounded rationality, biases in decision making, altruism and perceptions of fairness. Section 1.3.1 challenges the view of people as purely self-interested, and Section 1.3.8 (Reciprocity in the economy) is relevant to altruism and fairness. The further exploration list in Section 4.1.3 includes a video on the ultimatum game, a classic behavioural economics experiment, which teachers could run with students.
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1.3.8 Reciprocity in the economy
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4.1.3 Perspectives on the commons
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4.1.2.4 Behavioural economics and economic policyS.8 Leverage points for system changeNudges, choice architecture and default choices change decisions within an existing system. Section S.8 on leverage points can help students compare this kind of intervention with changes to the rules, goals and design of the economic system itself. This gives students a useful evaluation point, because nudges are cheap and targeted but may leave the causes of a problem unchanged.
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1.3.1 Human nature
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4.1.3 Price determination in a competitive market
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4.1.3.1 The determinants of the demand for goods and services (AS 3.1.2.1)3.1.1 The market as a systemRegenerative Economics does not use linear demand/supply analysis. Instead the materials use causal loops with balancing and reinforcing feedback to illustrate the relationships between demand/supply, price and non-price factors.

This approach gives students a more complex and dynamic understanding of markets. It is, however, a significant departure from the specification so must be used carefully, especially as AQA students are expected to draw and use demand and supply diagrams, and can lose many marks on the exam for nitpicky graphing errors.

Here is a research paper that compares using linear supply and demand analysis with causal loop diagrams with secondary students.

AQA notes that consumer decisions are influenced by social and emotional factors. Section 1.3.1 and 1.3.2 can be used to explore this.
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3.1.2 Demand and supply
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1.3.1 Human nature

1.3.3 Human needs
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4.1.3.2 Price, income and cross elasticities of demand (AS 3.1.2.2)3.1.3 ElasticityThe Regenerative Economics materials on elasticity introduce students to the concept and the different elasticity measurements, but spend most of the time on PED. This is because PED is so connected with power dynamics between producers and consumers in markets, and power is one of the key concepts running through the course.
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4.1.3.3 The determinants of the supply of goods and services (AS 3.1.2.3)3.1.2 Demand and supplySee comment above about the approach to markets.
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3.1.1 The market as a system
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4.1.3.4 Price elasticity of supply (AS 3.1.2.4)3.1.3 ElasticitySee comment on 4.1.3.2.
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4.1.3.5 The determination of equilibrium market prices (AS 3.1.2.5)3.1.2 Demand and supplySee comment above about the approach to markets.
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3.1.4 Uses and limitations of markets
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4.1.3.6 The interrelationship between markets (AS 3.1.2.6)3.1.1 The market as a system
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3.1.4 Uses and limitations of markets
3.1.5 Ecologically embedded markets
3.1.6 Socially embedded markets
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