WAEC Economics 2024 past questions

Checked by the Skolra question team · Last updated 23 October 2026

Ten questions from the 2024 WAEC Economics paper, with answers and explanations. We hold 50 questions from this paper, and the Skolra app has all of them.

WAEC Economics 2024 questions and answers

1. 1.

   The function of money that enables credit purchases of goods and services is

   1. A
      Standard of deferred payment
      Correct
   2. B
      Medium of exchange
   3. C
      Store of value
   4. D
      Measure of value
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   Answer: A

   Standard of deferred payment is the function of money that allows goods and services to be bought on credit today and paid for at a future date. Because money keeps a generally stable, recognised value over time, it is acceptable as the unit in which future debts and credit agreements are fixed and settled.

2. 2.

   National income estimates will be understated as a result of the activities of

   1. A
      Tax evaders and smugglers operating in the black market
      Correct
   2. B
      Civil servants receiving salaries through the government payroll
   3. C
      Multinational companies remitting profits to their home countries
   4. D
      Registered manufacturers selling through official distribution channels
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   Answer: A

   National income is built up from figures that firms, workers and traders declare to the tax and statistical authorities. Anything earned but deliberately hidden from those records simply does not appear in the final national income figure, even though real income was actually generated.

3. 3.

   If the coefficient of price elasticity of supply of a commodity is 0.8, then supply is

   1. A
      unitary elastic
   2. B
      perfectly elastic
   3. C
      elastic
   4. D
      inelastic
      Correct
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   Answer: D

   Price elasticity of supply (PES) tells us how responsive quantity supplied is to a change in price. The rule is simple:

   PES = 1 → unitary elastic (proportionate response)
   PES > 1 → elastic (quantity supplied changes by a larger percentage than price)
   PES < 1 → inelastic (quantity supplied changes by a smaller percentage than price)

4. 4.

   If the quantity demanded of rice de- creased from 150 bags to 100 bags, the percentage change in quantity demanded is

   1. A
      66.67%
   2. B
      25%
   3. C
      33.33%
      Correct
   4. D
      50%
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   Answer: C

   Percentage change in quantity demanded is calculated as:

   % change = (Change in quantity ÷ Original quantity) × 100

   Change in quantity = 150 − 100 = 50 bags.
   Original quantity = 150 bags (the quantity demanded before the change).

   % change = (50 ÷ 150) × 100 = 33.33%, a decrease.

5. 5.

   A commodity with perfectly inelastic demand has the burden of tax borne by

   1. A
      the producer alone, since supply always adjusts to absorb taxation
   2. B
      the consumer alone, since quantity demanded does not fall as price rises
      Correct
   3. C
      the consumer and the producer in equal shares
   4. D
      the government, through subsidies that offset the tax
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   Answer: B

   When demand for a commodity is perfectly inelastic, the quantity that buyers demand stays exactly the same no matter how high the price goes. This means buyers have no way of reducing their purchases to avoid a tax.

6. 6.

   One indicator of the low level of cap ital formation in developing countries is

   1. A
      low ratio of savings to national income
      Correct
   2. B
      high rate of population growth
   3. C
      high level of imported consumer goods
   4. D
      low level of foreign exchange earnings
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   Answer: A

   Capital formation means turning savings into investment in capital goods (machinery, factories, infrastructure). A country's capital formation can only be as strong as the savings it can generate and channel into investment.

7. 7.

   Harmonised monetary and fiscal policies is a feature of

   1. A
      Customs union
   2. B
      Common market
   3. C
      Free trade area
   4. D
      Economic union
      Correct
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   Answer: D

   Economic union is correct. In the stages of regional economic integration (free trade area → customs union → common market → economic union → political union), each stage adds a deeper level of cooperation.

8. 8.

   Points within a Production Possibilities Curve (PPC) indicate

   1. A
      Full and efficient utilization of available resources
   2. B
      A level of production that is currently unattainable
   3. C
      Underutilization of available resources
      Correct
   4. D
      A constant rate of economic growth
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   Answer: C

   The Production Possibilities Curve (PPC) shows the maximum combinations of two goods an economy can produce when all its resources are fully and efficiently employed.

9. 9.

   There is scarcity when

   1. A
      resources available exceed the wants they can satisfy
   2. B
      the price of a commodity falls below its equilibrium price
   3. C
      human wants are more than the resources available to satisfy them
      Correct
   4. D
      the supply of a commodity rises above the quantity demanded
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: C

   Scarcity is the basic economic problem: human wants are limitless, but the resources (land, labour, capital, entrepreneurship) available to satisfy those wants are limited. So scarcity exists when human wants are more than the resources available to satisfy them — this is correct.

10. 10.

    Balance of payments is defined as the

    1. A
       total value of goods and services produced within a country in a given year
    2. B
       systematic record of all economic transactions between a country's residents and the rest of the world over a given period
       Correct
    3. C
       excess of government spending over its revenue within a fiscal year
    4. D
       difference between a country's total exports and total imports of visible goods only
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: B

    Balance of payments is the systematic record of all economic (monetary) transactions between the residents of a country and the rest of the world over a given period, usually one year. It covers visible trade (goods), invisible trade (services), and capital/financial flows, not goods alone.

The questions come from past JAMB, WAEC and NECO papers. We use software to help write the answer options and explanations, and every answer is checked twice before it goes on the site. How we check

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