Notes On Price Elasticity And Income Elasticity

When there is a large increase in the price of a product in the short run it results in inelastic demand because there is little time to adjust to the increase and find an alternative product. Let’s say the consumer uses the local bus service to go to work. On the way to work one day he notices that the prices of transportation will double beginning tomorrow. In the short time he may be forced to continue paying the higher prices until he can find alternative transportation. As time passes, the consumer can make alternative choices such as carpooling, working from home, or riding a bike to work; therefore, the cost increase for the transportation would be elastic.

Elastic demand or “elasticity means the extent to which the quantity demanded changes when there’s a change in the price of a good” (Thinkwell, 2013). A product is considered elastic when the change in price increases the percentage change in quantity demanded. When

14. When the price increases from $4 to $6 and the quantity demanded decreases by 2 units, the price elasticity of demand is

            One reason that could have led the ice cream sale to fluctuate could have been due to Price of Related goods. For example, frozen yogurt is a substitute for ice cream, so when the price increases, more ice cream is demanded. However, hot fudge is a compliment for ice cream, therefore when its price goes up, less ice cream is demanded. Second reason leading for the ice cream sale to fluctuate could be due to income. For normal goods, the higher your income, the more you buy. For inferior goods, the higher your income, the less you buy. Taste is another factor. When taste changes, the quantity demands change.  For example, our taste for ice cream might depend on the weather. Expectations are also an important factor.  Expectations about future income or prices affect the quantity demanded today.

The elasticity of demand measures the buyer’s reaction to price as its changing. “Economists measure the degree to which demand is price elastic or inelastic with the coefficient E d, defined as E d = percentage change in quantity demanded of product X/ percentage change in price of product X” (McConnell, C. 2011). Therefore, Ed=∆Qd/∆Pd. When elasticity of demand is measured less than one, demand is considered to be inelastic. The coefficient in an inelastic range is less than one. When this takes place the percentage change in price is more than the percentage change in quantity. It can be said that when inelastic demand is present that quantity becomes less effected by price changing.

Demand for the product is determined by many factors, like pricing, quality, advertising and distribution.

Elasticity is a measure of the responsiveness of demand to changes in the price of a good or service. In the case of Steam Scot, when the price rises from 4 to 5, demand falls from 60,000 to 40,000 units. The original equilibrium market price of 4 pounds resulted in demand of 60,000 units and this generated revenue of 240,000 pounds. When the prices increased to 5 pounds the resulting demand is 40,000 units, and this generates total revenue of 200,000 pounds. When market price changes from 4 pounds to 5 pounds 40,000 pounds of revenue are lost in this indicates an elastic price elasticity of demand.

When the elasticity of demand is elastic, the change in quantity will be greater that the change in price. Hence, the total revenue will reduce with increasing prices and increase as prices decrease. However, if the business offers goods or services with inelastic price elasticity of demand, then the change in quantity demanded will be smaller than the change in price. Consequently, the total revenue, which is a product of the two will increase when

If the product coast a large percentage of the average consumer’s income, people will pay more attention to sale prices because they may be afraid of a fact that if the price keeps rising, they can’t afford it because it is expensive and costs most of their income. It is common that we spend more than $200 on one pair of Nike shoes, which are quite expensive. However, the price of bread is low. Furthermore, one pair of Nike shoes costs more percentage of clients’ income than a piece of bread. If the price declines, people would like to buy more Nike shoes because they can’t afford it in normal time. However, people won’t buy too much bread than before because the bread may go rancid quickly. So people are more sensitive to the price of Nike shoes. As a consequence, all Nike shoes sold in Canada have more elasticity than all bread sold in Canada.

Price elasticity of demand is an economic measure that is used to measure the degree of responsiveness of the quantity demanded of a good to change in its price, when all other influences on buyers remain the same.

There are three kinds of elasticity. There is elastic demand, where the elasticity is over 1. There is unitary elastic, where it is at 1.0. There is inelastic demand, where the elasticity is under 1 (Investopedia, 2013).

Elasticity of demand is measured as the percentage change in quantity demand divided by the percentage change in price .

If the demand for the good or services of the company is elastic then the change in quantity demanded would be greater than a change in price. Let’s say the 10 percent decrease in price will cause increase in demand for 20 percent. The effect of this changes is that customers buying more products of this company. They are buying it for lower price but the price decrease outweigh by increasing quantity of the products or services. In this case the company benefits from these changes by raising profits. On the other hand, if company would raise the prices for the product the quantity will decrease so does the profit.

When the price of a good rises the quality demanded falls, if we think about how much does it falls. To figure out by how much it falls we must calculate the price elasticity of demand which is calculate by how responsive demand is to rise in price. Also, the price elasticity of supply measures the responsiveness of quantity supplied to a change in price.

When price elasticity of demand is elastic, the coefficient will be greater than one. When a percent price change occurs quantity demanded responds strongly there will be a large change in quantities consumers purchase. There is price sensitive in this scenario. If price elasticity of demanded is inelastic the coefficient will be less than one. When a percent price change occurs quantity demanded does not respond strongly then there is a slight change in quantities consumers will purchase. There a weak price sensitive in this scenario. Lastly, if price elasticity of demanded is unit elastic the coefficient will be equal to one. Whenever there is a percent change in price there is an equally matched percent change in quantity demanded. This scenario is rare.