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Research Report: the Price Elasticity of Demand

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Managerial Economics Research Report: The Price Elasticity of Demand

The Price Elasticity of Demand: 1. Introduction: 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. Elasticity of demand helps the sales manager in fixing the price of his product, deciding the sales, pricing policies and optimal price for their products. The evaluation of this measure is a useful tool for firms in making decisions about pricing and production which will determine the total …show more content…

Hence, when the price is raised, the total revenue falls to zero. For better understanding let us illustrate the graph. A set of graphs shows the relationship between demand and total revenue (TR) for a linear demand curve. As price decreases in the elastic range, TR increases, but in the inelastic range, TR decreases. TR is maximized at the quantity where PED = 1. Hence, as the accompanying diagram shows, total revenue is maximized at the combination of price and quantity demanded where the elasticity of demand is unitary. Since firms facing an elastic demand can increase total revenue when they cut prices, the opposite condition exists when they try to raise prices. With many substitutes in consumption available, a price increase leads to a significant decline in consumption - the percentage change in quantity demanded exceeds the percentage change in price. Producers that raise prices when facing an elastic demand will find that total revenues decrease as the gain from charging higher prices is more than offset by a desertion of consumers to cheaper substitutes, with sales and output falling. When price

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