Cross elasticity of demand

In economics, the cross elasticity of demand and cross price elasticity of demand measures the
responsiveness of the demand of a good to a change in the price of another good.

It is measured as the percentage change in demand for the first good that occurs in response to a
percentage change in price of the second good. For example, if, in response to a 10% increase in the
price of fuel, the demand of new cars that are fuel inefficient decreased by 20%, the cross elasticity of
demand would be −20%/10% = −2.

The formula used to calculate the coefficient cross elasticity of demand is

or:

Two goods that complement each other show a negative cross elasticity of demand: as the price of good
Y rises, the demand for good X falls

In the example above, the two goods, fuel and cars(consists of fuel consumption), are complements;
that is, one is used with the other. In these cases the cross elasticity of demand will be negative, as
shown by the decrease in demand for cars when the price of fuel increased. In the case of perfect
complements, the cross elasticity of demand is negative infinity.

Where the two goods are substitutes the cross elasticity of demand will be positive, so that as the price
of one goes up the demand of the other will increase. For example, in response to an increase in the
price of carbonated soft drinks, the demand for non-carbonated soft drinks will rise. In the case of
perfect substitutes, the cross elasticity of demand is equal to infinity.

Where the two goods are independent, the cross elasticity of demand will be zero: as the price of one
good changes, there will be no change in demand for the other good.

When goods are substitutable, the diversion ratio—which quantifies how much of the displaced demand
for product j switches to product i—is measured by the ratio of the cross-elasticity to the own-elasticity
multiplied by the ratio of product i's demand to product j's demand. In the discrete case, the diversion
ratio is naturally interpreted as the fraction of product j demand which treats product i as a second
choice, measuring how much of the demand diverting from product j because of a price increase is
diverted to product i can be written as the product of the ratio of the cross-elasticity to the own-
elasticity and the ratio of the demand for product i to the demand for product j. In some cases, it has a
natural interpretation as the proportion of people buying product j who would consider product i their
"second choice".