(REVIEWER PRELIM) BMGT 101: BASIC MICROECONOMICS

PRINCIPLE OF ECONOMICS BY N. Gregory Mankiw

● C H A P T E R 1: ECONOMICS
What Economics Is All About
▪ Scarcity: the limited nature of society’s resources
▪ Economics: the study of how society manages its scarce resources, e.g.
▪how people decide what to buy, how much to work, save, and spend
▪how firms decide how much to produce, how many workers to hire
▪how society decides how to divide its resources between national defense, consumer goods,
protecting the environment, and other needs

THE PRINCIPLES OF HOW PEOPLE MAKE DECISIONS.

● Principle #1: People Face Tradeoffs
All decisions involve trade offs. Examples:
▪ Going to a party the night before your midterm leaves less time for studying.
▪ Having more money to buy stuff requires working longer hours, which leaves less time for
leisure.
▪ Protecting the environment requires resources that could otherwise be used to produce
consumer goods.
▪ Society faces an important tradeoff:
efficiency vs. equality
▪ Efficiency: when society gets the most from its scarce resources
▪ Equality: when prosperity is distributed uniformly among society’s members
▪ Tradeoff: To achieve greater equality, could redistribute income from wealthy to poor. But this
reduces incentive to work and produce, shrinks the size of the economic “pie.”
Fair isn't Equal
"Fair is when every one gets what they need."

● Principle #2: The Cost of Something Is What You Give Up to Get It

▪ Making decisions requires comparing the costs and benefits of alternative choices.
▪ The opportunity cost of any item is whatever must be given up to obtain it.
▪ It is the relevant cost for decision making.
Examples:
The opportunity cost of…
…going to college for a year is not just the tuition, books, and fees, but also the foregone
wages.
…seeing a movie is not just the price of the ticket, but the value of the time you spend in the
theater.

● Principle #3: Rational People Think at the Margin

Rational people
▪ systematically and purposefully do the best they can to achieve their objectives.
▪ make decisions by evaluating costs and benefits of marginal changes – incremental
adjustments to an existing plan.
Examples:
▪ When a student considers whether to go to college for an additional year, he compares the
fees & foregone wages to the extra income he could earn with the extra year of education.
▪ When a manager considers whether to increase output, she compares the cost of the needed
labor and materials to the extra revenue.

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 ● Principle #4: People Respond to Incentives
▪ Incentive: something that induces a person to act, i.e. the prospect of a reward or punishment.
▪ Rational people respond to incentives.
Examples:
▪When gas prices rise, consumers buy more hybrid cars and fewer gas guzzling SUVs.
▪When cigarette taxes increase, teen smoking falls.

THE PRINCIPLES OF HOW PEOPLE INTERACT

● Principle #5: Trade Can Make Everyone Better Off
▪ Rather than being self-sufficient, people can specialize in producing one good or service and
exchange it for other goods.
▪ Countries also benefit from trade & specialization:
▪ Get a better price abroad for goods they produce
▪ Buy other goods more cheaply from abroad than could be produced at home.

● Principle #6: Markets Are Usually A Good Way to Organize Economic Activity
▪ Market: a group of buyers and sellers (need not be in a single location)
▪ “Organize economic activity” means determining
▪what goods to produce
▪how to produce them
▪how much of each to produce
▪who gets them
▪ A market economy allocates resources through the decentralized decisions of many
households and firms as they interact in markets.
▪ Famous insight by Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (1776): Each of these households
and firms acts as if “led by an invisible hand” to promote general economic well-being.
▪ The invisible hand works through the price system:
▪ The interaction of buyers and sellers determines prices.
▪ Each price reflects the good’s value to buyers and the cost of producing the good.
▪ Prices guide self-interested households and firms to make decisions that, in many cases,
maximize society’s economic well-being.
● Principle #7: Governments Can Sometimes Improve Market Outcomes
▪Important role for govt: enforce property rights (with police, courts)
▪People are less inclined to work, produce, invest, or purchase if large risk of their property
being stolen.
▪Market failure: when the market fails to allocate society’s resources efficiently
▪Causes:
▪ Externalities, when the production or consumption of a good affects bystanders (e.g.
pollution)
▪ Market power, a single buyer or seller has
substantial influence on market price (e.g. monopoly)
▪ In such cases, public policy may promote efficiency.
▪ Govt may alter market outcome to promote equity
▪ If the market’s distribution of economic well-being is not desirable, tax or welfare policies can
change how the economic “pie” is divided.

THE PRINCIPLES OF HOW THE ECONOMY AS A WHOLE WORKS

● Principle #8: A country’s standard of living depends on its ability to produce
goods & services.
▪ Huge variation in living standards across countries and over time:
▪ Average income in rich countries is more than ten times average income in poor countries.

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 ▪ The U.S. standard of living today is about eight times larger than 100 years ago.
▪ The most important determinant of living standards: productivity, the amount of goods and
services produced per unit of labor.
▪ Productivity depends on the equipment, skills, and technology available to workers.
▪ Other factors (e.g., labor unions, competition from abroad) have far less impact on living
standards.

● Principle #9: Prices rise when the government prints too much money.
▪ Inflation: increases in the general level of prices.
▪ In the long run, inflation is almost always caused by excessive growth in the quantity of money,
which causes the value of money to fall.
▪ The faster the govt creates money, the greater the inflation rate.

● Principle #10: Society faces a short-run tradeoff between inflation and

unemployment
▪ In the short-run (1 – 2 years), many economic policies push inflation and unemployment in
opposite directions.
▪ Other factors can make this tradeoff more or less favorable, but the tradeoff is always present.

CHAPTER SUMMARY
The principles of decision making are:
▪ People face tradeoffs.
▪ The cost of any action is measured in terms of foregone opportunities.
▪ Rational people make decisions by comparing marginal costs and marginal benefits.
▪ People respond to incentives.
The principles of interactions among people are:
▪ Trade can be mutually beneficial.
▪ Markets are usually a good way of coordinating trade.
▪ Govt can potentially improve market outcomes if there is a market failure or if the market
outcome is inequitable.
The principles of the economy as a whole are:
▪ Productivity is the ultimate source of living standards.
▪ Money growth is the ultimate source of inflation.
▪ Society faces a short-run tradeoff between inflation and unemployment.

● CHAPTER 2: THINKING LIKE AN ECONOMIST

The Economist as Scientist

Economists play two roles:
1. Scientists: try to explain the world
2. Policy advisors: try to improve it
In the first, economists employ the scientific method, the dispassionate development and
testing of theories about how the world works.

Assumptions & Models

▪ Assumptions simplify the complex world, make it easier to understand.
▪Example: To study international trade, assume two countries and two goods. Unrealistic, but
simple to learn and gives useful insights about the real world.
▪Model: a highly simplified representation of a more complicated reality. Economists use models
to study economic issues.

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 Some Familiar Models
▪A road map
▪A model of human anatomy from high school biology class
▪A model Airplane
▪The model teeth at the dentist’s office

Our First Model:

The Circular-Flow Diagram
▪ The Circular-Flow Diagram: a visual model of the economy, shows how dollars flow through
markets among households and firms
▪ Two Types Of “Actors”:
▪ households
▪ firms
▪ Two markets:
▪ the market for goods and services
▪ the market for “factors of production”
▪ Factors of production: the resources the economy uses to produce goods & services,
including;
▪ labor
▪ land
▪ capital (buildings & machines used in production)

FIGURE 1: The Circular-Flow Diagram

Households:
Own the factors of production,
sell/rent them to firms for income
Buy and consume goods & services
Firms:
Buy/hire factors of production,
use them to produce goods
and services
Sell goods & services

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 Our Second Model:
The Production Possibilities Frontier
▪The Production Possibilities Frontier (PPF): a graph that shows the combinations of two
goods the economy can possibly produce given the available resources and the available
technology
▪ Example: (1)
▪ Two goods: computers and wheat
▪One resource: labor (measured in hours)
▪ Economy has 50,000 labor hours
per month available for production.

(2)

ACTIVELEARNING1
Points off the PPF:
A. On the graph, find the point that
represents (100 computers, 3000 tons of
wheat), label it F.
Would it be possible for the economy to
produce this combination of the two goods?
Why or why not?
B. Next, find the point that represents (300 computers, 3500 tons of wheat), label it G.
Would it be possible for the economy to produce this combination of the two goods?

Answers:
• Point F:100
computers,
3000 tons wheat
• Point F requires
40,000 hours of labor.
Possible but
not efficient: could
get more of either
good w/o sacrificing
any of the other

• Point G: 300 computers,

3500 tons wheat
• Point G: requires 65,000
hours of labor. Not possible
because economy only has
50,000 hours.

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 The PPF: What We Know So Far
Points on the PPF (like A – E)
• possible
• efficient: all resources are fully utilized
Points under the PPF (like F)
• possible
• not efficient: some resources underutilized (e.g., workers unemployed, factories idle)
Points above the PPF (like G)
• not possible

The PPF and Opportunity Cost

• Recall: The opportunity cost of an item is what must be given up to obtain that item.
• Moving along a PPF involves shifting resources (e.g., labor) from the production of one good
to the other.
• Society faces a tradeoff: Getting more of one good requires sacrificing some of the other.
• The slope of the PPF tells you the opportunity cost of one good in terms of the other.
•The slope of a line equals the “rise over the run,” the amount the line rises when you move to
the right by one unit. Here, the opportunity cost of a computer is 10 tons of wheat.

Economic Growth and the PPF

With additional resources or an improvement
in technology, the economy can
produce more computers,more wheat,
or any combination in between.

The Shape of the PPF

• The PPF could be a straight line, or bow-shaped
• Depends on what happens to opportunity cost as economy shifts resources from one industry
to the other.
• If opp. cost remains constant, PPF is a straight line. (In the previous example, opp. cost of a
computer was always 10 tons of wheat.)
• If opp. cost of a good rises as the economy produces more of the good, PPF is bow-shaped.

Why the PPF Might Be Bow-Shaped

As the economy shifts resources from beer to mountain bikes:
• PPF becomes steeper
• opp. cost of mountain bikes increases

At point A, most workers are producing beer, even those that

are better suited to building bikes. So, do not haveto give up
much beer to get more bikes.

At B, most workers are producing bikes. The few left in beer

are the best brewers. Producing more
bikes would require shifting some of the best
brewers away from beer production, would
cause a big drop in beer output.

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• So, PPF is bow-shaped when different workers have different skills, different opportunity costs
of producing one good in terms of the other.
• The PPF would also be bow-shaped when there is some other resource, or mix of resources
with varying opportunity costs(E.g., different types of land suited for different uses).

THE PPF: A SUMMARY

• The PPF shows all combinations of two goods that an economy can possibly produce, given
its resources and technology.
• The PPF illustrates the concepts of tradeoff and opportunity cost, efficiency and inefficiency,
unemployment, and economic growth.
• A bow-shaped PPF illustrates the concept of increasing opportunity cost.

MICROECONOMICS AND MACROECONOMICS

• Microeconomics is the study of how households and firms make decisions and how they
interact in markets.
• Macroeconomics is the study of economy-wide phenomena, including inflation, unemployment,
and economic growth.
• These two branches of economics are closely intertwined, yet distinct – they address different
questions.

THE ECONOMIST AS POLICY ADVISOR

• As scientists, economists make positive statements, which attempt to describe the world as it
is.
• As policy advisors, economists make normative statements, which attempt to prescribe how
the world should be.
• Positive statements can be confirmed or refuted, normative statements cannot.
• Govt employs many economists for policy advice. E.g., the U.S. President has a Council of
Economic Advisors, which the author of this textbook chaired
from 2003 to 2005.

WHY ECONOMISTS DISAGREE

• Economists often give conflicting policy advice.
• They sometimes disagree about the validity of alternative positive theories about the world.
• They may have different values and, therefore, different normative views about what policy
should try to accomplish.
• Yet, there are many propositions about which most economists agree.

Propositions about Which Most Economists Agree (and % who agree)

• A ceiling on rents reduces the quantity and quality of housing available. (93%)
• Tariffs and import quotas usually reduce general economic welfare. (93%)
• The United States should not restrict employers from outsourcing work to foreign countries.
(90%)
• The United States should eliminate agriculture subsidies. (85%)
• The gap between Social Security funds and expenditures will become unsustainably large
within the next fifty years if current policies remain unchanged. (85%)
• A large federal budget deficit has an adverse effect on the economy. (83%)
• A minimum wage increases unemployment among young and unskilled workers. (79%)
• Effluent taxes and marketable pollution permits represent a better approach to pollution control
than imposition of pollution ceilings. (78%)

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 FYI: WHO STUDIES ECONOMICS?
Ronald Reagan, President of the United States
Barbara Boxer, U.S. Senator
Sandra Day-O’Connor, Former Supreme Court Justice
Anthony Zinni, Former General, U.S. Marine Corps
Kofi Annan, Former Secretary General, United Nations
Meg Witman, Chief Executive Officer, eBay
Steve Ballmer, Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California, Actor
Ben Stein, Political Speechwriter, Actor, Game Show Host
Mick Jagger, Singer for the Rolling Stones
John Elway, NFL Quarterback
Tiger Woods, Golfer
Diane von Furstenburg, Fashion Designer
CHAPTER SUMMARY
• As scientists, economists try to explain the world using models with appropriate assumptions.
• Two simple models are the Circular-Flow Diagram and the Production Possibilities Frontier.
• Microeconomics studies the behavior of consumers and firms, and their interactions in
markets. Macroeconomics studies the economy as a whole.
• As policy advisers, economists offer advice on how to improve the world.

● CHAPTER 3: INTERDEPENDENCE AND THE GAINS FROM TRADE

Imagine that there are two goods in the world: meat and potatoes. And there are two people in
the world—a cattle rancher and a potato farmer—each of whom would like to eat both meat and
potatoes.The gains from trade are most obvious if the rancher can produce only meat and the
farmer can produce only potatoes. In one scenario, the rancher and the farmer could choose to
have nothing to do with each other. But after several months of eating beef roasted, boiled,
broiled, and grilled, the rancher might decide that self-sufficiency is not all it’s cracked up to be.
The farmer, who has been eating potatoes mashed, fried, baked, and scalloped, would likely
agree. It is easy to see that trade would allow them to enjoy greater variety: Each could then
have a steak with a baked potato or a burger with fries.Suppose, for example, that the potato
farmer is able to raise cattle and produce meat, but that he is not very good at it. Similarly,
suppose that the cattle rancher is able to grow potatoes but that her land is not very well suited
for it. In this case, the farmer and the rancher can each benefit by specializing in what he or she
does best and then trading with the other. The gains from trade are less obvious, however,
when one person is better at producing every good. For example, suppose that the rancher is
better at raising cattle and better at growing potatoes than the farmer. In this case, should the
rancher choose to remain self-sufficient? Or is there still reason for her to trade with the farmer?
To answer this question, we need to look more closely at the factors that affect such a decision.

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 ● CHAPTER 4: THE MARKET FORCES OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND
Markets and Competition
• A market is a group of buyers and sellers of a particular product.
• A competitive market is one with many buyers and sellers, each has a negligible effect on
price.
• In a perfectly competitive market:
• All goods exactly the same
• Buyers & sellers so numerous that no one can affect market price – each is a “price taker”
• In this chapter, we assume markets are perfectly competitive.

Demand
• The quantity demanded of any good is the amount of the good that buyers are willing and able
to purchase.
• Law of demand: the claim that the quantity demanded of a good falls when the price of the
good rises, other things equal

The Demand Schedule

• Demand schedule: a table that shows the relationship between the price of a good and the
quantity demanded
Example:
Helen’s demand for lattes. Notice that Helen’s preferences obey the Law of Demand
Price of Quantity of
lattes lattes
demanded

$0.00 16
1.00 14
2.00 12
3.00 10
4.00 8
5.00 6
6.00 4

MARKET DEMAND VERSUS INDIVIDUAL DEMAND

• The quantity demanded in the market is the sum of the quantities demanded by all buyers at
each price.
• Suppose Helen and Ken are the only two buyers in the Latte market. (Qd = quantity demanded

PRICE Helen's Qd Ken's Qd Market Qd

$0.00 16 + 8 = 24
1.00 14 + 7 = 21
6.00 12 + 6 = 18
5.00 10 + 5 = 15
4.00 8 + 4 = 12
3.00 6 + 3 = 9
2.00 4 + 2 = 6
DEMAND CURVE SHIFTERS

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• The demand curve shows how price affects quantity demanded, other things being equal.
• These “other things” are non-price determinants of demand (i.e., things that determine buyers’
demand for a good, other than the good’s price).
• Changes in them shift the D curve…

Demand Curve Shifters: # of Buyers

• Increase in # of buyers increases quantity demanded at each price,
shifts D curve to the right.
• Suppose the number of buyers increases. Then, at each P, Qd
will increase (by 5 in this example).

Demand Curve Shifters: Income

• Demand for a normal good is positively related to income.
• Increase in income causes increase in quantity demanded at each price, shifts D curve to the
right.
(Demand for an inferior good is negatively related to income. An increase in income shifts D
curves for inferior goods to the left.)

Demand Curve Shifters: Prices Of Related Goods

• Two goods are substitutes if an increase in the price of one causes an increase in demand for
the other.
Example: pizza and hamburgers. An increase in the price of pizza increases demand for
hamburgers, shifting hamburger demand curve to the right.
Other examples: Coke and Pepsi, laptops and desktop computers, CDs and music download

• Two goods are complements if an increase in the price of one

causes a fall in demand for the other.
Example: computers and software. If price of computers rises, people buy fewer computers,
and therefore less software. Software demand curve shifts left.
Other examples: college tuition and textbooks, bagels and cream cheese, eggs and bacon

Demand Curve Shifters: Tastes

• Anything that causes a shift in tastes toward a good will increase demand for that good and
shift its D curve to the right.
Example: The Atkins diet became popular in the ’90s, caused an increase in demand for
eggs, shifted the egg demand curve to the right.

Demand Curve Shifters: Expectations

• Expectations affect consumers’ buying decisions.
Examples:
If people expect their incomes to rise, their demand for meals at expensive restaurants may
increase now. If the economy sours and people worry about their future job security, demand for
new autos may fall now.

SUMMARY: VARIABLES THAT INFLUENCE BUYERS

Variable: A change in this variable…:
Price …causes a movement along the D curve
# of buyers …shifts the D curve
Income …shifts the D curve
Price ofrelated goods …shifts the D curve

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 Tastes …shifts the D curve
Expectations …shifts the D curve
SUPPLY
• The quantity supplied of any good is the amount that sellers are willing and able to sell.
• Law of supply: the claim that the quantity supplied of a good rises when the price of the good
rises, other things equal.

THE SUPPLY SCHEDULE

Supply Schedule: A table that shows the relationship between
the price of a good and the quantity supplied.
Example: Starbucks’ supply of lattes. Notice that Starbucks’
supply schedule obeys the Law of Supply.

MARKET SUPPLY VERSUS INDIVIDUAL SUPPLY

• The quantity supplied in the market is the sum of
the quantities supplied by all sellers at each price.
• Suppose Starbucks and Jitters are the only two
sellers in this market. (Qs = quantity supplied)

Supply Curve Shifters

• The supply curve shows how price affects quantity supplied, other things being equal.
• These “other things” are non-price determinants of supply.
• Changes in them shift the S curve…

Supply Curve Shifters: Input Prices

• Examples of input prices: wages, prices of raw materials.
• A fall in input prices makes production more profitable at each
output price, so firms supply a larger quantity at each price, and
the S curve shifts to the right.

Supply Curve Shifters: Technology

• Technology determines how much inputs are required to produce a unit of output.
• A cost-saving technological improvement has the same effect as a fall in input prices, shifts S
curve to the right.

Supply Curve Shifters: # Of Sellers

• An increase in the number of sellers increases the quantity supplied at each price, shifts S
curve to the right.

Supply Curve Shifters: Expectations

Example:
Events in the Middle East lead to expectations of higher oil prices.
• In response, owners of Texas oil fields reduce supply now, save some inventory to sell later at
the higher price.
• S curve shifts left.
In general, sellers may adjust supply* when their expectations of future prices change. (*If good
not perishable)

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Summary: Variables that Influence Sellers
Variable A change in this variable…
Price …causes a movement along the curve
Input Prices …shifts the S curve
Technology …shifts the S curve
# of Seller …shifts the S curve (5)
Expectations …shifts the S curve

(1)

(6)

(2)

(7)

(3)

(8)

(4)

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(9) (10)

(12)
(11)

(13)

TERMS FOR SHIFT VS. MOVEMENT ALONG CURVE

• Change in supply: a shift in the S curveoccurs when a non-price determinant of supply
changes (like technology or costs)
• Change in the quantity supplied:a movement along a fixed S curve occurs when P changes
• Change in demand: a shift in the D curveoccurs when a non-price determinant of demand
changes (like income or # of buyers)
• Change in the quantity demanded:a movement along a fixed D curve occurs when P changes

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 CONCLUSION:
How Prices Allocate Resources
• One of the Ten Principles from Chapter 1:
• Markets are usually a good way to organize economic activity.
• In market economies, prices adjust to balance supply and demand. These equilibrium prices
are the signals that guide economic decisions and thereby allocate scarce resources.

CHAPTER SUMMARY
• A competitive market has many buyers and sellers, each of whom has little or no influence on
the market price.
• Economists use the supply and demand model to analyze competitive markets.
• The downward-sloping demand curve reflects the Law of Demand, which states that the
quantity buyers demand of a good depends negatively on the good’s price
• Besides price, demand depends on buyers’ incomes, tastes, expectations, the prices of
substitutes and complements, and number of buyers. If one of these factors changes, the D
curve shifts.
• The upward-sloping supply curve reflects the Law of Supply, which states that the quantity
sellers supply depends positively on the good’s price.
• Other determinants of supply include input prices, technology, expectations, and the # of
sellers. Changes in these factors shift the S curve. • The intersection of S and D curves
determines the market equilibrium. At the equilibrium price, quantity supplied equals quantity
demanded.
• If the market price is above equilibrium, a surplus results, which causes the price to fall. If the
market price is below equilibrium, a shortage results, causing the price to rise.
• We can use the supply-demand diagram to analyze the effects of any event on a market:
First, determine whether the event shifts one or both curves. Second, determine the direction of
the shifts. Third, compare the new equilibrium to the initial one.
• In market economies, prices are the signals that guide economic decisions and allocate scarce
resources.

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 ● CHAPTER 5:ELASTICITY AND ITS APPLICATION

Elasticity
Basic idea: (1)
Elasticity measures how much one variable
responds to changes in another variable.
One type of elasticity measures how much
demand for your websites will fall if you raise
your price.
Definition:
Elasticity is a numerical measure of the
responsiveness of Qd or Qs to one of its
determinants.

(2)
(3)

(4) (5)

(6) (7)

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WHAT DETERMINES PRICE ELASTICITY?
To learn the determinants of price elasticity,
we look at a series of examples. •Each compares two common goods. In each example:
•Suppose the prices of both goods rise by 20%.
•The good for which Qd falls the most (in percent) has the highest price elasticity of demand.
Which good is it? Why?
• What lesson does the example teach us about the determinants of the price elasticity of
demand?

EXAMPLE 1:
Breakfast cereal vs. Sunscreen
The prices of both of these goods rise by 20%. For which good does Qd drop the most? Why?
• Breakfast cereal has close substitutes (e.g., pancakes, Eggo waffles, leftover pizza), so buyers
can easily switch if the price rises.
• Sunscreen has no close substitutes, so consumers would probably not buy much less if its
price rises.
Lesson: Price elasticity is higher when close
substitutes are available.

EXAMPLE 2:
“Blue Jeans” vs. “Clothing”
• The prices of both goods rise by 20%. For which good does Qd drop the most? Why?
• For a narrowly defined good such as blue jeans, there are many substitutes (khakis, shorts,
Speedos).
• There are fewer substitutes available for broadly defined goods. (There aren’t too many
substitutes for clothing, other than living in a nudist colony.)
Lesson: Price elasticity is higher for narrowly
defined goods than broadly defined ones.

EXAMPLE 3:
Insulin vs. Caribbean Cruises
• The prices of both of these goods rise by 20%. For which good does Qd drop the most? Why?
• To millions of diabetics, insulin is a necessity. A rise in its price would cause little or no
decrease in demand.
• A cruise is a luxury. If the price rises, some people will forego it.
Lesson: Price elasticity is higher for luxuries
than for necessities.
EXAMPLE 4:
Gasoline in the Short Run vs. Gasoline in the Long Run
•The price of gasoline rises 20%. Does Qd drop more in the short run or the long run? Why?
• There’s not much people can do in the short run, other than ride the bus or carpool.
• In the long run, people can buy smaller cars or live closer to where they work.
Lesson: Price elasticity is higher in the long run than the short run.

THE DETERMINANTS OF PRICE ELASTICITY:

A Summary
The price elasticity of demand depends on:
• the extent to which close substitutes are available
• whether the good is a necessity or a luxury how broadly or narrowly the good is defined
• the time horizon – elasticity is higher in the long run than the short run

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THE VARIETY OF DEMAND
CURVES (1)
• The price elasticity of demand is closely related to the
slope of the demand curve.
• Rule of thumb:
The flatter the curve, the bigger the elasticity.
The steeper the curve, the smaller the elasticity.
• Five different classifications of D curves.…

(2)
A (3)

(4) (5)

(6) (7)

PRICE ELASTICITY AND TOTAL REVENUE

• Continuing our scenario, if you raise your price from $200 to $250, would your revenue rise or
fall?
Revenue = P x Q
• A price increase has two effects on revenue:

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 • Higher P means more revenue on each unit you sell.
• But you sell fewer units (lower Q), due to the Law of Demand.
• Which of these two effects is bigger? It depends on the price elasticity of demand.

Revenue = P x Q
• If demand is elastic, then
price elast. of demand > 1
% change in Q > % change in P
• The fall in revenue from lower Q is greater
than the increase in revenue from higher P,
so revenue fall

Revenue = P x Q
• If demand is inelastic, then
price elast. of demand < 1
% change in Q < % change in P
• The fall in revenue from lower Q is smaller
than the increase in revenue from higher P,
so revenue rises.
In our example, suppose that Q only falls to 10
(instead of 8) when you raise your price to $250.

PRICE ELASTICITY OF SUPPLY

• Price elasticity of supply measures how much

• Loosely speaking, it measures sellers’
price-sensitivity.
• Again, use the midpoint method to compute the
percentage changes

THE VARIETY OF SUPPLY CURVES

• The slope of the supply curve is closely related to price elasticity of supply.
• Rule of thumb:
The flatter the curve, the bigger the elasticity.
The steeper the curve, the smaller the elasticity.
• Five different classifications.…

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(1)

THE DETERMINANTS OF SUPPLY ELASTICITY

● The more easily sellers can change the quantity
they produce, the greater the price elasticity of
supply.
Example: Supply of beachfront property is
harder to vary and thus less elastic than
supply of new cars.
● For many goods, price elasticity of supply
is greater in the long run than in the short run,
because firms can build new factories,
or new firms may be able to enter the market.

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Other Elasticities
● Income elasticity of demand: measures
the response of Qd to a change in consumer income

● Recall from Chapter 4: An increase in

income causes an increase in demand for a
normal good.
● Hence, for normal goods, income
elasticity > 0.
● For inferior goods, income elasticity < 0.

● Cross-price elasticity of demand:

measures the response of demand for one
good to changes in the price of another good

For substitutes, cross-price elasticity > 0 (e.g., an increase in price of beef causes an increase
in demand for chicken)
For complements, cross-price elasticity < 0 (e.g., an increase in price of computers causes
decrease in demand for software)

CROSS-PRICE ELASTICITIES IN THE NEWS

“As Gas Costs Soar, Buyers Flock to Small Cars”
-New York Times, 5/2/2008
“Gas Prices Drive Students to Online Courses”
-Chronicle of Higher Education, 7/8/2008
“Gas prices knock bicycle sales, repairs into higher gear”
-Associated Press, 5/11/2008
“Camel demand soars in India”
(as a substitute for “gas-guzzling tractors”)
-Financial Times, 5/2/2008
“High gas prices drive farmer to switch to mules”
-Associated Press, 5/21/2008

APPLICATION: Does Drug Interdiction Increase or

Decrease Drug-Related Crime?
• One side effect of illegal drug use is crime: Users often turn
to crime to finance their habit.
• We examine two policies designed to reduce illegal drug use
and see what effects they have on drug-related crime.
• For simplicity, we assume the total dollar value of drug-related
crime equals total expenditure on drugs.
• Demand for illegal drugs is inelastic, due to addiction issues

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CHAPTER SUMMARY

● Elasticity measures the responsiveness of Qd or Qs to one of its determinants.

● Price elasticity of demand equals percentage change in Qd divided by percentage
change in P.
When it’s less than one, demand is “inelastic.”
When greater than one, demand is “elastic.”
● When demand is inelastic, total revenue rises when the price rises. When demand is
elastic, total revenue falls when price rises.
● Demand is less elastic in the short run, for necessities, for broadly defined goods, or for
goods with few close substitutes.
● Price elasticity of supply equals percentage change in Qs divided by percentage change
in P.
When it’s less than one, supply is “inelastic.”
When greater than one, supply is “elastic.”
● Price elasticity of supply is greater in the long run than in the short run.
● The income elasticity of demand measures how much quantity demanded responds to
changes in buyers’ incomes.
● The cross-price elasticity of demand measures how much demand for one good
responds to changes in the price of another good.

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