CHAPTER FIVE –CONSUMERS AND INCENTIVES Flashcards
Name the three elements of the buyers problem
- What you like
- Prices of goods and services
- How much money you have to spend
Whats the formula of opportunity cost?
Opportunity Cost = Loss / Gain
Whats the budget constraint?
The budget constraint represents the
goods or activities that a consumer can choose that exactly exhausts the entire budget.
Whats the consumer surplus?
Consumer surplus is the difference between the willingness to pay (the height of your demand curve) and
the price actually paid for the good.
Whats the price elasticity of demand?
The price elasticity of demand measures the percentage change in quantity demanded of a good due to
a percentage change in its price.
Whats the formula of the price elasticity of demand?
Price elasticity of demand = percentage change in quantity demanded / percentage change in price
Goods have an ______ when they have a price elasticity of demand greater than 1.
Goods have an elastic demand when they have a price elasticity of demand greater than 1. Any price
increase will lead to lower revenues. A very small increase in price would lead people to stop using the
good when they have a perfect elastic demand.
Goods have ______ elastic demand when they have a price elasticity of demand equal to 1.
Goods have an unit elastic demand when they have a price elasticity of demand equal to 1. Any price
increase will leave the revenue unchanged; because the revenue is maximized.
Goods have ______ demand when they have a price elasticity of demand less than one.
Goods have an inelastic demand when they have a price elasticity of demand less than one. Any price
increase will lead to higher revenues. When P increases but Q stays the same we say that goods have a
perfectly inelastic demand.
Name the three primary reasons for elastic difference
- Closeness of substitutes. As the number of available substitutes grows, the price elasticity of
demand increases. - Budget share spent on the good. As you spend more of your budget on a good, the price elasticity
of demand increases. - Available time to adjust. Consumers, in general, respond much less to price changes in the short
run than in the long run.
Whats the cross-price elasticity & whats the formula of it?
The cross-price elasticity of demand measures the percentage change in quantity demanded of a good
due to a percentage change in another good’s price.
Cross − price elasticity =
Percentage change in quantity demanded of good x /
Percentage change in price of good y
Whats the income elasticity and whats the formula of it?
The income elasticity of demand measures the percentage change in quantity demanded due to a
percentage change in income. It is given by the following formula:
Income elasticity =
Percentage change in quantity demanded /
Percentage change in income
Name the three measures of demand elasticity
- Price elasticity of demand
- Cross-price elasticity of demand
- Income elasticity of demand
What question does the price elasticity of demand answer?
How much does quantity demanded
change when the good’s price changes?
Mathematically: the percentage change in quantity
demanded due to a percentage change in its price
The elasticity of demand is usually … due to the …
The elasticity of demand is usually negative tue to the law of demand