Economics: Microeconomic Analysis Flashcards
Demand and Supply: Types of Market
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Factor markets: Factors of production
- Raw materials, labor, etc.
- Firms are buyers
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Product Markets: Services and Finished Goods
- Firms are Sellers
- Intermediate Markets: One firm’s finished products (components) used in the production of another firm’s output.
Demand and Supply: The Demand Curve
QDX = f (Px, I, Py,…)
Quantity demanded is a function of:
- Price of Px
- Individuals income i
- Price of related products (Py)
- Many other factors may be added
Law of Demand: Typically, quantity increases as price decreases
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Demand and Supply: The Supply Function
QSX = f (Px, Cx, …)
Quantity supplied is a function of:
- Price of good Px
- Cost of production Cx
- Labor cost
- Material cost
- Production overheads
- Technology
- Many other factors may be added
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Demand and Supply: Shifts and Movements
Changes in price (Px) cause movements along the supply and demand curves.
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Demand and Supply: Aggregating Demand and Supply Curves
Market supply = aggregate of the supply functions of the firms in the market
The same approach can be used to formulate market demand
Example: 50 firms in the market
- Supply function: Qs = -250 +2.5Px
- Market supply = Qs = -(50 x 250) + (50 x 2.5 Px)
- Qs = -12,50 + 125Px
- Invert function: Px = 0.008Qs + 100
- 0.008 = slope coefficient of supply curve
Demand and Supply: Equilibrium Quantity and Price
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Demand and Supply: Movement to Equilibrium: Supply > Demand
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Demand and Supply: Movement to Equilibrium: Demand > Supply
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Demand and Supply: Stable and Unstable Equilibria
- Stable: Market forces move price and quantity back to equilibrium.
- If downward sloping, supply curve must cut demand curve from above to reach stable equilibrium.
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Demand and Supply: Calculation of Equilibrium
- Supply function: Qs = -600 + 10Px
- Demand function: Qd = 3,000 - 15Px
- Equilibrium: Supply = Demand
-600 + 10Px = 3,000 - 15Px
Solve for Px Qs = -600 + 10 (144) = 840
3600 = 25Px Qd = 3,000 - 15(144) = 840
Px = 144
Demand and Supply: Excess Demand and Supply
Supply function: QS = -600 +10Px
Demand function: QD = 3,000 - 15Px
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Demand and Supply: Auctions: Common and Private Value
Alternatives to markets for establishing equilibrium prices
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Common value auction
- Value of items same for all bidders
- Bidders do not know value at time of auction
- Beware: Winner’s curse
- (e.g. mining rights)
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Private value auction
- Value of item different for all bidders
- Maximum bid is that value the item has for the bidder
- (e.g. antiques auctions)
Demand and Supply: Auctions: Ascending Price and Sealed Bid
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Ascending Price Auction (English Auction)
- Bidder must bid higher than previus bid
- Bids publically disclosed
- Process continues until no one is willing to bid higher
- Highest bidder wins and pays bid price (last bid made_
- (e.g. automobile auctions)
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Sealed bid auction
- Each bidder provides one bid
- All bids remain unknown to other bidders (concealed)
- Highest bid wins and pays bid price
- Optimal bid < reservation price
- (e.g. government contracts)
Demand and Supply: Auctions: Second Price Sealed Bid and Descending Price
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Second price sealed bid auciton (Vickrey auction)
- Each bidder provides one bid
- All bids remain unknown to other bidders (concealed_
- Highest bid wins and pays price of second highest bidder
- Optimal bid = reservation price
- (e.g. stamp collecting [apparently]
-
Descending price auction (Dutch auction)
- Starts with a price > bidders are willing to pay
- Reduces price until bidder agrees to pay
- Bidder normally states quantity
- Price is then further reduced until all is sold
- Bidders pay price bid
Demand and Supply: Auctions: Descending Price Auction modified and Noncompetitive bid
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Descending price auction modified (Modified Dutch Auction)
- Starts with a price > bidders are willing to pay
- Reduces prices until bidder agrees to pay
- Bidder normally state quantity
- Price is then further reduced until all is sold
- All bidders pay price of the bidder who wins the last units offered. Single price to all.
- (e.g. U.S. Treasuries)
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Noncompetitive bid
- Bidders state quantity not price
- Pay the single price from modified Dutch auction
- (e.g. U.S. Treasuries)
Demand and Supply: Consumer Surplus
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Demand and Supply: Marginal (Opportunity) Cost and Producer Surplus
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Demand and Supply: Competitive Equilibrium
- Equilibrium in a competitive market occurs at the intersection of the industry suply and demand curve
- The quantity supplied at the equilibrium price equals the quantity demanded at that price.
Demand and Supply: Efficient Resource Allocation
- Efficient resource allocation occurs at the quantity for which marginal benefit equals marginal cost for the last unit produced and consumed
- The sum of producer surplus and consumer surplus is maximized at that quantity.
Demand and Supply: Underproduction
Underproduction means producing at a quantity less than equilibrium. Consumers are willing to pay more than the cost to supply. MB > MC
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Demand and Supply: Overproduction
Overproduction means producing at a quantity greater than equilibrium. Consumers are willing to pay less than the cost to supplu. MB < MC.
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Demand and Supply: Deadweight Loss
- Both overproduction and underproduction are examples of inefficient allocation of resources
- The scale of inefficiency is measured by deadweight loss
- Deadweight loss is the decrease in total surplus that results from an inefficient level of production
Demand and Supply: Calculating Surplus
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Demand and Supply: Price Ceiling (e.g., Rent Ceiling) Chart
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Demand and Supply: Price Ceiling
Long-run impact:
- Long waiting period to purchase
- Sellers discriminate
- Sellers take bribes
- Sellers reduce quality
- Black market develops (Black market prices > ceiling prices)
Demand and Supply: Price Floors (e.g. Minimum Wage) Chart
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Demand and Supply: Price Floor
Long-run effects
- Excess supply of the good
- Substitution in consumption away from price of controlled good
Mimumum wage is an example of a price floor
- Excess supply of labor increases unemployment
- Producers substitute capital for labor
- Non-monetary benefits, working conditions, on-the-job training all decrease.
Demand and Supply: Effect of Taxes
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Demand and Supply: Actual Incidence of a Tax is Independent of Who Must Pay
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Demand and Supply: Actual Incidence of a Tax: Inelastic Demand
- Inelastic demand: Buyer suffers great burden
- Actual incidence depends on both the elasticities of supply and demand.
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Demand and Supply: Actual Incidence of a Tax: Inelastic Supply
- Inelastic supply: Seller suffers great burden
- Actual incidence depends on both the elasticities of supply and demand.
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Demand and Supply: Subsidies Lead to Overproduction
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Demand and Supply: Quotas Lead to Underproduction
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Demand and Supply: Price Elasticity of Demand
As the price of a normal good increases, quantity demanded decreases
- Elastic demand: Percentage increase in price leads to a larger percentage decrease in quantity demanded
- Inelastic demand: Percentage increase in price leads to a smaller percentage decrease in quantity demanded
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Demand and Supply: Price Elasticity of Demand Charts
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Demand and Supply: Factors That Influence Elasticity of Demand
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Demand and Supply: Elasticity on a Straight-line Demand Curve
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Demand and Supply: Price Elasticity of Demand and Total Revenue
- Greatest total revenue (P x Q) at the point where elasticity = -1
- Inelastic range: Price increase will increase total revenue; percentage decrease in quantity demanded > percentage increasei in price
- Elastic range: Price increase will decrease total revenue; percentage decrease in quantity demanded > percentage increase in price.
Demand and Supply: Income Elasticity of Demand
The sensitivity of quantity demanded to changes in income
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Demand and Supply: Cross Price Elasticity of Demand
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Demand and Supply: Calculating Elasticities: Price Elasticity of Demand
QDX = 4,000 - 140 PX + .75 I - 300 PY
Where:
- QDX = Quantity demanded of good X
- PX = Price of good X
- I = Consumers’ average income in $ (normal good; positive coefficient
- PY = Price of complementary product (negative coefficient)
Assume:
- I = $40,000 QDX = 4,000 - 140 PX + 30,000 - 4,500
- PY = $15 QDX = 29,500 - 140 PX
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Demand and Supply: Calculating Elasticities: Income Elasticity
Where:
QDX = Quantity demanded of good X
PX = Price of good X
I = Consumers’ average income in $ (normal good; positive coefficient
PY = Price of complementary product (negative coefficient)
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Demand and Supply: Calculating Elasticities: Cross Price Elasticity of Demand
Where:
QDX = Quantity demanded of good X
PX = Price of good X
I = Consumers’ average income in $ (normal good; positive coefficient
PY = Price of complementary product (negative coefficient)
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