Intro to markets and Market failure Flashcards
What is Production Possibility Frontiers (PPF)
A PPF shows alternative combinations of two goods or services attainable when all resources are fully and efficiently employed
- Depicts the maximum productive potential of an economy,using a combination of 2 goods or services
What is Ceteris paribus ?
all other things being unchanged or constant
What is Economic Problem ?
The Problem of scarity; wants are unlimited by resources are finite so choices have to be made
What are Non-renewable resources ?
Resources which cannot be replenished or replaced
what is Normative statements
Subjective statements based on value judgements and opinions , which cant be proven or disproven
What is Opportunity cost ?
The value of the next-best alternative when a decision is made
What is Positive Statements ?
Objective statements which can be tested with factual evidence to be proven or disproven
what is Renewable Resources ?
Resources which can be replenished, so the stock of resources can be maintained over a period of time
What is Scarity ?
The shortage of resources in relation to the quantity of human wants
What is Specialisation?
Is when we concentrate on a product or task
What is a linear Production Possibility Frontier ?
A straight line PPF is an indication of perfect factor substitutability of resources.
- When its a straight line, then the marginal opportunity cost of switching resources between consumer and capital goods is constant
What happens when there is an outward shift in the PPF ?
this leads to an increase in a country’s potential output
What causes shifts in the PPF ?
- higher productivity increases the output per unit of input used in production
- Better management of factor inputs. Improved management reduces waste and improves the quality
- Increase in the stock of capital and labour supply
eg. from inward labour migration/capital investment - Innovation and invention of new products and resources, Improved production processes help to boost efficiency
- Discovery /extraction of new natural resources, Discovery of commercially viable land inputs drives extraction
What is Demand ?
Demand for a good or service is the quantity that purchasers are willing and able to buy at a given price in a given period of time.
What is the basic law of demand ?
Demand varies inversely with price - lower prices makes products more affordable for consumers
What is Utility ?
Is a measure of the satisfaction that we get from purchasing and consuming a good or a service
What is total utility
The total satisfaction from a given level of consumption
Marginal utility
The change in satisfaction from consuming an extra unit
Derived demand
Is the demand for a factor of production used to produce another good or service
Composite demand
Exists where goods have more than one use - an increase in the demand for one product leads to a fall in supply of the other
What is supply ?
Supply is the quantity of a good or service that a producer is willing and able to supply onto the market at a given price in a given time period
The basic law of supply
Is that as the price of a product rises, so businesses expand supply to the market
A supply curve
Shows a relationship between market price and how much a firm is willing and able to sell
Joint supply
Is where an increase or decrease in the supply of one good leads to an increase or decrease in supply of a by product
Equilibrium
Means a state of equality or balance between market demand and supply
Points of disequilibrium
Prices where demand and supply are out of balance are
Key Advantages from Specialisation ?
Higher labour productivity and business profits
- learning by doing increases output per hour worked
- higher productivity lowers the unit cost of supply
- increased productivity leads to higher profits for business
Specialisation creates surplus output that can then be traded internationally
- The theory of comparative advantage is key to this
- Businesses/countries specialise in areas of relative advantage
Lower prices, higher real incomes an GDP growth
- lower prices gives consumers greater real purchasing power
- higher productivity allows business to pay increases wages
- successful specialisation is one of the key causes of growth
Disadvantages of Specialisation and Division of Labour
- Unrewarding, repetitive work that requires little skill can lower motivation and eventually causes lower productivity.
- Workers may take less pride in their work and quality suffers.
- Dissatisfied workers become less punctual at work and the rate of absenteeism increases.
- Many people may choose to move to less boring jobs creating a problem of high worker turnover for businesses. The highest labour turnover is in retailing, hotels, catering and leisure, call centres and other lower-paid private sector services groups.
- Some workers receive little training and may not be able to find alternative jobs if they find themselves out of work - they may then suffer structural unemployment / occupational immobility
- Mass-produced standardized goods lack variety for consumers.
Causes of Shifts in the Demand Curve
- Changing prices of a substitute goods or services in competitive demand
- Changing price of a complements – i.e. products in joint demand
- Changes in the real income of consumers
- When real income goes up, our ability to purchase goods and services increases, and this causes an outward shift in the demand curve.
- But when incomes fall there will be a decrease in demand, except for inferior goods - Changes in the distribution of income - a more equal distribution of income can increase total demand because relatively poorer consumers spend a higher proportion of their income
- The effects of advertising and marketing
- Interest rates and demand (e.g. affecting the cost of credit)
- Changes in the size and age structure of a population
- Seasonal factors for some goods and services
- Social and emotional factors
Seasonal Demand for Goods and Services
Seasonality refers to fluctuations in output and sales related to the seasonal of the year.
For most products there will be seasonal peaks and troughs in production and/or sales
Reasoning for the Law of Supply
- The profit motive:
- If the market price rises following an increase in demand, it becomes more profitable for businesses to increase their output - Production and costs:
- When output expands, a firm’s production costs tend to rise, therefore a higher price is needed to cover these extra costs of production. This may be due to the effects of diminishing returns as more factor inputs are added to production. - New entrants coming into the market:
- Higher prices may create an incentive for other businesses to enter a market leading to an increase in total supply.
Causes of Shifts in the Market Supply Curve
- Changes in the unit costs of production
- Lower unit costs mean that a business can supply more at each price – for example higher productivity
- Higher unit costs cause an inward shift of supply e.g. a rise in wage rates or an increase in energy prices / other raw materials - A fall (depreciation) in the exchange rate causes an increase in prices of imported components and raw materials –
- Advances in production technologies – outward shift of supply
- The entry of new producers into the market – outward shift
- Favourable weather conditions e.g. for agricultural products
- Taxes, subsidies and government regulations
- Indirect taxes cause an inward shift of supply
- Subsidies cause an outward shift of supply
- Regulations increase costs causing an inward shift of supply
What is Price Elasticity of Demand?
- Price elasticity of demand (PED) measures the responsiveness of demand after a change in the good’s own price
- The basic formula for calculating the co-efficient of price elasticity of demand is:
- Percentage change in quantity demanded divided by the percentage change in price
- All normal goods with downward sloping demand curves will have a negative coefficient of price elasticity of demand
Numerical Values for Coefficient of Price Elasticity
- If Ped = 0 demand is perfectly inelastic - demand does not change when the price changes – the demand curve is vertical
- If Ped is between 0 and 1 (% change in demand is smaller than the percentage change in price), then demand is inelastic
- If Ped = 1 (% change in demand is the same as the % change in price), then demand is unit elastic. A 15% rise in price would lead to a 15% contraction in demand leaving total spending the same at each price level
- If Ped > 1 then demand responds more than proportionately to a change in price i.e. demand is elastic. For example if a 10% increase in price leads to a 30% drop in demand. The price elasticity of demand for this price change is –3
What factors determine the PED of a product?
Number of close substitutes available for consumers
- the more close substitutes there are, the more price elastic the demand
Price of the product in relation to total income
- When the %of budget is high, demand is usually more price sensitive
Cost of substituting between different products
- When substitution/switching costs are high, demand will tend to be price inelastic
Brand loyalty and habitual consumption
- high levels of brand loyalty makes demand less price elastic
- Persuasive advertising can make demand price inelastic
Degree of necessity/luxury
- standard assumption is that necessities have a lower price elasticity of demand whereas luxuries are an optional spend
Usefulness of Price Elasticity of Demand for Producers
- The effect of a change in price on total revenue of sellers
- The price volatility in a market following changes in supply – this is important for commodity producers who suffer big price and revenue shifts from one time period to another.
- The effect of a change in an indirect tax on price and quantity demanded and also whether the business is able to pass on some or all of the tax onto the consumer.
PED can be used by a business for price discrimination.
- This is where a supplier decides to charge different prices for the same product to different segments of the market e.g. peak and off peak rail travel or prices charged by many airlines.
- Usually a business will charge a higher price to consumers whose demand is price inelastic
- The taxi company Uber for example engages in surge pricing