ECO 1104 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Margarine, Complementary Good, Inferior Good
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ECO 1104 Full Course Notes
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Elasticity: a measure of the responsiveness of a quantity demanded or quantity supplied to one of its determinants. Price elasticity of demand is influenced by: Availability of close substitutes: goods with close subs tend to have more elastic demand because it is easier for consumers to switch between them. For example, butter and margarine are easily substitutable. A small increase in the price of butter causes the quantity of butter sold to fall by a large amount as margarine is available. By contrast, eggs are without a sub therefore the demand for eggs is less elastic than butter. Necessities versus luxuries: necessities tend to have inelastic demand whereas luxuries have elastic demand. When the price of a visit to the dentist rises, people will not dramatically alter the number of times they go to the dentist although they might go somewhat less often.