--%>
Assignment Help - homework help

Income Elasticities of Demand

Question:

(a)  Suppose the income elasticity of demand for pre-recorded music compact disks is +4 and the income elasticity of demand for a cabinet maker's work is +0.4.  Compare the impact on pre-recorded music compact disks and the cabinet maker's work of a recession that reduces consumer incomes by 10 per cent.

(b)  How might you determine whether the pre-recorded music compact discs and MP3 music players are in competition with each other?

(c)   Interpret the following Income Elasticities of Demand (YED) values for the following and state if the good is normal or inferior; YED= +0.5 and YED= -2.5

(d)   Interpret the following Cross-Price Elasticities of Demand (XED) and explain the relationship between these goods. XED= + 0.64 and XED= -2.6

Answer:

a) A positive elasticity means that an increase in income will lead to an increase in the consumption and fall in income will lead to a fall in consumption. If the income of the consumer declines by 10%, then there will be a 40% (4 x 10) fall in the consumption of pre-recorded music CDs and 4%(10 x 0.4) decline in the demand of cabinet maker's work.

b) This can be determined by the cross elastic of the two goods. If the cross elasticity of demand is negative then the goods will be complements to each other and hence they will not be in competition. However, if the cross elasticity of demand is positive then the goods are substitutes and they are in competition.

c) For first good the income elasticity of demand is 0.5 which means that if income increases by 1% then the demand will increase by 0.5%. This makes the food a normal good.

For the second good, the income elasticity of demand is -2.5, which means that an increase in income by 1% will lead to a fall in demand by -2.5%. This means that the good is inferior good.

d) A positive elasticity means that increase in price of one good leads to an increase in demand of the other good. This is the case of substitute goods.

A negative cross elasticity of demand, on the other hand, means that an increase in price of one good leads to a decrease in the demand for the other good. This happens in the case of complements.

   Related Questions in Microeconomics

  • Q : Saving and Investment Lowered interest

    Lowered interest rates since households have determined to save more tend to: (1) give incentives for financial investors to switch by stock to bonds. (2) reduce the optimal level of economic investment. (3) discourage investments in new residential c

    		•
  • Q : Legal doctrine in Laws and Regulations

    Whenever goods are non-standardized and rarely purchased by an individual, an assumption that the sellers will contain superior knowledge of the product characteristics is an argument for applying the authorized doctrine of: (1) Caveat emptor. (2) Nolo contendere. (3)

    		•
  • Q : Marginal revenue product-marginal

    When a monopolist maximizes the profit in a product market, it will: (w) Hire labor till the marginal revenue product equivalents marginal resource cost. (x) Hire labor till the value of marginal product equivalents marginal resource cost. (y) Pay a wage equivalent to

    		•
  • Q : Competition in the long run Economic

    Economic profits produce competitive pressures which raise the industries: (w) price for output. (x) output and number of firms. (y) exit rate for established firms. (z) monopoly power in its largest firms. Hey fri

    		•
  • Q : Monopolists maximize profits Maximizing

    Maximizing the net social benefits from a specified stock of resources does NOT need that: (i) price equals marginal cost for all goods. (ii) marginal social benefit equals marginal social cost [MSB = MSC]. (iii) no one can be made better off unless s

    		•
  • Q : Development and Distribution of Income

    Compared to other relatively prosperous developed nations, the United States: (w) has greater inequality in the distribution of its wealth and national income. (x) enjoys the lowest cost medical care and the best average public health. (y) has been the most aggressive

    		•
  • Q : Annually paying exact amounts by

    Securities annually paying exact amounts forever are: (1) stocks. (2) perennials. (3) royalties. (4) renewals. (5) perpetuities. How can I solve my Economics problem? Please suggest me the correct answer.

    		•
  • Q : Tariffs and Tax Revenues An import

    An import tariff on Japanese cars of ac generates government revenue equivalent to: (w) trapezoid bcde. (x) rectangle P1to P2ca. (y) distance Q0   to Q1. (z) rectangle 0P2dQ2.

    Q : Find absolute value of the price

    Two thousand four hundred students subscribed to cable TV services while they enrolled like freshmen. 800 of them students dropped the service while the price of cable rose by $25 to $35 per month. The absolute value of the price elasticity of demand

    		•
  • Q : Transaction costs in entrepreneurship

    When you became an entrepreneur, in that case the transaction costs incurred in containing a luau for your employees would not comprise: (w) filling your car along with gasoline on the way to picking up the pig and poi. (x) time you u

    		•