RECENT DEVELOPMENT OF DEMAND THEORY:
The basic theory of consumer behaviour discussed in the previous unit can be extended in many directions, and can be applied to cover optimal behaviour for a variety of specific types of utility functions. Some of these extensions and specific applications are discussed here. In the market, prices of all goods are given to the consumers. They can't influence the price by changing their own decisions. Some times prices are also given to the individual firm i.e., in some cases, firms also are not able to charge prices that they want and have to settle with the price prevailing in the market. There ware considerable interest therefore among the economist to explain the price formation in different types of markets. The Demand-Supply analysis is the most important among them. Once the equilibrium is achieved the second most important question came to mind is the question of stability of that equilibrium. There are many approaches to determine the stability property of equilibrium. Among them Cobweb model is simplest and quite elegant in nature.