Demand, Supply, and Equilibrium

Demand is the quantity of a good buyers wish to purchase at each conceivable price.

Thus demand is not a particular quantity, such as six bars of chocolate, but rather a full description of the quantity of chocolate the buyer would purchase at each and every price, which might be charged. The first column of Table 1 shows a range of prices for bars of chocolate. The second column shows the quantities that might be demanded at these prices. Even when chocolate is free, only a finite amount will be wanted. People get sick from eating too much chocolate. As the price of chocolate rises, the quantity demanded falls, other things equal. We have assumed that nobody will buy any chocolate when the price is more than £0.40 per bar. Taken together, columns (1) and (2) describe the demand for chocolate as a function of its price.

Supply is the quantity of a good sellers wish to sell at each conceivable price.

Again, supply is not a particular quantity but a complete description of the quantity that sellers would like to sell at each and every possible price. The third column of Table 1 shows how much chocolate sellers wish to sell at each price. Chocolate cannot be produced for nothing. Nobody would wish to supply if they receive a zero price. In our example, it takes a price of at least £0.20 per bar before there is any incentive to supply chocolate. At higher prices it becomes increasingly lucrative to supply chocolate bars and there is a corresponding increase in the quantity of bars that would be supplied. Taken together, columns (1) and (3) describe the supply of chocolate bars as a function of their price.

Notice the distinction between demand and the quantity demanded. Demand describes the behavior of buyers at every price. At a particular price such as £0.30, there is a particular quantity demanded, namely 80 million bars/year. The term 'quantity demanded makes sense only in relation to a particular price. A similar distinction applies to supply and quantity supplied.

Дата добавления: 2015-09-05