WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.517 ♪ [music] ♪ 00:00:09.273 --> 00:00:12.398 - [Alex] In our first lecture on the elasticity of demand, 00:00:12.398 --> 00:00:15.295 we explain the intuitive meaning of elasticity. 00:00:15.295 --> 00:00:18.377 It measures the responsiveness of the quantity demanded 00:00:18.377 --> 00:00:20.000 to a change in price. 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:22.571 More responsive means more elastic. 00:00:22.571 --> 00:00:24.620 In this lecture, we're going to show how to create 00:00:24.620 --> 00:00:27.048 a numeric measure of elasticity. 00:00:27.048 --> 00:00:30.778 How to calculate with some data on prices and quantities, 00:00:30.778 --> 00:00:34.859 what the elasticity is over a range of the demand curve. 00:00:39.567 --> 00:00:42.994 So here's a more precise definition of elasticity. 00:00:42.994 --> 00:00:46.368 The elasticity of demand is the percentage change 00:00:46.368 --> 00:00:51.376 in quantity demanded divided by the percentage change in price. 00:00:51.992 --> 00:00:55.591 So let's write it like this. We have some notation here. 00:00:55.591 --> 00:01:00.721 The elasticity of demand is equal to the percentage "change in". 00:01:00.721 --> 00:01:05.310 Delta is the symbol for change in, so this is the percentage change 00:01:05.310 --> 00:01:10.102 in the quantity demanded divided by the percentage change 00:01:10.102 --> 00:01:12.647 in the price. 00:01:12.647 --> 00:01:15.863 That's the elasticity of demand. Let's give an example or two. 00:01:17.052 --> 00:01:21.898 So, if the price of oil increases by 10% and over a period 00:01:21.898 --> 00:01:26.415 of several years the quantity demanded falls by 5%, 00:01:26.415 --> 00:01:31.603 then the long run elasticity of demand for oil is what? 00:01:32.812 --> 00:01:35.550 Well, elasticity is the percentage change 00:01:35.550 --> 00:01:37.746 and the quantity demanded. 00:01:37.746 --> 00:01:41.380 That's -5% divided by the percentage change 00:01:41.380 --> 00:01:42.544 in the price. 00:01:42.544 --> 00:01:43.915 That's 10%. 00:01:43.915 --> 00:01:45.824 So the elasticity of demand 00:01:45.824 --> 00:01:51.389 is -5% divided by 10%, or -0.5. 00:01:52.803 --> 00:01:55.647 Elasticities of demand are always negative 00:01:55.647 --> 00:01:59.672 because when price goes up, the quantity demanded goes down. 00:01:59.672 --> 00:02:02.807 When price goes down, the quantity demanded goes up. 00:02:02.807 --> 00:02:06.649 So we often drop the negative sign and write that the elasticity 00:02:06.649 --> 00:02:10.089 of demand is 0.5. 00:02:12.201 --> 00:02:14.412 Here's some more important notation. 00:02:15.187 --> 00:02:18.495 If the absolute value of the elasticity of demand 00:02:18.495 --> 00:02:21.069 is less than one, just like the example 00:02:21.069 --> 00:02:26.292 we just gave for oil, we say that the demand curve is inelastic. 00:02:26.806 --> 00:02:30.837 Elasticity of demand less than one, the demand curve is inelastic. 00:02:31.738 --> 00:02:34.289 If the elasticity of demand is greater than one, 00:02:34.289 --> 00:02:36.984 we say the demand curve is elastic. 00:02:37.598 --> 00:02:39.783 And if elasticity of demand is equal to one, 00:02:39.783 --> 00:02:42.700 that is the knife point case, then the demand curve 00:02:42.700 --> 00:02:45.163 is unit elastic. 00:02:45.676 --> 00:02:49.466 These terms are going to come back, so just keep them in mind. 00:02:49.518 --> 00:02:53.694 Inelastic: less than one. Elastic: greater than one. 00:02:55.380 --> 00:02:57.639 So we know that elasticity is the percentage change 00:02:57.639 --> 00:03:00.491 in quantity divided by the percentage change in price, 00:03:00.491 --> 00:03:03.537 how do we calculate the percentage change in something? 00:03:03.537 --> 00:03:06.039 This is not so hard, but it could be a little bit tricky 00:03:06.039 --> 00:03:07.642 for the following reason. 00:03:07.642 --> 00:03:10.574 Let's suppose you're driving down the highway at 100 miles per hour. 00:03:10.574 --> 00:03:12.355 I don't recommend this, but let's just imagine 00:03:12.355 --> 00:03:13.555 that you are. 00:03:13.555 --> 00:03:17.537 You're going 100 miles per hour, and now you increase speed by 50%. 00:03:18.182 --> 00:03:21.987 How fast are you going? 150 miles per hour, right? 00:03:21.987 --> 00:03:24.408 Okay, so now you're going 150 miles per hour. 00:03:24.408 --> 00:03:29.531 Suppose you decrease speed by 50%. Now, how fast are you going? 00:03:29.531 --> 00:03:31.845 75 miles per hour, right? 00:03:31.845 --> 00:03:34.841 So how is it that you can increase speed by 50% 00:03:34.841 --> 00:03:37.835 and then decrease by 50% and not be back 00:03:37.835 --> 00:03:39.920 to where you started? 00:03:39.920 --> 00:03:42.424 Well the answer is, is that intuitively, 00:03:42.424 --> 00:03:45.368 we have changed the base by which we are calculating 00:03:45.368 --> 00:03:46.988 the percentage change. 00:03:46.988 --> 00:03:51.129 And we don't want to have this inconsistency 00:03:51.129 --> 00:03:53.340 when we calculate elasticity. 00:03:53.340 --> 00:03:56.146 We want people to get the same elasticity 00:03:56.146 --> 00:03:58.330 whether they're calculating from the lower base 00:03:58.330 --> 00:03:59.953 or from the higher base. 00:03:59.953 --> 00:04:03.143 So, because of that, we're going to use the Midpoint Formula. 00:04:03.583 --> 00:04:06.868 So, the elasticity of demand, percentage change in quantity 00:04:06.868 --> 00:04:09.285 divided by the percentage change in price, 00:04:09.285 --> 00:04:14.618 that's the change in quantity divided by the average quantity 00:04:14.618 --> 00:04:16.234 times 100. 00:04:16.234 --> 00:04:19.428 That will give us the percentage change divided by 00:04:19.428 --> 00:04:22.804 the change in price divided by the average price. 00:04:22.804 --> 00:04:24.331 Again, that times 100. 00:04:24.331 --> 00:04:27.635 Notice, since we've actually got 100 on top and 100 on the bottom, 00:04:27.635 --> 00:04:30.091 those 100s we can actually cancel out. 00:04:30.987 --> 00:04:33.719 Let's expand this just a little bit more. 00:04:33.719 --> 00:04:36.901 The change in quantity. What is the change in quantity? 00:04:36.901 --> 00:04:39.023 Well, let's suppose we have two quantities. 00:04:39.023 --> 00:04:41.040 Let's call them after and before. 00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:44.151 It doesn't matter which one we call after or which one before. 00:04:44.151 --> 00:04:48.204 So, we're going to then expand this to the change in quantity. 00:04:48.204 --> 00:04:52.639 That's Q after minus Q before divided by the average, 00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:56.004 Q after plus Q before, divided by two, 00:04:56.004 --> 00:05:00.704 divided by the change in price, P after minus P before, 00:05:00.704 --> 00:05:04.396 divided by the average price, b after plus b before, 00:05:04.396 --> 00:05:05.682 divide by two. 00:05:05.682 --> 00:05:09.920 So that's a little bit of a mouthful, but everything, I think, 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:11.297 is fairly simple. 00:05:11.297 --> 00:05:17.853 Just remember change in quantity divided by the average quantity 00:05:17.853 --> 00:05:20.205 and you should always be able to calculate this. 00:05:20.612 --> 00:05:22.258 Let's give an example. 00:05:23.286 --> 00:05:25.235 Okay, here's an example of a type of problem 00:05:25.235 --> 00:05:28.658 you might see on a quiz or a mid term. 00:05:28.658 --> 00:05:32.747 At the initial price of $10, the quantity demanded is 100. 00:05:32.747 --> 00:05:36.577 When the price rises to $20, the quantity demanded 00:05:36.577 --> 00:05:38.287 falls to 90. 00:05:38.287 --> 00:05:41.354 What is the elasticity is, what is the elasticity over 00:05:41.354 --> 00:05:43.611 this range of the demand curve? 00:05:43.930 --> 00:05:46.055 Well, we always want to begin by writing down 00:05:46.055 --> 00:05:47.733 what we know -- our formula. 00:05:47.733 --> 00:05:49.770 The elasticity of demand is the percentage change 00:05:49.770 --> 00:05:52.791 in quantity divided by the percentage change in price. 00:05:52.791 --> 00:05:55.220 Now, let's remember to just expand that. 00:05:55.220 --> 00:05:59.575 That's Delta Q over the average Q all divided by Delta P 00:05:59.575 --> 00:06:00.987 over the average P. 00:06:00.987 --> 00:06:03.774 Now, we just start to fill things in. 00:06:03.774 --> 00:06:09.637 So our quantity after, okay, after the change is 90. 00:06:09.637 --> 00:06:13.785 Our quantity before that was 100. 00:06:14.440 --> 00:06:16.275 So on the top, the percentage change 00:06:16.275 --> 00:06:21.069 in quantity is 90 minus 100 divided by 90 plus 100, over two. 00:06:21.069 --> 00:06:23.317 That is the average quantity. 00:06:23.317 --> 00:06:25.463 And then on the bottom, and the only trick here 00:06:25.463 --> 00:06:29.151 is always write it in the same order, 00:06:29.151 --> 00:06:33.303 so if you put the 90 here, then make sure you put the 20, 00:06:33.303 --> 00:06:35.350 the number the price which is associated 00:06:35.350 --> 00:06:38.332 with that quantity started off the same way. 00:06:38.332 --> 00:06:40.665 So, always just keep it in the same order. 00:06:40.665 --> 00:06:43.402 So on the bottom, then, we have the quantity -- 00:06:43.402 --> 00:06:46.355 the price after -- which is 20 minus the price before, 00:06:46.355 --> 00:06:49.183 which is 10, divided by the average price. 00:06:49.183 --> 00:06:51.816 And now, just, it's numerics. 00:06:52.185 --> 00:06:55.534 You plug in the numbers and what you get is the elasticity 00:06:55.534 --> 00:07:00.563 of demand is equal to -0.158, approximately. 00:07:00.563 --> 00:07:02.630 We can always drop the negative sign 00:07:02.630 --> 00:07:04.384 because these things, elasticity of demands, 00:07:04.384 --> 00:07:05.650 are always negative. 00:07:05.650 --> 00:07:08.339 So it's equal to 0.158. 00:07:08.339 --> 00:07:12.447 So does this make the elasticity of demand over this range 00:07:12.447 --> 00:07:15.871 elastic or inelastic? 00:07:17.437 --> 00:07:19.001 Inelastic, right? 00:07:19.001 --> 00:07:21.103 The elasticity of demand we've just calculated 00:07:21.103 --> 00:07:24.663 is less than one, so that makes this one inelastic. 00:07:24.735 --> 00:07:26.107 There you go. 00:07:26.861 --> 00:07:28.916 We need to cover one more important point 00:07:28.916 --> 00:07:32.281 about the elasticity of demand, and that is its relationship 00:07:32.281 --> 00:07:34.302 to total revenue. 00:07:34.302 --> 00:07:37.163 So a firm's revenues are very simply equal 00:07:37.163 --> 00:07:40.381 to price times quantity sold. 00:07:40.381 --> 00:07:42.964 Revenue is equal to price times quantity. 00:07:42.964 --> 00:07:45.707 Now, elasticity, it's all about the relationship 00:07:45.707 --> 00:07:47.763 between price and quantity, 00:07:47.763 --> 00:07:51.302 and so it's also going to have implications for revenue. 00:07:52.292 --> 00:07:54.435 Let's give some intuition for the relationship 00:07:54.435 --> 00:07:57.134 between the elasticity and total revenue. 00:07:57.134 --> 00:07:59.283 So revenue is price times quantity. 00:07:59.283 --> 00:08:03.881 Now suppose the price goes up by a lot and then quantity demanded 00:08:03.881 --> 00:08:06.672 goes down, just by a little bit. 00:08:06.672 --> 00:08:09.655 What then is going to be the response of revenue? 00:08:09.655 --> 00:08:12.541 Well, if price is going up by a lot and quantity 00:08:12.541 --> 00:08:15.219 is going down just by a little bit, then revenue 00:08:15.219 --> 00:08:17.825 is also going to be going up. 00:08:17.825 --> 00:08:21.895 Now, what kind of demand curve do we call that, when price goes up 00:08:21.895 --> 00:08:25.696 by a lot and quantity falls by just a little bit? 00:08:26.317 --> 00:08:30.441 We call that an inelastic demand curve. 00:08:30.441 --> 00:08:33.273 So, what this little thought experiment tells us 00:08:33.273 --> 00:08:36.840 is that when you have an inelastic demand curve, 00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:42.357 when price goes up revenue is also going to go up, 00:08:42.357 --> 00:08:44.156 and of course, vice versa. 00:08:44.156 --> 00:08:46.290 Let's take a look at this with a graph. 00:08:46.290 --> 00:08:50.749 So here's our initial demand curve, a very inelastic demand curve, 00:08:50.749 --> 00:08:54.783 at a price of $10, the quantity demanded is 100 units, 00:08:54.783 --> 00:08:56.695 so revenue is 1,000. 00:08:56.695 --> 00:08:58.965 Notice that we can show revenue in the graph 00:08:58.965 --> 00:09:00.922 by price times quantity. 00:09:00.922 --> 00:09:03.845 Now, just looking at the graph, look at what happens 00:09:03.845 --> 00:09:05.770 when the price goes up to 20. 00:09:05.770 --> 00:09:08.775 Well, the quantity demanded goes down by just a little bit, 00:09:08.775 --> 00:09:13.114 in this case to 90, but revenues go up to 1,800. 00:09:14.223 --> 00:09:18.714 So you can just see, by sketching the little graph, 00:09:19.104 --> 00:09:22.533 what happens to revenues when price goes up 00:09:22.533 --> 00:09:25.124 when you have an inelastic demand curve. 00:09:25.146 --> 00:09:26.900 And again, vice versa. 00:09:27.225 --> 00:09:29.096 Let's take a look about what happens 00:09:29.096 --> 00:09:31.034 when you have an elastic demand curve. 00:09:31.782 --> 00:09:34.324 So let's do the same kind of little thought experiment, 00:09:34.324 --> 00:09:36.443 revenue is price times quantity. 00:09:36.443 --> 00:09:39.368 Suppose price goes up by a modest amount 00:09:39.368 --> 00:09:42.502 and quantity goes down by a lot. 00:09:42.502 --> 00:09:44.861 Well, if price is going up by a little bit and quantity 00:09:44.861 --> 00:09:48.737 is going down by a lot, then revenue must also be falling. 00:09:48.737 --> 00:09:52.906 And what type of demand curve is it when price goes up 00:09:52.906 --> 00:09:55.212 by a little bit, quantity falls by a lot? 00:09:55.212 --> 00:09:56.825 What type of demand curve is that? 00:09:56.825 --> 00:09:59.772 That's an elastic demand curve. 00:09:59.772 --> 00:10:05.002 So, revenues fall as price rises with an elastic demand curve. 00:10:05.414 --> 00:10:06.921 And again, let's show that. 00:10:06.921 --> 00:10:09.721 If you're ever confused and you can't quite remember, 00:10:09.721 --> 00:10:11.067 just draw the graph. 00:10:11.067 --> 00:10:13.414 I can never remember, myself, but I always draw 00:10:13.414 --> 00:10:14.763 these little graphs. 00:10:14.763 --> 00:10:19.121 So, draw a really flatter, elastic demand curve. 00:10:19.121 --> 00:10:25.033 In this case, at a price of $10, the quantity demanded is 250 units. 00:10:25.033 --> 00:10:27.573 So revenues is 2,500. 00:10:27.573 --> 00:10:30.664 And see what happens, when price goes up, 00:10:30.664 --> 00:10:35.986 price goes up to $20, quantity demanded falls to 50, 00:10:35.986 --> 00:10:38.033 so revenue falls to 1,000. 00:10:38.033 --> 00:10:40.003 And again, you can just compare 00:10:40.003 --> 00:10:43.264 the sizes of these revenue rectangles 00:10:43.264 --> 00:10:46.555 to see which way the relationship goes. 00:10:46.555 --> 00:10:51.396 And of course, this also implies, going from $20, the price of $20 00:10:51.396 --> 00:10:54.969 to a price of $10, revenues increase. 00:10:54.969 --> 00:10:58.444 So with an elastic demand curve, when price goes down, 00:10:58.444 --> 00:11:00.546 revenues go up. 00:11:01.364 --> 00:11:04.034 So here's a summary of these relationships. 00:11:04.034 --> 00:11:06.212 When the elasticity of demand is less than one, 00:11:06.212 --> 00:11:09.372 that's an inelastic demand curve and price and revenue 00:11:09.372 --> 00:11:10.519 move together. 00:11:10.519 --> 00:11:11.945 When one goes up, the other goes up. 00:11:11.945 --> 00:11:13.901 When one goes down, the other goes down. 00:11:13.901 --> 00:11:16.706 If the elasticity of demand is greater than one, 00:11:16.706 --> 00:11:20.018 that's an elastic demand curve and price and revenue move 00:11:20.018 --> 00:11:22.124 in opposite directions. 00:11:22.645 --> 00:11:24.993 And could you guess what happens if the elasticity of demand 00:11:24.993 --> 00:11:28.357 is equal to one -- if you have a unit elastic curve? 00:11:28.357 --> 00:11:32.603 Well then, when the price changes, revenue stays the same. 00:11:32.682 --> 00:11:36.043 Now, if you have to, again, memorize these, 00:11:36.043 --> 00:11:40.095 but it's really much better to just sketch some graphs. 00:11:40.095 --> 00:11:42.147 I never remember them, as I've said myself, 00:11:42.147 --> 00:11:43.944 I never remember these relationships, 00:11:43.944 --> 00:11:46.444 but I can always sketch an inelastic graph 00:11:46.444 --> 00:11:49.543 and then with a few changes in price, I can see 00:11:49.543 --> 00:11:52.527 whether the revenue rectangles are getting bigger or smaller 00:11:52.527 --> 00:11:55.528 and so I'll be able to recompute 00:11:55.528 --> 00:11:58.323 all of these relationships pretty easily. 00:11:59.432 --> 00:12:01.270 Here's a quick practice question. 00:12:01.270 --> 00:12:05.274 The elasticity of demand for eggs has been estimated to be 0.1. 00:12:05.784 --> 00:12:09.822 If egg producers raise their prices by 10%, what will happen 00:12:09.822 --> 00:12:15.082 to their total revenues? Increase? Decrease? Or it won't change? 00:12:16.274 --> 00:12:18.174 Okay, how should we approach this problem? 00:12:19.325 --> 00:12:23.372 If the elasticity of demand is 0.1, what type of demand curve? 00:12:24.974 --> 00:12:26.676 Inelastic demand. 00:12:27.125 --> 00:12:31.551 Now, what's the relationship between an inelastic demand curve? 00:12:31.821 --> 00:12:34.439 When price goes up, what happens to revenue? 00:12:34.439 --> 00:12:36.161 If you're not sure, if you don't remember, 00:12:36.161 --> 00:12:37.472 draw some graphs. 00:12:37.472 --> 00:12:40.093 Draw an inelastic, draw an elastic, figure it out. 00:12:40.672 --> 00:12:45.062 Okay, let's see. What happens? Revenue increases, right? 00:12:45.111 --> 00:12:48.086 If you have an inelastic demand curve and price goes up, 00:12:48.086 --> 00:12:49.961 revenue goes up as well. 00:12:50.891 --> 00:12:52.390 Here's an application. 00:12:52.428 --> 00:12:55.566 Why is the war on drugs so hard to win? 00:12:56.193 --> 00:12:58.461 Well, drugs are typically going to have 00:12:58.461 --> 00:13:01.142 a fairly inelastic demand curve. 00:13:01.994 --> 00:13:05.928 What that means is that when enforcement actions 00:13:05.928 --> 00:13:09.783 raise the price of drugs, make it more costly to get drugs, 00:13:09.783 --> 00:13:12.427 raising the price, that means the total revenue 00:13:12.427 --> 00:13:14.831 for the drug dealers goes up. 00:13:15.195 --> 00:13:17.043 So check out this graph. 00:13:17.043 --> 00:13:19.129 Here is the price with no prohibition, 00:13:19.129 --> 00:13:22.294 here's our demand curve, our inelastic demand curve. 00:13:22.294 --> 00:13:24.859 What prohibition does, is it raises the cost 00:13:24.859 --> 00:13:26.306 of supplying the good. 00:13:26.306 --> 00:13:30.963 But that raises the price, which is what it's supposed to do, 00:13:30.963 --> 00:13:34.458 and that does reduce the quantity demanded of the drug. 00:13:34.458 --> 00:13:38.711 But it also has the effect of increasing seller revenues. 00:13:38.984 --> 00:13:42.307 And seller revenues may be where many of the problems 00:13:42.307 --> 00:13:44.473 of drug prohibition come from. 00:13:44.473 --> 00:13:47.642 It's the seller revenues which drive the violence, 00:13:47.642 --> 00:13:52.012 which drive the guns, which make it look good 00:13:52.012 --> 00:13:54.672 to be a drug dealer, which encourage people 00:13:54.672 --> 00:13:57.374 to become drug dealers, and so forth. 00:13:57.799 --> 00:14:01.099 So there's a real difficulty with prohibition, 00:14:01.099 --> 00:14:03.527 with prohibiting a good, especially when it has 00:14:03.527 --> 00:14:05.616 an inelastic demand. 00:14:06.181 --> 00:14:08.858 Here's another application of elasticity of demand 00:14:08.858 --> 00:14:11.436 and how it can be used to understand our world. 00:14:11.858 --> 00:14:16.738 This is a quotation from 2012 from NPRs food blog "The Salt." 00:14:17.206 --> 00:14:18.318 "You've all heard a lot 00:14:18.318 --> 00:14:21.502 about this year's devastating drought in the Midwest, right? 00:14:21.856 --> 00:14:24.686 US Department of Agriculture announced last Friday 00:14:24.733 --> 00:14:29.192 that the average US cornfield this year will yield less per acre 00:14:29.192 --> 00:14:31.869 than it has since 1995. 00:14:32.430 --> 00:14:34.191 Soybean yields are down, too. 00:14:34.712 --> 00:14:37.103 So you think that farmers who grow these crops 00:14:37.103 --> 00:14:38.986 must be really hurting. 00:14:38.986 --> 00:14:42.876 And that's certainly the impression you get from media reports. 00:14:44.104 --> 00:14:46.349 But how's this, for a surprising fact? 00:14:46.349 --> 00:14:49.613 On average, corn growers actually will rake in 00:14:49.613 --> 00:14:53.883 a record amount of cash from their harvest this year." 00:14:55.095 --> 00:14:58.776 So can you explain this secret side of the drought? 00:14:59.301 --> 00:15:01.016 I'm not going to answer this question. 00:15:01.016 --> 00:15:03.536 This is exactly the type of question you might receive 00:15:03.536 --> 00:15:05.087 on an exam. 00:15:05.087 --> 00:15:07.602 But you should be able to answer it by now, 00:15:07.602 --> 00:15:09.883 with a few sketches on a piece of paper. 00:15:09.949 --> 00:15:12.370 And in particular, what I want you to answer is, 00:15:12.370 --> 00:15:17.010 what type of demand curve, for corn, would make exactly 00:15:17.010 --> 00:15:20.408 this type of outcome perfectly understandable? 00:15:20.408 --> 00:15:24.462 Not a secret or surprise, but perfectly understandable. 00:15:25.082 --> 00:15:28.086 Okay, that's the elasticity of demand. 00:15:28.086 --> 00:15:31.220 Next time we'll be taking up the elasticity of supply, 00:15:31.220 --> 00:15:33.700 and we'll be able to move through that material much quicker 00:15:33.700 --> 00:15:36.843 because it covers many similar concepts. 00:15:36.843 --> 00:15:38.455 Thanks. 00:15:39.469 --> 00:15:41.296 - [Narrator] If you want to test yourself, 00:15:41.296 --> 00:15:45.287 click Practice Questions, or if you're ready to move on, 00:15:45.287 --> 00:15:47.058 just click Next Video. 00:15:47.088 --> 00:15:50.882 ♪ [music] ♪