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2: Supply and Demand

  • Page ID
    287924
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    Learning Objectives

    Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:

    • Distinguish factor markets form product markets and be aware of the importance of correctly defining the buyers and suppliers in a market.
    • Explain the differences between supply and demand and be able to distinguish changes in overall supply and demand from changes in quantity supplied and quantity demanded.
    • Recognize and recount the determinants of supply and demand for any good or service.
    • Explain the differences between movements along a supply/demand curve and shifts of the supply/demand curve.
    • Describe the effects on equilibrium output and prices from any shift of demand or supply.
    • Recognize that supply and demand graphs represent communication between market participants.

    • 2.1: Free Markets and Efficiency
      This page discusses the importance of efficient resource allocation in a thriving community, highlighting key questions of production. It compares economic inefficiency to a weakened immune system and emphasizes the need to measure worker productivity. The free market system is noted for its effectiveness in resource allocation, promising sustainability and growth as benefits of an efficient economic framework.
    • 2.2: Free Markets - Sustainability
      This page emphasizes the crucial role of efficiency in an economy, likening it to an immune system that protects against various shocks. It highlights the risks of chronic inefficiency, including unemployment and crisis vulnerability, using the Soviet Union's collapse as an example. Efficient economies can effectively allocate resources and sustain safety nets in crises.
    • 2.3: Free Markets – Enhanced Growth
      This page explores the similarities between economics and biology, noting that economies have health indicators such as growth rates. It indicates that growth rates differ by country based on their development stages, with developed nations growing at 2-3% and developing countries like China at 9-10%. Efficient economies, especially in free-market systems, utilize resources better, resulting in improved living standards.
    • 2.4: Supply and Demand – A Form of Communication
      This page discusses the efficiency of the free market compared to other economic systems, emphasizing the roles of supply and demand in facilitating communication between suppliers and demanders. It warns that miscommunication can cause resource misallocation. It distinguishes between product markets, where households demand and businesses supply, and factor markets, where these roles reverse, with a focus on the product market.
    • 2.5: Demand
      This page emphasizes the importance of both suppliers and demanders in a free market, highlighting that effective communication is vital. Demand consists of the ability and willingness to purchase goods or services, viewed more as intentions than actual sales. Price changes affect quantity demanded, while other factors like income result in shifts of the demand curve, indicating changes in overall demand.
    • 2.6: Supply
      This page discusses the essentials of being a supplier, emphasizing the importance of both ability and willingness to supply goods or services. It highlights how price influences revenue and the movement along the supply curve according to the law of supply. Additionally, it explains that changes in other factors, such as labor costs or business taxes, can lead to shifts in the supply curve, impacting overall supply despite constant prices.
    • 2.7: Equilibrium
      This page explores the dynamics of supply, demand, and price, highlighting how mismatches can create surpluses or shortages. It explains that falling prices increase demand and decrease supply, working towards equilibrium to minimize waste. The concept of allocative efficiency is introduced, emphasizing that social benefits and costs should align to maximize market surplus.


    This page titled 2: Supply and Demand is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Martin Medeiros.