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Supply, Demand & Price Elasticity

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Supply, Demand and Price Elasticity
People and companies make economic decisions on a daily basis by deciding how much of something they will buy and what prices they are willing to pay for the goods or services. Through individual decision-making, consumers determine supply demands for their needs and wants, and companies decide which goods and how many goods are to be sold, and how much to charge consumers. There are many fundamental concepts and definitions that are important to understanding the economics. The concepts that will be discussed in this paper are supply, demand, and price elasticity.
Demand Variables Demand is defined as the amount of a good or service that consumers are willing and able to purchase (Hubbard & …show more content…

According to Hubbard and O’Brien, these technological changes are usually positive changes for the company and help them find ways to make their inputs go farther, or cost less. The price that other companies are charging for substitutes will also affect supply. If a substitute product has a low price, consumers are more likely to go with that product. Many times, companies are forced to lower their prices to compete with comparable products. The number of companies that enter the market changes the supply as well. More companies in the market mean more comparable products will be produced. Companies also look at future price expectations when deciding how much to supply. If economists predict that prices will increase in the future, it benefits the company to withhold some of the supply. Walt Disney Films does this with their VHS/DVD collections. They keep their movies in a ‘vault’ and re-release them every few years. Disney has created demand for their product due to the limited release and availability of their product. Companies should increase production when they can charge more for their product, as they can lose money if they are slow to respond to demand.
Market Equilibrium
The purpose of the market is to bring buyers and sellers together, with the interaction between the two leading to production of what consumers want most. This is also known as

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