Assignment Essay

862 Words4 Pages
1. Why do long-run elasticities of demand differ from short-run elasticities? Consider two goods: paper towels and televisions. Which is a durable good? Would you expect the price elasticity of demand for paper towels to be larger in the short run or in the long run? Why? What about the price elasticity of demand for televisions? Elasticity of demand in the long run is different from that of short run because it takes time for people to adjust for the changes in prices and in the short run they cannot change their consumer habits. However in the long run they can use more time and energy to look for alternatives. Therefore they respond to price changes significantly. Here, television is a durable good and paper towels are non durable goods. Price elasticity of paper towels would not be larger in the short run because consumers will react very slowly in the short run for non durable goods. However in the long run consumers will realize the effect of changes in price and they will find new alternative products like kitchen towels or sponges etc. So therefore long rung price elasticity of demand for paper towels is higher. Moreover, not like non durable goods, price elasticity of demand for durable goods like televisions are higher in the short run compared to long run. Because if price of television increases, consumers will defer buying or they will delay purchase. So demand decreases sharply. However in the long run, televisions wear out or obsolete, so they must replace them. So therefore price elasticity of demand of durable goods is less elastic in the long run. 2. The daily demand for Invigorated PED shoes is estimated to be Qdx = 100 – 3Px + 4Py – 0.01M + 2Ax where Ax represents the amount of advertising spent on shoes (X), Px is the price of good X, Py is the price of good Y, and M is average income.. Suppose good X
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