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WIKIBOOKS
DISPONIBILI
?????????

ART
- Great Painters
BUSINESS&LAW
- Accounting
- Fundamentals of Law
- Marketing
- Shorthand
CARS
- Concept Cars
GAMES&SPORT
- Videogames
- The World of Sports

COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY
- Blogs
- Free Software
- Google
- My Computer

- PHP Language and Applications
- Wikipedia
- Windows Vista

EDUCATION
- Education
LITERATURE
- Masterpieces of English Literature
LINGUISTICS
- American English

- English Dictionaries
- The English Language

MEDICINE
- Medical Emergencies
- The Theory of Memory
MUSIC&DANCE
- The Beatles
- Dances
- Microphones
- Musical Notation
- Music Instruments
SCIENCE
- Batteries
- Nanotechnology
LIFESTYLE
- Cosmetics
- Diets
- Vegetarianism and Veganism
TRADITIONS
- Christmas Traditions
NATURE
- Animals

- Fruits And Vegetables



ARTICLES IN THE BOOK

  1. ACNielsen
  2. Advertising
  3. Affiliate marketing
  4. Ambush marketing
  5. Barriers to entry
  6. Barter
  7. Billboard
  8. Brainstorming
  9. Brand
  10. Brand blunder
  11. Brand equity
  12. Brand management
  13. Break even analysis
  14. Break even point
  15. Business model
  16. Business plan
  17. Business-to-business
  18. Buyer leverage
  19. Buying
  20. Buying center
  21. Buy one, get one free
  22. Call centre
  23. Cannibalization
  24. Capitalism
  25. Case studies
  26. Celebrity branding
  27. Chain letter
  28. Co-marketing
  29. Commodity
  30. Consumer
  31. Convenience store
  32. Co-promotion
  33. Corporate branding
  34. Corporate identity
  35. Corporate image
  36. Corporate Visual Identity Management
  37. Customer
  38. Customer satisfaction
  39. Customer service
  40. Database marketing
  41. Data mining
  42. Data warehouse
  43. Defensive marketing warfare strategies
  44. Demographics
  45. Department store
  46. Design
  47. Designer label
  48. Diffusion of innovations
  49. Direct marketing
  50. Distribution
  51. Diversification
  52. Dominance strategies
  53. Duopoly
  54. Economics
  55. Economies of scale
  56. Efficient markets hypothesis
  57. Entrepreneur
  58. Family branding
  59. Financial market
  60. Five and dime
  61. Focus group
  62. Focus strategy
  63. Free markets
  64. Free price system
  65. Global economy
  66. Good
  67. Haggling
  68. Halo effect
  69. Imperfect competition
  70. Internet marketing
  71. Logo
  72. Mail order
  73. Management
  74. Market
  75. Market economy
  76. Market form
  77. Marketing
  78. Marketing management
  79. Marketing mix
  80. Marketing orientation
  81. Marketing plan
  82. Marketing research
  83. Marketing strategy
  84. Marketplace
  85. Market research
  86. Market segment
  87. Market share
  88. Market system
  89. Market trends
  90. Mass customization
  91. Mass production
  92. Matrix scheme
  93. Media event
  94. Mind share
  95. Monopolistic competition
  96. Monopoly
  97. Monopsony
  98. Multi-level marketing
  99. Natural monopoly
  100. News conference
  101. Nielsen Ratings
  102. Oligopoly
  103. Oligopsony
  104. Online marketing
  105. Opinion poll
  106. Participant observation
  107. Perfect competition
  108. Personalized marketing
  109. Photo opportunity
  110. Planning
  111. Positioning
  112. Press kit
  113. Price points
  114. Pricing
  115. Problem solving
  116. Product
  117. Product differentiation
  118. Product lifecycle
  119. Product Lifecycle Management
  120. Product line
  121. Product management
  122. Product marketing
  123. Product placement
  124. Profit
  125. Promotion
  126. Prototyping
  127. Psychographic
  128. Publicity
  129. Public relations
  130. Pyramid scheme
  131. Qualitative marketing research
  132. Qualitative research
  133. Quantitative marketing research
  134. Questionnaire construction
  135. Real-time pricing
  136. Relationship marketing
  137. Retail
  138. Retail chain
  139. Retail therapy
  140. Risk
  141. Sales
  142. Sales promotion
  143. Service
  144. Services marketing
  145. Slogan
  146. Spam
  147. Strategic management
  148. Street market
  149. Supply and demand
  150. Supply chain
  151. Supply Chain Management
  152. Sustainable competitive advantage
  153. Tagline
  154. Target market
  155. Team building
  156. Telemarketing
  157. Testimonials
  158. Time to market
  159. Trade advertisement
  160. Trademark
  161. Unique selling proposition
  162. Value added


 

 
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MARKETING
This article is from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_and_demand

All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License 

Supply and demand

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 
Supply and Demand is also the name of an album by Amos Lee
The theory of supply and demand describes how prices vary as a result of a balance between product availability at each price (supply) and the desires of those with purchasing power at each price (demand). The graph depicts an increase in demand from D1 to D2 along with the consequent increase in price and quantity required to reach a new market-clearing equilibrium point on the supply curve Supply Curve A curve or a schedule showing the total quantity of a good that sellers want to sell at each price.(S).
The theory of supply and demand describes how prices vary as a result of a balance between product availability at each price (supply) and the desires of those with purchasing power at each price (demand). The graph depicts an increase in demand from D1 to D2 along with the consequent increase in price and quantity required to reach a new market-clearing equilibrium point on the supply curve Supply Curve A curve or a schedule showing the total quantity of a good that sellers want to sell at each price.(S).

In microeconomic theory the partial equilbrium supply and demand economic model originally developed by Alfred Marshall attempts to describe, explain, and predict the price and quantity of goods sold in competitive markets. It is one of the most fundamental models, widely used as a basic building block in a wide range of more detailed economic models and theories. The theory of supply and demand is important in the functioning of a market economy in that it explains the mechanism by which many resource allocation decisions are made. However, unlike general equilibrium models, supply schedules in this partial equilbrium model are fixed, as the long run reciprocal relationship between demand and supply is ignored.

In general, the theory claims that where goods are traded in a market at a price where consumers demand more goods than firms are prepared to supply, this shortage will tend to increase the price of the goods. Those consumers that are prepared to pay more will bid up the market price. Conversely prices will tend to fall when the quantity supplied exceeds the quantity demanded. This price/quantity adjustment mechanism causes the market to approach an equilibrium point, a point at which there is no longer any impetus to change. This theoretical point of stability is defined as the point where producers are prepared to sell exactly the same quantity of goods as the consumers want to buy.

Supply curve

The supply curve is the relationship between the quantity of goods producers will sell in a market at any given price. For example, potato growers may be willing to sell one million kilograms of potatoes if the price is $0.75 per kilogram. If the price rose to $0.90 per kilogram, potato growers would likely sell a greater quantity. The main determinants of supply will be the market price of the good and the cost of producing it. The supply curve for a given firm is derived directly from its marginal cost curve where the price is greater than or equal to the minimum cost on the average variable cost curve. Supply curves are represented as upward-sloping due of the law of diminishing marginal returns.

Special cases of a supply curve

As described above, the general form of a supply curve is upward sloping. There are cases, however, when supply curves do not slope upwards. A well known example is the backward bending supply curve of labour. As a person's wage increases, they are willing to supply a greater number of hours working, but when the wage reaches an extremely high amount (say a wage of $4,000 per hour), the amount of labor supplied actually decreases. Another example of a nontraditional supply curve is generally the supply curve for utility production companies. Because a large portion of their total costs are in the form of fixed costs, the marginal cost (supply curve) for these firms is often depicted as a constant.

Demand curve

Demand is economic want backed up by purchasing power. i.e., it is the plan, or relationship, expressing different amounts of a product buyers are willing and able to buy at possible prices, assuming all other non-price factors remain the same. For example, a consumer may be willing to purchase 2 kilos of potatoes if the price is $0.75 per kilo. However, the same consumer may be willing to purchase only 1 kilo if the price is $1.00 per kilo. A demand schedule shows the quantity demanded at any given price. It can be represented on a graph as a line or curve by plotting the quantity demanded at each price. It can also be described mathematically by a demand equation. The main determinants of the quantity one is willing to purchase will typically be the price of the good, one's level of income, personal tastes, the price of substitute goods, and the price of complementary goods.

The shape of the aggregated demand curve can be convex or concave, possibly depending on income distribution.

The capacity to buy is sometimes used to characterise demand as being merely an alternate form of supply.

Special cases of a demand curve

As described above, the demand curve is generally downward sloping. There may be rare examples of goods that have upward sloping demand curves. A good whose demand curve has an upward slope is known as a Giffen good.

The existence of Giffen goods cannot be explained by conspicuous consumption, since an increase in stature associated with buying an expensive product means that more than just price is variable. In fact the actual existence of a Giffen good is debatable. Examples of conspicuous consumption are clearly subjective, but might include the Bugatti Veyron. The social phenomenon often referred to as 'Bling' can also be thought of in this way.

Simple supply and demand curves

Economic theory centers on creating a series of supply and demand relationships, describing them as equations, and then adjusting for factors which produce "stickiness" between supply and demand. Analysis is then done to see what "trade offs" are made in the "market", which is the negotiation between sellers and buyers. Analysis is done as to what point the ability of sellers to sell becomes less useful than other opportunities. This is related to "marginal" costs, or the price to produce the last unit that can be sold profitably, versus the chance of using the same effort to engage in some other activity.

General supply and demand curves, with intersection showing free market equilibrium
General supply and demand curves, with intersection showing free market equilibrium

The slope of the demand curve (downward to the right) indicates that a greater quantity will be demanded when the price is lower. On the other hand, the slope of the supply curve (upward to the right) tells us that as the price goes up, producers are willing to produce more goods. The point at which these curves intersect is the equilibrium point. At a price of P* producers will be willing to supply Q* units per period of time and buyers will demand the same quantity. P* in this example, is the equilibrating price that equates supply with demand.

In the figures, straight lines are drawn instead of the more general curves. This is typical in analysis looking at the simplified relationships between supply and demand because the shape of the curve does not change the general relationships and lessons of the supply and demand theory. The shape of the curves far away from the equilibrium point are less likely to be important because they do not affect the market clearing price and will not affect it unless large shifts in the supply or demand occur. So straight lines for supply and demand with the proper slope will convey most of the information the model can offer. In any case, the exact shape of the curve is not easy to determine for a given market. The general shape of the curve, especially its slope near the equilibrium point, does however have an impact on how a market will adjust to changes in demand or supply. (See the below section on elasticity.)

It should be noted that on supply and demand curves both are drawn as a function of price. Neither is represented as a function of the other. Rather the two functions interact in a manner that is representative of market outcomes. The curves also imply a somewhat neutral means of measuring price. In practice any currency or commodity used to measure price is also the subject of supply and demand.

Demand curve shifts

An out- or right- shift in demand changes the equilibrium price and quantity
An out- or right- shift in demand changes the equilibrium price and quantity

When more people want something, the quantity demanded at all prices will tend to increase. This can be referred to as an increase in demand. The increase in demand could also come from changing tastes, where the same consumers desire more of the same good than they previously did. Increased demand can be represented on the graph as the curve being shifted right, because at each price point, a greater quantity is demanded. An example of this would be more people suddenly wanting more coffee. This will cause the demand curve to shift from the initial curve D1 to the new curve D2. This raises the equilibrium price from P1 to the higher P2. This raises the equilibrium quantity from Q1 to the higher Q2. In this situation, we say that there has been an increase in demand which has caused an extension in supply.

Conversely, if the demand decreases, the opposite happens. If the demand starts at D2 and then decreases to D1, the price will decrease and the quantity demanded will decrease—a contraction in supply. Notice that this is purely an effect of demand changing. The quantity supplied at each price is the same as before the demand shift (at both Q1 and Q2). The reason that the equilibrium quantity and price are different is the demand is different.
 

Supply curve shifts

An out- or right- shift in supply changes the equilibrium price and quantity
An out- or right- shift in supply changes the equilibrium price and quantity

When the suppliers' costs change the supply curve will shift. For example, assume that someone invents a better way of growing wheat so that the amount of wheat that can be grown for a given cost will increase. Producers will be willing to supply more wheat at every price and this shifts the supply curve S0 to the right, to S1—an increase in supply. This causes the equilibrium price to decrease from P1 to P2. The equilibrium quantity increases from Q1 to Q2 as the quantity demanded increases at the new lower prices. Notice that in the case of a supply curve shift, the price and the quantity move in opposite directions.

Conversely, if the quantity supplied decreases, the opposite happens. If the supply curve starts at S1 and then shifts to S2, the equilibrium price will increase and the quantity will decrease. Notice that this is purely an effect of supply changing. The quantity demanded at each price is the same as before the supply shift (at both Q1 and Q2). The reason that the equilibrium quantity and price are different is the supply is different.

There are only 4 possible movements to a demand/supply curve diagram. The demand curve can move to the left and right, and the supply curve can also move only to the left or right. If they do not move at all then they will stay in the middle where they already are.

See also: Induced demand
 

Market clearance

A market clears at the point where the quantity demanded is equal to the quantity supplied. Markets which do not clear will react in some way, either by a change in price, or in the amount produced, or in the amount demanded. Graphically the situation can be represented by two curves: one showing the price-quantity combinations buyers will pay for, or the demand curve; and one showing the combinations sellers will sell for, or the supply curve. The market clears where the two curves intersect. In a general equilibrium model, all markets in all goods clear simultaneously and the "price" can be described entirely in terms of tradeoffs with other goods. For a century most economists believed in Say's Law, which states that markets, as a whole, would always clear and thus be in balance.

The market clearing price contains no maximization basis. As a result, any disequilibrium (excess demand or excess supply) is just a matter of graphical exercises. Some economists regarded that a demand curve could be represented by a diminishing marginal use value curve (the schedule of a consumer's maximum willing to pay with different quantity endowments). By this framework, people will buy when the market price is low enough, and they will sell when the price is high enough. In market clearing condition, the market price implies that the marginal use value of all participants are equalized. In other words, mutual gain of exchange is exhausted. Here come the basis of maximization for the concept of market equilibrium.

Elasticity

Main article: Elasticity (economics)

An important concept in understanding supply and demand theory is elasticity. In this context, it refers to how supply and demand change in response to various stimuli. One way of defining elasticity is the percentage change in one variable divided by the percentage change in another variable (known as arch elasticity because it calculates the elasticity over a range of values, in contrast with point elasticity that uses differential calculus to determine the elasticity at a specific point). Thus it is a measure of relative changes.

Often, it is useful to know how the quantity supplied or demanded will change when the price changes. This is known as the price elasticity of demand and the price elasticity of supply. If a monopolist decides to increase the price of their product, how will this affect their sales revenue? Will the increased unit price offset the likely decrease in sales volume? If a government imposes a tax on a good, thereby increasing the effective price, how will this affect the quantity demanded?

If you do not wish to calculate elasticity, a simpler technique is to look at the slope of the curve. Unfortunately, this has units of measurement of quantity over monetary unit (for example, liters per euro, or battleships per million yen), which is not a convenient measure to use for most purposes. So, for example, if you wanted to compare the effect of a price change of gasoline in Europe versus the United States, there is a complicated conversion between gallons per dollar and liters per euro. This is one of the reasons why economists often use relative changes in percentages, or elasticity. Another reason is that elasticity is more than just the slope of the function: It is the slope of a function in a coordinate space, that is, a line with a constant slope will have different elasticity at various points.

Let's do an example calculation. We have said that one way of calculating elasticity is the percentage change in quantity over the percentage change in price. So, if the price moves from $1.00 to $1.05, and the quantity supplied goes from 100 pens to 102 pens, the slope is 2/0.05 or 40 pens per dollar. Since the elasticity depends on the percentages, the quantity of pens increased by 2%, and the price increased by 5%, so the price elasticity of supply is 2/5 or 0.4.

Since the changes are in percentages, changing the unit of measurement or the currency will not affect the elasticity. If the quantity demanded or supplied changes a lot when the price changes a little, it is said to be elastic. If the quantity changes little when the prices changes a lot, it is said to be inelastic. An example of perfectly inelastic supply, or zero elasticity, is represented as a vertical supply curve. (See that section below)

Elasticity in relation to variables other than price can also be considered. One of the most common to consider is income. How would the demand for a good change if income increased or decreased? This is known as the income elasticity of demand. For example, how much would the demand for a luxury car increase if average income increased by 10%? If it is positive, this increase in demand would be represented on a graph by a positive shift in the demand curve, because at all price levels, a greater quantity of luxury cars would be demanded.

Another elasticity that is sometimes considered is the cross elasticity of demand, which measures the responsiveness of the quantity demanded of a good to a change in the price of another good. This is often considered when looking at the relative changes in demand when studying complement and substitute goods. Complement goods are goods that are typically utilized together, where if one is consumed, usually the other is also. Substitute goods are those where one can be substituted for the other, and if the price of one good rises, one may purchase less of it and instead purchase its substitute.

Cross elasticity of demand is measured as the percentage change in demand for the first good that occurs in response to a percentage change in price of the second good. For an example with a complement good, if, in response to a 10% increase in the price of fuel, the quantity of new cars demanded decreased by 20%, the cross elasticity of demand would be −20%/10% or, −2.

Vertical supply curve

When demand D1 is in effect, the price will be P1.  When  D2 is occurring, the price will be P2.  Notice  that at both values the quantity is Q.  Since the supply is fixed, any shifts in demand will only affect price.
When demand D1 is in effect, the price will be P1. When D2 is occurring, the price will be P2. Notice that at both values the quantity is Q. Since the supply is fixed, any shifts in demand will only affect price.

It is sometimes the case that the supply curve is vertical: that is the quantity supplied is fixed, no matter what the market price. For example, the amount of land in the world can be considered fixed. In this case, no matter how much someone would be willing to pay for a piece of land, the extra cannot be created. Also, even if no one wanted all the land, it still would exist. If land is considered in this way, then it warrants a vertical supply curve, giving it zero elasticity (i.e., no matter how large the change in price, the quantity supplied will not change). On the other hand, the supply of useful land can be increased in response to demand — by irrigation. And land that otherwise would be below sea level can be kept dry by a system of dikes, which might also be regarded as a response to demand. So even in this case, the vertical line is a bit of a simplification.

In the short run near vertical supply curves are more common. For example, if the Super Bowl is next week, increasing the number of seats in the stadium is almost impossible. The supply of tickets for the game can be considered vertical in this case. If the organizers of this event underestimated demand, then it may very well be the case that the price that they set is below the equilibrium price. In this case there will likely be people who paid the lower price who only value the ticket at that price, and people who could not get tickets, even though they would be willing to pay more. If some of the people who value the tickets less sell them to people who are willing to pay more (i.e., scalp the tickets), then the effective price will rise to the equilibrium price.

Other market forms

In a situation in which there are many buyers but a single monopoly supplier that can adjust the supply or price of a good at will, the monopolist will adjust the price so that his profit is maximized given the amount that is demanded at that price. This price will be higher than in a competitive market. A similar analysis using supply and demand can be applied when a good has a single buyer, a monopsony, but many sellers.

Where there are both few buyers or few sellers, the theory of supply and demand cannot be applied because both decisions of the buyers and sellers are interdependent—changes in supply can affect demand and vice versa. Game theory can be used to analyze this kind of situation. (See also oligopoly.)

The supply curve does not have to be linear. However, if the supply is from a profit-maximizing firm, it can be proven that supply curves are not downward sloping (i.e., if the price increases, the quantity supplied will not decrease). Supply curves from profit-maximizing firms can be vertical, horizontal or upward sloping. While it is possible for industry supply curves to be downward sloping, supply curves for individual firms are never downward sloping.

Standard microeconomic assumptions cannot be used to prove that the demand curve is downward sloping. However, despite years of searching, no generally agreed upon example of a good that has an upward-sloping demand curve has been found (also known as a giffen good). Non-economists sometimes think that certain goods would have such a curve. For example, some people will buy a luxury car because it is expensive. In this case the good demanded is actually prestige, and not a car, so when the price of the luxury car decreases, it is actually changing the amount of prestige so the demand is not decreasing since it is a different good (see Veblen good). Even with downward-sloping demand curves, it is possible that an increase in income may lead to a decrease in demand for a particular good, probably due to the existence of more attractive alternatives which become affordable: a good with this property is known as an inferior good.

An example: Supply and demand in a 6-person economy

Supply and demand can be thought of in terms of individual people interacting at a market. Suppose the following six people participate in this simplified economy:

  • Alice is willing to pay $10 for a sack of potatoes.
  • Bob is willing to pay $20 for a sack of potatoes.
  • Cathy is willing to pay $30 for a sack of potatoes.
  • Dan is willing to sell a sack of potatoes for $5.
  • Emily is willing to sell a sack of potatoes for $15.
  • Fred is willing to sell a sack of potatoes for $25.

There are many possible trades that would be mutually agreeable to both people, but not all of them will happen. For example, Cathy and Fred would be interested in trading with each other for any price between $25 and $30. If the price is above $30, Cathy is not interested, since the price is too high. If the price is below $25, Fred is not interested, since the price is too low. However, at the market Cathy will discover that there are other sellers willing to sell at well below $25, so she will not trade with Fred at all. In an efficient market, each seller will get as high a price as possible, and each buyer will get as low a price as possible.

Imagine that Cathy and Fred are bartering over the price. Fred offers $25 for a sack of potatoes. Before Cathy can agree, Emily offers a sack of potatoes for $24. Fred is not willing to sell at $24, so he drops out. At this point, Dan offers to sell for $12. Emily won't sell for that amount so it looks like the deal might go through. At this point Bob steps in and offers $14. Now we have two people willing to pay $14 for a sack of potatoes (Cathy and Bob), but only one person (Dan) willing to sell for $14. Cathy notices this and doesn't want to lose a good deal, so she offers Dan $16 for his potatoes. Now Emily also offers to sell for $16, so there are two buyers and two sellers at that price (note that they could have settled on any price between $15 and $20), and the bartering can stop. But what about Fred and Alice? Well, Fred and Alice are not willing to trade with each other, since Alice is only willing to pay $10 and Fred will not sell for any amount under $25. Alice can't outbid Cathy or Bob to purchase from Dan, so Alice will not be able to get a trade with them. Fred can't underbid Dan or Emily, so he will not be able to get a trade with Cathy. In other words, a stable equilibrium has been reached.

Discrete supply and demand curves
Discrete supply and demand curves

A supply and demand graph could also be drawn from this. The demand would be:

  • One person is willing to pay $30 (Cathy).
  • Two people are willing to pay $20 (Cathy and Bob).
  • Three people are willing to pay $10 (Cathy, Bob, and Alice).

The supply would be:

  • One person is willing to sell for $5 (Dan).
  • Two people are willing to sell for $15 (Dan and Emily).
  • Three people are willing to sell for $25 (Dan, Emily, and Fred).

Supply and demand match when the quantity traded is two sacks and the price is between $15 and $20. Whether Dan sells to Cathy, and Emily to Bob, or the other way round, and what precisely is the price agreed cannot be determined. This is the only limitation of this simple model. When considering the full assumptions of perfect competition the price would be fully determined, since there would be enough participants to determine the price. For example, if the "last trade" was between someone willing to sell at $15.50 and someone willing to pay $15.51, then the price could be determined to the penny. As more participants enter, the more likely there will be a close bracketing of the equilibrium price.

It is important to note that this example violates the assumption of perfect competition in that there are a limited number of market participants. However, this simplification shows how the equilibrium price and quantity can be determined in an easily understood situation. The results are similar when unlimited market participants and the other assumptions of perfect competition are considered.

History of supply and demand

Attempts to determine how supply and demand interact began with Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, first published in 1776. In this book, he mostly assumed that the supply price was fixed but that the demand would increase or decrease as the price decreased or increased. David Ricardo in 1817 published the book Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, in which the first idea of an economic model was proposed. In this, he more rigorously laid down the idea of the assumptions that were used to build his ideas of supply and demand.

During the late 19th century the marginalist school of thought emerged. This field mainly was started by Stanley Jevons, Carl Menger, and Léon Walras. The key idea was that the price was set by the most expensive price, that is, the price at the margin. This was a substantial change from Adam Smith's thoughts on determining the supply price.

Finally, most of the basics of the modern school theory of supply and demand were finalized by Alfred Marshall and Léon Walras, when they combined the ideas about supply and the ideas about demand and began looking at the equilibrium point where the two curves crossed. They also began looking at the effect of markets on each other. Since the late 19th century, the theory of supply and demand has mainly been unchanged. Most of the work has been in examining the exceptions to the model (like oligarchy, transaction costs, non-rationality).

Criticism of Marshall's theory of supply and demand

Marshall's theory of supply and demand runs counter to the ideas of economists from Adam Smith and David Ricardo through the creation of the marginalist school of thought. Although Marshall's theories are dominant in universities today, other economists have disagreed with it. One theory counter to Marshall is that price is already known in a commodity before it reaches the market, negating his idea that some abstract market is conveying price information. The only thing the market communicates is whether or not an object is exchangeable or not (in which case it would change from an object to a commodity). This would mean that the producer creates the goods without already having customers — blindly producing, hoping that someone will buy them ("buy" meaning exchange money for the commodities). Modern producers often have market studies prepared well in advance of production decisions; however, misallocation of factors of production can still occur.

Keynesian economics also runs counter to the theory of supply and demand. In Keynesian theory, prices can become "sticky" or resistant to change, especially in the case of price decreases. This leads to a market failure. Modern supporters of Keynes, such as Paul Krugman, have noted this in recent history, such as when the Boston housing market dried up in the early 1990s, with neither buyers nor sellers willing to exchange at the price equilibrium.

Gregory Mankiw's work on the irrationality of actors in the markets also undermines Marshall's simplistic view of the forces involved in supply and demand.

Empirical estimation

The demand and supply relations in a market can be statistically estimated from price and quantity data using the simultaneous system estimation ("structural estimation") method in econometrics. An alternative to "structural estimation" is Reduced form estimation. Parameter identification problem is a common issue in "structural estimation." Typically, data on exogenous variables (that is, variables other than price and quantity, both of which are endogenous variables) are needed to perform such an estimation.

See also

  • Aggregate demand
  • Artificial demand
  • Consumer surplus
  • Consumer theory
  • Deadweight loss
  • Economic surplus
  • Effect of taxes and subsidies on price
  • Elasticity
  • Externality
  • Foundations of Economic Analysis by Paul A. Samuelson
  • History of economic thought
  • Labor shortage
  • Microeconomics
  • Producer's surplus
  • Profit
  • Rationing
  • Real prices and ideal prices
  • Say's Law
  • Supply shock
  • An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

External links and references

  • "Marshallian Cross Diagrams and Their Uses before Alfred Marshall: The Origins of Supply and Demand Geometry" by Thomas Humphrey (via the Richmond Fed)
  • Supply and Demand book by Hubert D. Henderson at Project Gutenberg.
  • Price Theory and Applications by Steven E. Landsburg ISBN 0-538-88206-9
  • An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith, 1776 [1]
  • By what is the price of a commodity determined?, a brief statement of Karl Marx's rival account [2]
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