Price Elasticity of Demand (PED)
PED is a measure of the sensitivity of the quantity variable, Q, to changes in the price variable, P. Elasticity answers the question of how much the quantity will change in percentage terms for a 1% change in the price, and is thus important in determining how revenue will change.
The elasticity of demand indicates how sensitive the demand for a good is to a price change. If the PED is between zero and 1 demand is said to be inelastic, if PED equals 1, the demand is unitary elastic and if the PED is greater than 1 demand is elastic. A low coefficient implies that changes in price have little influence on demand. A high elasticity indicates that consumers will respond to a price rise by buying a lot less of the good and that consumers will respond to a price cut by buying a lot more.
Read more about this topic: Demand Curve
Famous quotes containing the words price, elasticity and/or demand:
“Money won is twice as sweet as money earned.”
—Richard Price (b. 1949)
“One of the reforms to be carried out during the incoming administration is a change in our monetary and banking laws, so as to secure greater elasticity in the forms of currency available for trade and to prevent the limitations of law from operating to increase the embarrassment of a financial panic.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“Self-sacrifice usually contains an unspoken demand for payment.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)