Table of Contents

Scarcity and Choice .......................................................................................................................... 2

Economic Resources ........................................................................................................................ 6
Factor Rewards ............................................................................................................................... 10
The Production Possibility Frontier ................................................................................................. 14
Specialisation and Trade ................................................................................................................ 18
Positive and Normative Statements ................................................................................................ 22
Markets: Understanding Demand ................................................................................................... 23
Markets: Understanding Supply ...................................................................................................... 30
Markets: Finding an Equilibrium Price ............................................................................................ 36
Price Elasticity of Demand .............................................................................................................. 42
Price Elasticity of Supply ................................................................................................................. 49
Income Elasticity of Demand .......................................................................................................... 53
Cross Price Elasticity of Demand .................................................................................................... 56
Functions of the Price Mechanism .................................................................................................. 59
Price Volatility in Markets ................................................................................................................ 65
Inter-relationships between Markets ............................................................................................... 73
Consumer Surplus .......................................................................................................................... 76
Producer Surplus ............................................................................................................................ 80
Markets in Action: The Market for Oil .............................................................................................. 83
Markets in Action: The Market for Copper ...................................................................................... 89
Markets in Action: The Market for Coffee ....................................................................................... 92
Markets in Action: The UK Housing Market .................................................................................... 96
Markets in Action: The Labour Market .......................................................................................... 101
Markets in Action: Economics of Health Care ............................................................................... 112
Background to Supply: Production and Costs .............................................................................. 119
Economies and Diseconomies of Scale ........................................................................................ 124
Productivity ................................................................................................................................... 129
Economic Efficiency ...................................................................................................................... 132
Introduction to Causes of Market Failure ...................................................................................... 136
Competition and Monopoly in Markets .......................................................................................... 137
Negative Externalities ................................................................................................................... 144
Positive Externalities ..................................................................................................................... 151
Public Goods and Private Goods .................................................................................................. 153
Merit Goods .................................................................................................................................. 157
Demerit goods............................................................................................................................... 160
Factor Immobility ........................................................................................................................... 164
Imperfect Information .................................................................................................................... 167
Poverty and Inequality in Resource Allocation .............................................................................. 170
Government Intervention in the Market ......................................................................................... 173
Indirect Taxation ........................................................................................................................... 179
Producer Subsidies ....................................................................................................................... 182
Maximum Prices ........................................................................................................................... 185
Minimum Prices ............................................................................................................................ 189
Buffer Stock Schemes .................................................................................................................. 193
Government Failure ...................................................................................................................... 195
Exam Technique ........................................................................................................................... 201
 -2-

Scarcity and Choice

Road space throughout the world is

becoming increasingly scarce as the
demand for motor transport increases each
year – what do you think are some of the
best solutions to reducing the problem of
congestion on our roads?

The Economist's Dictionary of Economics defines economics as

"The study of the production, distribution and consumption of wealth in human society"

Another definition of the subject comes from the economist Lionel Robbins, who said in 1935 that

"Economics is a social science that studies human behaviour as a relationship between

ends and scarce means which have alternative uses. That is, economics is the study of the
trade-offs involved when choosing between alternate sets of decisions."

It is this idea that economics is a social science that is so intriguing – we can never be sure how
people, businesses and governments will respond to certain situations and policies.

The purpose of economic activity

It is often said that the central purpose of economic activity is the production of goods and services
to satisfy our changing needs and wants.

The basic problem is about scarcity and choice. All societies face the problem of having to
decide:
(i) What goods and services to produce: Does the economy uses its resources to
operate more hospitals or hotels? Do we make iPhones or double-espressos? Does the
National Health Service provide free IVF treatment for childless couples?
(ii) How best to produce goods and services: What is the best use of our scarce
resources? Should school playing fields be sold off to provide more land for affordable
housing? Should coal be produced in the UK or is it best imported from other countries?
(iii) Who is to receive goods and services: Who will get expensive hospital treatment -
and who not? Should there be a minimum wage? If so, at what level should it be set?
Scarcity

If the supply of a good or service is low, the market price will rise, providing there is sufficient
demand. Whenever there is excess supply in a market, we expect to see prices falling.

The development of virtually every type of society can be described as the uncovering of new
wants and needs - which producers attempt to supply by using the available factors of production.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 -3-

For a perspective on the achievements of countries in meeting people‘s basic needs, the Human
Development Index produced by the United Nations is worth reading.

IKEA sells to millions of consumers

throughout the world – does it meet our
needs and wants?

Making choices

Because of scarcity, choices have to be made by all consumers, firms and governments. Over six
million people travel into London each day. They have to make choices about when to travel,
whether to use the bus, the tube, to walk or cycle – or whether to work from home. Millions of
decisions are being taken, many of them are habitual – but somehow on most days, people get to
work on time and they get home too! This is a remarkable achievement, and for it to happen, our
economy must provide the resources and the options for it to happen.

Trade-offs when making choices

Making a choice made normally involves a trade-off - in simple terms, choosing more of one thing
means giving up something else in exchange.

1. Housing: Choices about whether to rent or buy a home – a huge decision to make and one
full of uncertainty given the recent volatility in the British housing market! There are costs
and benefits to renting a property or in choosing to buy a home with a mortgage. Both
decisions involve a degree of risk. People have to weigh up the costs and benefits of the
decision.
2. Working: Do you work full-time or part-time work? Is it worth your while studying for a
degree? How have these choices been affected by the introduction of university tuition
fees?
3. Transport and travel: The choice between using Euro-Tunnel, a speedy low-cost ferry or
an airline when travelling to Western Europe. Your choices about which modes of transport
to use to get to and from work or school each day.

Basic cost-benefit analysis

In many of these decisions, people consider the costs and benefits of their actions – economists
make use of the „marginal‟ idea, for example what are the costs of consuming a little extra of a
product and what are the costs. People are often likely to go ahead with a purchase if they
estimate that the marginal benefits are greater than the marginal costs.

Consumer welfare and rationality

What makes people happy? Why despite several decades of rising living standards, surveys of
happiness suggest that people are not noticeably happier than previous generations?

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 -4-

Typically we tend to assume that, when making decisions in the market place, people aim to
maximise their welfare. They have a limited income and they seek to allocate their money in a
way that improves their standard of living.

Of course in reality consumers rarely behave in a perfectly informed and rational way. We will see
later that often decisions by people are based on imperfect or incomplete information which can
lead to a loss of welfare not only for people themselves but which affect other and our society as a
whole. As consumers we have all made poor choices about which products to buy. Behavioural
economics is an exciting strand of the subject that looks at whether we are rational in our everyday
decisions.

Opportunity Cost

There is a well known saying in economics that ―there is no such thing as a free lunch!” Even if we
are not asked to pay a price for something, scarce resources are used up in the production of it
and there must be an opportunity cost involved. Opportunity cost measures the cost of any choice
in terms of the next best alternative foregone.

Work-leisure choices: The opportunity cost of deciding not to work an extra ten hours a
week is the lost wages foregone. If you are being paid £6 per hour to work at the local
supermarket, if you choose to take a day off from work you might lose £48 of income.
Government spending priorities: The opportunity cost of the government spending
nearly £10 billion on investment in National Health Service might be that £10 billion less
is available for spending on education or the transport network.
Investing today for consumption tomorrow: The opportunity cost of an economy
investing resources in new capital goods is the current production of consumer goods
given up.
Making use of scarce farming land: The opportunity cost of using arable farmland to
produce wheat is that the land cannot be used in that production period to harvest
potatoes.

Economic Systems

An economic system is best described as a network of organisations used by a society to

resolve the basic problem of what, how much, how and for whom to produce.
1. Traditional economy: Where decisions about what, how and for whom to produce are
based on custom and tradition. Land is typically held in common i.e. private property is not
well defined. This BBC news article looks at the traditional economy of Vanuatu.
2. Free market economy: Where households own resources and free markets allocate
resources through the workings of the price mechanism. An increase in demand raises
price and encourages firms to switch additional resources into the production of that good
or service. The amount of products consumed by households depends on their income and
household income depends on the market value of an individual‘s work. In a free market
economy there is a limited role for the government. Indeed in a highly free market system,
the government limits itself to protecting the property rights of people and businesses
using the legal system, and it also seeks to protect the value of money or the value of a
currency.
3. Planned or command economy: In a planned or command system typically associated
with a socialist or communist economic system, scarce resources are owned by the state
(i.e. the government). The state allocates resources, and sets production targets and
growth rates according to its own view of people's wants. The final income and wealth

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 -5-

distribution is decided by the state. In such a system, market prices play little or no part in
informing resource allocation decisions and queuing rations scarce goods.
4. Mixed economy: In a mixed economy, some resources are owned by the public sector
(government) and some resources are owned by the private sector. The public (or state)
sector typically supplies public, quasi-public and merit goods and intervenes in markets to
correct perceived market failure.

Sectors of Production

Production of goods and services takes place in different sectors, when added together they give
us a figure for a nation‘s gross domestic product (GDP). These sectors are as follows:
1. Primary sector: This involves extraction of natural resources e.g. agriculture, forestry,
fishing, quarrying, and mining
2. Secondary sector: This involves the production of goods in the economy, i.e. transforming
materials produced by the primary sector e.g. manufacturing and the construction industry
3. Tertiary sector: the tertiary sector provided services such as banking, finance, insurance,
retail, education and travel and tourism
4. Quaternary sector: The quaternary sector is involved with information processing e.g.
education, research and development

Manufacturing industry in the United

Kingdom only accounts for 15 per cent
of national output. The bulk of our
income and employment comes from
the service sector.

Suggested reading on opportunity cost and trade offs

Could scrapping Trident save the planet? (Guardian, November 2006)

Counting the cost of the Iraq War (BBC news, March 2008)
Cuban reforms create goodwill (BBC news, April 2008)
Scarcity in an age of plenty (Joseph Stiglitz, Guardian, June 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 -6-

Economic Resources

Finite resources and sustainability

There are only a finite - or limited - number of workers, machines,

acres of land and reserves of oil and other natural resources on the
earth. Because most resources are finite, we cannot produce an
unlimited number of different goods and services. By supplying more
for an ever-growing population we are in danger of destroying the
natural resources of the planet.

Our ecological footprint will affect the long-term sustainability of

economies and have huge implications for our living standards.

Environmental pressure groups such as Friends of the Earth and

Greenpeace seek to highlight the permanent damage to the stock of
natural resources available throughout the world and the dangers
from economic development and global warming. The Worldwide
Fund for Nature has claimed that the natural world is being degraded
"at a rate unprecedented in human history" and has warned that if
demand continues at the current rate, two planets will be needed to meet global demand by 2050.
Resources are being consumed faster than the planet could replace them

One issue is the threat posed by the shortage of water as the world‘s demand for household and
commercial use continues to grow each year.

At the heart of improving resource sustainability is the idea of de-coupling – a process of trying
to increase the efficiency with which resources are used and breaking the link between increasing
demand and resource depletion. For more on the pressures facing the global environment see this
special BBC online report – Planet under Pressure

Factors of Production

Factors of production are the resources we have available to produce different goods and
services.

Land: Land includes all of the natural physical resources – for example the ability to exploit
fertile farm land, the benefits from a temperate climate or the harnessing of wind power and solar
power and other forms of renewable energy.

Some nations are richly endowed with natural resources and then specialise in the their extraction
and production – for example – the development of the North Sea oil and gas in Britain and
Norway or the high productivity of the vast expanse of farm land in Canada and the United States
and the oil sands in Alberta, Canada. Other countries are reliant on importing these resources.

Labour: Labour is the human input into the production process. It is inevitable that some workers
are more productive than others because of the education, training and work experience they
have received.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 -7-

An increase in the size and the quality of the labour force is vital if a country wants to achieve
sustained growth. In recent years the issue of the migration of labour has become important.
Can migrant workers help to solve labour shortages? What are the long-term effects on the
countries who suffer a drain or loss of workers through migration?

Capital:

Capital goods can be used to produce other consumer goods and services in the future.
Fixed capital includes machinery, equipment, new technology, factories and other
buildings.
Working capital means stocks of finished and semi-finished goods (or components) that
will be either consumed in the near future or will be made into consumer goods ready to
buy.

The oil and gas industry uses a huge amount of capital to get crude oil to the refineries and
processing stages.

New items of capital machinery, buildings or technology are used to enhance the productivity of
labour. For example, improved technology in farming has vastly increased productivity and allowed
millions of people to move from working on the land into more valuable jobs in other industries.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure is the stock of capital used to support the entire economic system.

Examples of critical infrastructure include road & rail networks; airports & docks;
telecommunications e.g. cables and satellites to enable web access. The World Bank regards
infrastructure as an essential pillar for economic growth in developing countries. The fast-growing
Indian economy is often cited as a country whose growth prospects are being limited by
weaknesses in national infrastructure.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 -8-

Infrastructure is vital in achieving sustained economic growth

Entrepreneurship

An entrepreneur is an individual who seeks to supply products to a market for a rate of return
(i.e. to make a profit). Entrepreneurs will usually invest their own financial capital in a business
and take on the risks. Their main reward is the profit made from running the business.

Renewable and Finite Resources

Renewable resources are commodities such as solar energy, oxygen, biomass, fish stocks or
forestry that is inexhaustible or replaceable over time by new growth providing that the rate of
extraction of the resource is less than the natural rate at which the resource renews itself. This is
becoming an important issue in environmental economics, for example the over-extraction of fish
stocks, and the global risks of permanent water shortages resulting from rising use of ground water
stocks.

Finite resources cannot be renewed. For example with plastics, crude oil, coal, natural gas and
other items produced from fossil fuels, no mechanisms exist to replenish them.

Suggestions for further reading on economic resources and sustainability

The articles below have been selected because they are relevant to the issue of finite and
renewable resources and the sustainability of production.
Amazon is disappearing fast (BBC, November 2007)
Arctic 'has 90bn barrels of oil' (BBC, July 2008)
Benidorm, the new face of eco-tourism (BBC, May 2008)
Climate Change (Independent)
Environmental news (The Times)
Ethical Living (The Guardian)
Green Living (Independent)
Humanity is the greatest challenge (BBC news, November 2007)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 -9-

Hydrogen refuel station unveiled (BBC news, July 2008)

Wind power – the future? (BBC news, June 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 10 -

Factor Rewards

Factors of production are used to create output to be sold in markets. Each factor used in
production can expect some reward:

Income

The main sources of income for people are:

1. Wages and salaries from work often boosted by overtime and productivity bonuses.
2. Interest from savings
3. Dividends from share ownership.
4. Rent income from the ownership of property.

The government can affect people‘s disposable income by taxing incomes and issuing welfare
benefits to households on low wages or to those who are out of work.

Wealth

Wealth is defined as a stock of assets that, in turn, creates a flow of income.

o Financial wealth – examples include stocks and shares, bonds, savings in bank and
building society accounts and contributions to pension schemes.
o Marketable wealth – this includes consumer durables that can be sold for a price e.g. rare
antiques and fine wines.
o Social capital – an important part of our national wealth including social infrastructure such
as transport systems, schools and hospitals.

It is important to distinguish between income and wealth. For example, if you receive a higher
wage or salary, this adds to your monthly income and if this is saved in a bank, or by making
contributions to a pension fund then you are accumulating wealth. Being wealthy can generate
income for if you own shares in companies you expect to receive dividend income perhaps once
or twice a year. And if you have money in a savings account, you will be paid interest.

Likewise, if you own properties you can rent it out to tenants. There has been a huge expansion
in recent years in the buy-to-let sector of the housing market with hundreds of thousands of people
buying properties and then letting them out.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 11 -

The value of financial wealth can fluctuate over time. In the UK in recent years we saw a boom in
the housing market leading to sharp rises in prices, particularly in London and the South East.
The result was a jump in housing wealth for people with mortgages, but a problem of housing
affordability for people looking to enter the housing market for the first time.

As we see in the chart below, the housing boom in the UK came to an abrupt halt in 2007 and in
the first half of 2008 there was a sharp fall in property prices as the housing market went into
recession.

The Housing Boom Ends - Will Shares Follow?

FTSE 100 index (bottom pane) Average UK house price (top pane)
200000 200000
House Prices
180000 180000

160000 160000

140000 140000
£s

120000 120000

100000 100000

80000 80000

7000 7000
FTSE 100
6500 6500
6000 6000
5500 5500
Index

5000 5000
4500 4500
4000 4000
3500 3500
3000 3000
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

Source: Reuters EcoWin

Inequality in income and wealth

It is a fact of life that the distribution of income and wealth in the UK and in many other countries is
highly unequal and there is a huge gap between the richest and poorest households. For
example, the latest data shows that 94% of the total wealth in Britain is held by 50% of the
population. In 2006 the United Nations reported that the World's richest 1% own 40% of all wealth.

Millions of people must rely on relatively low incomes with little opportunity to accumulate wealth. Is
this fair? What are the consequences of a high level of inequality? Should the government
intervene to change the distribution of income? These are really important questions for
economists.

Labour and Wages

In industries and jobs where labour is not scarce, wages tend to be lower. Millions of workers in the
UK are paid hourly wages well below the national average. The minimum wage seeks to address

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 12 -

some of the problems associated with low pay. On the other hand, some people have skills that
are rare, and these people will command high salaries in the labour market.

Capital and Interest

Businesses often need to borrow money to fund capital investment. The reward for investing
money is called interest. Interest rates can of course go up or down. If the interest rate is high, it
becomes less worthwhile to borrow money because any project will have to make more money
than before to be profitable since more interest is now being paid.

Enterprise and Profit

In return for having innovative business ideas and taking the risk in putting funds into a business
the entrepreneur takes any money that the business has left after the other factors of production
have received their rewards. This is called gross profit. Taxes then have to be paid to the
government, and the entrepreneur takes what is left. This after-tax profit is called net profit.

Business Objectives

Economists often assume that one of the main objectives of a business is to achieve maximum
profits. But this is not always the case! Some businesses are looking to achieve a rising market
share and increasing market share might mean having to sacrifice some profits in the short run by
cutting prices and under-cutting rival suppliers in the market.

There is also a growing interest in the concept of social enterprises, ethical businesses, and
corporate social responsibility where the traditional assumption of firms driven solely by the
profit motive is being challenged and where businesses are encouraged to take account of their
economic, social and environmental impacts. The rise of consumer power in influencing the
decisions of businesses is part of this trend.

Summary on factors of production and factor rewards

Factor Description Reward

Land all natural resources (gifts of nature) The reward for landlords for allowing firms
including fields, mineral wealth, and to use their property is rent
fishing stocks
Labour The physical and mental work of people The reward for workers giving up time to
whether by hand, by brain, skilled or help create products is wages or salaries
unskilled
Capital Man made goods used to produce more The reward for creditors lending money to
goods including factories (plant), firms to invest in buildings and capital
machines and roads. equipment is interest
Enterprise An entrepreneur risks financial capital The reward for individuals risking funds
and organises land labour & capital to and offering products for sale is profit.
produce output in the hope of profit Unsuccessful firms make losses.

Source: adapted from Richard Young, “Markets Question and Answer”, Tutor2u

Suggestions for extra reading on factor rewards

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 13 -

More children living in poverty (BBC news, June 2008)

Peru's poor left behind as growth soars (BBC news, May 208)
Wealth rise boosts unequal Britain (BBC news, January 2008)
Health inequality gap widening (BBC news, March 2008)
UK super-rich are getting richer (BBC news, April 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 14 -

The Production Possibility Frontier

A production possibility frontier (PPF) is a boundary which shows the combinations of two or
more goods and services that can be produced whilst using all available factor resources
efficiently.

We normally draw a PPF on a diagram as concave to the origin i.e. as we move down the PPF,
as more resources are allocated towards Good Y the extra output gets smaller – so more of Good
X has to be given up in order to produce Good Y. This is the law of diminishing returns and it
occurs because not all factor inputs are equally suited to producing items.

A PPF shows the different combinations of goods and services that can
be produced with a given amount of resources in their most efficient way
Any point inside the curve – suggests resources are not being utilised
efficiently
Any point outside the curve – not attainable with the current level of
Output of Y resources

C
D
A

X
B

Output of X

PPF and economic efficiency

Combinations of the output of goods X and Y lying inside the PPF happen when there are
unemployed resources or when the economy uses resources inefficiently – point X is an
example of this. We could increase total output by moving towards the PPF and reaching
any of points C, A or B.

Point D is unattainable at the moment because it lies beyond the PPF. A country would
require an increase in factor resources, an increase in the productivity or an
improvement in technology to reach this combination of Good X and Good Y. As we shall
see a little later, international trade between countries also allows nations to consume
beyond their domestic PPF.

Producing more of both goods would represent an improvement in economic welfare

providing that the products are giving consumers a positive satisfaction and therefore an
improvement in what is called allocative efficiency

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 15 -

Opportunity cost and the PPF

Reallocating scarce resources from one product to another involves an opportunity cost. If we
increase our output of Good X (moving along the PPF from point A to point B) then fewer
resources are available to produce Good Y. if the law of diminishing returns holds true then the
opportunity cost of expanding output of X measured in terms of lost units of Y is increasing.

Output of
Capital Goods

B
C2

A
C1

X2 X1
Output of Consumer Goods

If the opportunity cost for producing two products is constant, then we draw the PPF as a straight
line. The gradient of that line is a way of measuring the opportunity cost between two goods.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 16 -

A straight line PPF shows a constant opportunity cost between two products
Increasing output of good B from 60 to 90 units implies giving up 90 units of
good A
Output of The marginal opportunity cost for each extra unit of good B is 30 units of
Good A Good A

A
200
B
160

60 90 Output of Good
B

Shifts in the Production Possibility Frontier

The PPF will shift when:

o There are improvements in productivity and efficiency perhaps because of the
introduction of new technology or advances in the techniques of production
o More factor resources are exploited perhaps due to an increase in the size of the
workforce or a rise in the amount of capital equipment available for businesses

In the diagram below, there is an improvement in technology which shifts the PPF outwards.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 17 -

An outward shift in the PPF shows that there has been either an
improvement in productivity or an increase in the total stock of resources
available to produce different goods and services. The outward shift
represents an improvement in economic efficiency.
Output of Capital
Goods

PPF1

B PPF2
C2

C
C3

A
C1

X2 X1 X3 Output of Consumer Goods

Free Goods

Free goods are not scarce and no cost is involved when consuming them.

Is fresh air an example of a free good? Usually the answer is yes – yet we know that air can
become contaminated by pollutants. And, in thousands of offices, shops and schools, air-
conditioning systems cool the air before it is ―consumed‖.

With air conditioning, scarce resources are used up in providing the ―product‖ – for example the
capital machinery and technology that goes into manufacturing the air conditioning equipment; the
labour involved in its design, production, distribution and maintenance and the energy used up in
powering the system. Cool air might appear to be free – but in fact it is often an expensive product
to supply!

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 18 -

Specialisation and Trade

Specialisation is when we concentrate on a particular product or task. Surplus products can then
be exchanged and traded creating the potential for gains in welfare for all parties.

Who gains from specialisation?

By concentrating on what people and businesses do best rather than relying on self sufficiency:
Higher output: Total output of goods and services is raised and quality can be
improved.
Variety; Consumers have access to a greater variety of higher quality products.
A bigger market: Specialisation and global trade increase the size of the market
offering opportunities for economies of scale.
Competition and lower prices: Increased competition acts as an incentive to minimise
costs, keep prices down and therefore maintains low inflation

The Division of Labour

Specialisation occurs in nearly every business – from manufacturing to restaurants

The division of labour occurs where production is broken up into many separate tasks each
performed by one person or by a small group of people. The division of labour raises output per
person as people become proficient through constant repetition of a task – ‗practice makes
perfect‘ – or ―learning by doing‖. This gain in productivity helps to lower cost per unit.

Limitations of division of labour

Perhaps the greatest downside is that unrewarding, repetitive work lowers motivation and
productivity. Workers begin to take less pride in their work and quality suffers, the result may be a
problem of diseconomies of scale.

Some workers receive a narrow training and may not be able to find alternative jobs if they find
themselves out of work (they may suffer structural unemployment). Another disadvantage is that
mass-produced standardized goods tend to lack variety.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 19 -

The concept of comparative advantage

First introduced by David Ricardo in 1817, comparative advantage exists when a country has a
„margin of superiority‟ in the supply of a product i.e. the cost of production is lower.

Countries will usually specialise in and then export products, which use intensively the factors
inputs, which they are most abundantly endowed. So for example the Canadian economy which is
rich in low cost land is able to exploit this by specializing in agricultural production. The dynamic
Asian economies including China have focused their resources in exporting low-cost manufactured
goods which take advantage of much lower labour costs.

In highly developed countries, the comparative advantage is shifting towards specializing in

producing and then exporting high-value and high-technology manufactured goods and high-
knowledge services.

The PPF and Specialisation

Two countries are producing two products (X and Y). With a given amount of resources,

Output of X Output of Y
Country A 180 90
Country B 200 150

Output
of Good
X 400

360

200

180 PPF for

Country B

PPF for
Country A

90 150 180 300

Output of Good Y

In this example, country B has an absolute advantage in both products. Absolute advantage occurs
when a country or region can create more of a product with the same factor inputs. But although
country A has an absolute disadvantage, in fact it has a comparative advantage in the production
of good X. It is 9/10ths as efficient at producing good X but it is only 3/5ths as efficient at producing
good Y.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 20 -

Comparative advantage exists when a country has lower opportunity cost, i.e., it gives up less of
one product to obtain more of another product. In our example above, for country A, every extra
unit of good Y produced involves an opportunity cost of 2 unit of good X. For country B, an
additional unit of good Y involves a sacrifice of only 4.3 units of good X.

There are gains to be had from country A specializing in the supply of good X and country B
allocating more of their resources into the production of good Y.

Another worked example of comparative advantage

In this second example, we will work through an example of comparative advantage and also show
some of the benefits that might flow from specialisation and trade.

Consider two countries producing two products – digital cameras and vacuum cleaners. With the
same factor resources evenly allocated by each country to the production of both goods, the
production possibilities are as shown in the table below.

Pre-specialisation Digital Cameras Vacuum Cleaners

UK 600 600
United States 2400 1000
Total 3000 1600

Working out the comparative advantage

To identify which country should specialise in a particular product we need to analyse the
opportunity costs for each country. For example, were the UK to shift more resources into higher
output of vacuum cleaners, the opportunity cost of each vacuum cleaner is one digital television.
For the United States the same decision has an opportunity cost of 2.4 digital cameras. Therefore,
the UK has a comparative advantage in vacuum cleaners.

If the UK chose to reallocate resources to digital cameras the opportunity cost of one extra
camera is still one vacuum cleaner. But for the United States the opportunity cost is only 5/12ths of
a vacuum cleaner. Thus the United States has a comparative advantage in producing digital
cameras because its opportunity cost is lowest.

Output after Specialization

Digital Cameras Vacuum Cleaners

UK 0 (-600) 1200 (+600)
United States 3360 (+960) 600 (-400)
Total 3000 1600
3360 1800

o The UK specializes totally in producing vacuum cleaners – doubling its output to 1200.
o The United States partly specializes in digital cameras increasing output by 960 having
given up 400 units of vacuum cleaners.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 21 -

o As a result of specialisation according to the principle of comparative advantage, output of

both products has increased - representing a gain in economic welfare.
For mutually beneficial trade to take place, the two nations have to agree an acceptable rate of
exchange of one product for another.
There are gains from trade between the two countries. If the two countries trade at a rate of
exchange of 2 digital cameras for one vacuum cleaner, the post-trade position will be as follows:
o The UK exports 420 vacuum cleaners to the USA and receives 840 digital cameras
o The USA exports 840 digital cameras and imports 420 vacuum cleaners
Post trade output / consumption

Digital Cameras Vacuum Cleaners

UK 840 780
United States 2520 1020
Total 3360 1800

Compared with the pre-specialisation output levels, consumers in both countries now have an
increased supply of both goods to choose from.

We have seen in this chapter how specialisation and trade based on the idea of comparative
advantage can lead to an improvement in economic welfare.

Suggestions for further reading on the gains from specialisation and trade
Each of the following articles has been chosen because they are relevant to the topic of
international trade between nations.

The Battle over Trade (BBC news special reports)

New exotic fruit to hit the UK shops (BBC news, July 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 22 -

Positive and Normative Statements

Detecting bias in arguments

Whenever you are reading articles on current affairs it is important to be

able to distinguish where possible between objective and subjective
statements.

Often, the person writing an article has a particular argument to make

and will include subjective statements about what ought to be or what
should be happening. Their articles carry value judgements where they
are trying to persuade you of the particular merits or demerits of a policy
decision. These articles may be lacking in objectivity.

Positive Statements

Positive statements are objective statements that can be tested or rejected by referring to the
available evidence. Positive economics deals with objective explanation and the testing and
rejection of theories. For example:
A fall in consumer incomes will lead to a rise in demand for motor scooters
If the government raises the tax on beer, this will lead to a fall in profits of the brewers.
The rising price of crude oil on world markets will lead to an increase in cycling to work
A reduction in income tax will improve the incentives of the unemployed to find work.
A rise in average temperatures will increase the demand for sun screen products.
Poverty in the UK has increased because of the fast growth of executive pay.
Cut-price alcohol has increased the demand for alcohol among teenagers

Normative Statements

Normative statements express an opinion about what ought to be. They are subjective statements
rather than objective statements – i.e. they carry value judgments. For example:
The level of duty on petrol is unfair and penalizes motorists.
The London congestion charge for drivers of petrol-guzzling cars should increase to
£25
The government should increase the minimum wage to £6 per hour to reduce poverty.
The government is right to introduce a ban on smoking in public places.
The retirement age should be raised to 75 to combat the effects of our ageing
population.
The government ought to provide financial subsidies to companies manufacturing and
developing wind farm technology.
The government should enforce minimum prices for beers and lagers sold in
supermarkets and off-licences.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 23 -

Markets: Understanding Demand

In this chapter we consider the economics of the law of demand. This is important background to
understanding the determination of prices in competitive markets.

Demand

Demand is the quantity of a good or service that consumers are willing and able to buy at a
given price in a given time period. Each of us has an individual demand for particular goods
and services and our demand at each price reflects the value that we place on a product, linked
usually to the enjoyment or usefulness that we expect from consuming it.

Effective demand and willingness to pay

Demand in economics must be effective is when a desire to buy a product is backed up by an

ability to pay. For example, what price are you willing to pay for a ticket for the opening ceremony
of the London 2012 Olympics or to watch Federer play Nadal in the Wimbledon final?

There has been a huge growth in demand for live events such as pop festivals and other concerts
– when people buy tickets for these they reveal their preferences for the types of goods and
services they are willing and able to buy.

Latent Demand

Latent demand is probably best described as the potential demand for a product. It exists when
there is willingness to buy among people for a good or service, but where consumers lack the
purchasing power to be able to afford the product. Latent demand is affected by advertising –
where the producer is seeking to influence consumer tastes and preferences.

Derived Demand

The demand for a product X might be linked to the demand for a related product Y – giving rise to
the idea of a derived demand.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 24 -

For example, the demand for steel is strongly linked to the demand for new vehicles and other
manufactured products, so that when an economy goes into a recession, so we would expect the
demand for steel to decline likewise.

Steel is a cyclical industry which means that the total market demand for steel is affected by
changes in the economic cycle and also by fluctuations in the exchange rate. Recently the world
price of steel has been surging to new heights as our chart indicates below. This is because of
rising global demand for steel which itself is derived from the demand for new buildings and the
rapid growth of manufacturing especially in far-east Asian emerging countries. As we shall see, the
sharp rise in the price of steel will affect demand for substitutes to steel.

World Prices for Different Types of Steel

US dollars per tonne
1100 1100

1000 1000

900 900

800 800
US dollars per tonne

700 700

600 600

500 500

400 400

300 300

200 200
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

Cold Rolled Coil Hot Rolled Coil Hot Rolled Plate

Source: Reuters EcoWin

The demand for new bricks is derived from the demand for the final output of the construction
industry- when there is a boom in the building industry, so the market demand for bricks will
increase

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 25 -

The Law of Demand

There is an inverse relationship between the price of a good and demand.

1. As prices fall, we see an expansion of demand.
2. If price rises, there will be a contraction of demand.

Ceteris paribus assumption

Many factors can be said to affect demand. When drawing a demand curve, economists assume
all factors are held constant except one – the price of the product itself. A change in a factor being
held constant invalidates the ceteris paribus assumption.

Demand Curve

A demand curve shows the relationship between the price of an item and the quantity demanded
over a period of time. There are two reasons why more is demanded as price falls:
1. The Income Effect: There is an income effect when the price of a good falls because the
consumer can maintain the same consumption for less expenditure. Provided that the
good is normal, some of the resulting increase in real income is used to buy more of this
product.
2. The Substitution Effect: There is a substitution effect when the price of a good falls
because the product is now relatively cheaper than an alternative item and some
consumers switch their spending from the alternative good or service.

Price

P2 Rising price -
contraction of
demand

P1 Falling price -
expansion of
demand
P3

Demand

Q2 Q1 Q3 Quantity Demanded

The demand curve is normally drawn in textbooks as a straight line suggesting a linear relationship
between price and demand but in reality, the demand curve will be non-linear! Indeed, no business

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 26 -

has a perfect idea of what the demand curve for a particular product looks like, they use real-time
evidence from markets to estimate the demand conditions and their accumulated experience of
market conditions gives them an advantage in constructing demand-price relationships.

Many other factors can affect total demand - when these change, the demand curve can shift. This
is explained below.

Changes in the Conditions of Demand – Shifts in Demand

There are two possibilities: either the demand curve shifts to the right or it shifts to the left.

1. D1 – D3 would be an example of an outward shift of the demand curve (or an increase in

demand). When this happens, more is demanded at each price.
2. A movement from D1 – D2 would be termed an inward shift of the demand curve (or
decrease in demand). When this happens, less is demanded at each price.

Price

D1 to D3 – an
outward shift of
P1
demand

D1 to D2 – an
inward shift of
demand

D1 D3
D2

Q2 Q1 Q3 Quantity Demanded

The conditions of demand for a product in a market can be summarised as follows:

Changing prices of a substitute good

Substitutes are goods in competitive demand and act as replacements for another product.

For example, a rise in the price of Esso petrol should cause a substitution effect away from Esso
towards competing brands such as Shell. When it is easy and cheap to switch, then consumer
demand will be sensitive to price changes.

Changing price of a complement

Two complements are said to be in joint demand – e.g. DVD players and DVDs, iron ore and
steel.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 27 -

A rise in the price of a complement to Good X should cause a fall in demand for X. For
example an increase in the cost of flights from London Heathrow to New York would
cause a decrease in the demand for hotel rooms in New York and also a fall in the
demand for taxi services both in London and New York.
A fall in the price of a complement to Good Y should cause an increase in demand for
Good Y. For example a reduction in the price of the new iPhone should lead to an
expansion in demand for the iPhone and a complementary increase in demand for
download applications.

Changes in the income of consumers

Most of the things we buy are normal goods. When income goes up, our ability to purchase goods
and services increases, and this causes an outward shift in the demand curve. But when incomes
fall there will be a decrease in the demand for most goods, except for inferior goods (see the
chapter on income elasticity of demand).

Discretionary income is disposable income less essential payments like electricity & gas and,
especially, mortgage repayments. An increase in interest rates often means an increase in monthly
mortgage payments reducing demand. And in recent years we have seen a sharp rise in the cost
of utility bills with a series of hikes in the prices of gas and electricity. This has eaten into the
discretionary incomes of millions of households across the UK. The discretionary incomes of
people suffering from fuel poverty have become a major current issue.

Interest rates and demand

Many products are bought on credit using borrowed money, thus the demand for them may be
sensitive to the rate of interest charged by the lender. Therefore if the Bank of England decides
to raise interest rates – the demand for many goods and services may fall. Examples of ―interest
sensitive‖ products include household appliances, electronic goods, new furniture and motor
vehicles. The demand for housing is affected by changes in mortgage interest rates.

Market demand

Market demand is the sum of the individual demand for a product from each consumer in the
market. If more people enter the market and they have the ability to pay for items on sale, then
demand at each price level will rise.

Exceptions to the law of demand

There are two possible reasons why more might be

demanded even when the price of a good or service is
increasing. We consider these briefly – ostentatious
consumption and the effects of speculative demand.

(a) Ostentatious consumption

Some goods are luxurious items where satisfaction comes

from knowing both the price of the good and being able to
flaunt consumption of it to other people! The demand for the
product is a direct function of its price. A higher price may be regarded as a reflection of product
quality and some consumers are prepared to pay this for the “snob value effect”. Examples
might include perfumes, designer clothes, and top of the range cars. Goods of ostentatious

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 28 -

consumption are known as Veblen Goods and they have a high-income elasticity of demand.
That is, demand rises more than proportionately to an increase in income or an increase in price.

(b) Speculative Demand

When there is speculative demand potential buyers are interested not just in the satisfaction they
may get from consuming the product, but also the potential rise in market price leading to a
capital gain or profit. When prices are rising, speculative demand may grow, adding to the
upward pressure on prices. The speculative demand for housing and for shares might come into
this category and we have also seen, in the last few years, strong speculative demand for many of
the world‘s essential commodities.

Speculation drives the prices of commodities to fresh highs

World commodity prices have reached new highs this year helped by an increase in the rate of
economic growth in the global economy. Among the metals that have achieved record price levels
are copper, zinc, gold and platinum; prompting sceptics to question how much longer prices can
continue rising. Many market experts believe that the demand for commodities has been spurred
by heavy speculator activity. For example, pension funds and hedge funds have been investing in
commodity mutual funds over recent years leading to increased demand for precious metals.
Prices have risen quickly because commodity producers are unable to raise output sufficiently to
meet unexpectedly strong demand.
Source: adapted from news reports, July 2006

The non-linear demand curve and the idea of price points

Price of mountain
bikes (£s)

1000

900

800

700 A

600

500
B
400

300

200

100

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Weekly sales of mountain bikes

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 29 -

In many markets an assumption of a linear relationship between price and quantity demanded is
not realistic. Many price-demand relationships are non-linear and an example of this is provided in
the previous chart, used to illustrate the idea of price-points.

Price points are points on the demand curve where a small change in price may cause a sizeable
contraction in demand leading to a loss of total revenue for the producer. Consider price point A
where raising the selling price of the mountain bike above £650 causes demand to decline quite
quickly. From selling 250 bikes per week increasing the price to £700 leads to sales dipping to 175
per week. In technical terms we say that the price elasticity of demand is higher at a price just
above the price point. Another price point might exist at B. Looking at this in a slightly different way,
cutting the price below £400 leads to a large expansion of demand.

Price points can be justified in a number of ways:

1. A price rise at the price point may make the product more expensive than a close substitute
causing consumers to change their preferences.
2. Customers may have become used to paying a certain price for a type of product and if
they see a further price rise, this may cause them to revalue how much satisfaction they get
from buying and consuming something, leading to a decline in demand.
3. There may be psychological effects at work, supermarkets for example know the
importance of avoiding price points - £2.99 somehow seems cheaper than £3.00 despite
the tiny price difference.

Key point for the exam

For AS level economics, you will be expected to draw and use linear demand curves in your basic
analysis. But it is important to realise that in the real world of business, price-demand relationships
can be complex and often a business does not have enough information about the behaviour of
consumers for them to actually construct an accurate demand curve.

As with many aspects of economic theory, we are constructing curves to illustrate economic
relationships. They are simplifications of reality.

Suggestions for Further Reading on the Theory of Demand

All of these articles relate to some of the causes of changes in the market demand for different
goods and services. When reading through them, consider some of the conditions of demand
covered in this chapter and how they link in to the particular story.

Bottled water popularity rising (BBC May 2008)

Demand for Polish beer in Britain (BBC October 2006)
Demand for slimming treatments – Fat man, thin man (BBC Money Programme, March 2007)
Nigella effect sees goose fat sales soar (Guardian, December 2006)
Rising cost of renting a property (BBC May 2008)
Sales lose fizz for Magners maker (BBC February 2008)
Speculative demand - Priciest champagne set to sparkle (BBC November 2006)
Tastes and preferences - Healthy trends eat into sales at Burger King (Guardian, November 2006)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 30 -

Markets: Understanding Supply

Definition of Supply

Supply is defined as the quantity of a product that a producer is willing and able to supply onto
the market at a given price in a given time period.

Note: Throughout this study companion, the terms firm, business, producer and seller have the
same meaning.

The basic law of supply is that as the price of a product rises, so businesses expand their supply
onto the market. A supply curve shows a relationship between the price and quantity a firm is
willing and able to sell.

Supply – the amount producers are willing to offer for sale at various prices
Supply – reflects the costs of the resources used in production and the profits
Price required
Supply
P2

Expansion
of supply

P1

Contraction
of supply

P3

Q3 Q1 Q2 Quantity
supplied

A supply curve is drawn assuming ceteris paribus - if the price of the good varies, we move along a
supply curve. In the diagram above, as the price rises from P1 to P2 there is an expansion of
supply. If the market price falls from P1 to P3 there would be a contraction of supply in the
market. Businesses are responding to price signals when making their output decisions.

Explaining the Law of Supply

There are three main reasons why supply curves are drawn as sloping upwards from left to right
giving a positive relationship between the market price and quantity supplied:
1. The profit motive: When the market price rises following an increase in demand, it
becomes more profitable for businesses to increase output. Higher prices send signals to
firms that they can increase their profits by satisfying demand in the market.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 31 -

2. Production and costs: When output expands, a firm‘s production costs tend to rise,
therefore a higher price is needed to cover these extra costs of production.
3. New entrants coming into the market: Higher prices may create an incentive for other
businesses to enter the market leading to an increase in supply.

Shifts in the Supply Curve

The supply curve can shift position. If the supply curve shifts to the right (from S1 to S2) this is an
increase in supply; more is provided for sale at each price. If the supply curve moves inwards from
S1 to S3, there is a decrease in supply meaning that less will be supplied at each price

Changes in any of the factors other than price cause a shift in the supply curve
A shift in supply to the left – the amount that producers offer for sale at every price will
be less
Price A shift in supply to the right – the amount producers wish to sell at every price
increases S3
S1
S2

Decrease in Increase in
Supply Supply

P1

Q3 Q1 Q2 Quantity

Changes in the costs of production

Lower costs of production mean that a business can supply more at each price. For example a
magazine publisher might see a reduction in the cost of its imported paper and inks. These cost
savings can then be passed through the supply chain to wholesalers and retailers and may result
in lower market prices for consumers.

If the costs of production increase, for example following a rise in the price of raw materials or a
firm having to pay higher wages to its workers, then businesses cannot supply as much at the
same price and this will cause an inward shift of the supply curve.

A fall in the exchange rate causes an increase in the prices of imported components and raw
materials and will lead to a decrease in supply. For example if the pounds falls by 10% against the
Euro, then it becomes more expensive for British car manufacturers to import their rubber and
glass from Western European suppliers, and higher prices for paints imported from Eastern
Europe.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 32 -

Changes in technology

Production technologies can change quickly and in industries where change is rapid we see
increases in supply and lower prices for the consumer.

Government taxes and subsidies

A tax increases the costs faced by producers. The amount of the tax is shown
by the vertical distance between the two supply curves. Because of the tax,
less can be supplied at each price level. The result is an increase in the market
price and a contraction in demand to a new equilibrium output of Q2
Price Supply
(post-tax) Supply (pre-tax)

P2

Size of the tax

per unit
P1

Demand

Q2 Q1 Quantity

Metal prices and the supply of cans

The world's biggest maker of drink cans, Rexam, says it will raise prices to offset an
unprecedented increase in the cost of aluminium that has hit profits. The British firm spends about
£1bn a year on aluminium to make 50bn cans a year for customers such as Coca-Cola and
Carlsberg. Prices of the metal have risen to $2,500 (£1,325) a tonne in recent months from an
average $1,400 over the past decade.
Source: Adapted from news reports, August 2006

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 33 -

A government subsidy encourages an increase in supply at each price level

because the subsidy provides a reduction in a firm‘s costs of production. The
extent of the subsidy per unit is shown by the vertical distance between the two
supply curves.
Price S1
Supply +
Subsidy

P3

P1

Subsidy per unit

P2

Demand

Q1 Q2 Quantity

Changes in climate

For commodities such as coffee, oranges and wheat, the effect of climatic conditions can exert a
great influence on market supply. Favourable weather will produce a bumper harvest and will
increase supply. Unfavourable weather conditions including the effects of drought will lead to a
poorer harvest, lower yields and therefore a decrease in supply.

Changes in climate can therefore have an effect on prices for agricultural goods such as coffee,
tea and cocoa. Because these commodities are often used as ingredients in the production of
other products, a change in the supply of one can affect the supply and price of another product.
Higher coffee prices for example can lead to an increase in the price of coffee-flavoured cakes.
And higher banana prices as we see in the article below, will feed through to increased prices for
banana smoothies in shops and cafes.

Cyclone destroys the Australian banana crop and sends prices soaring

Cyclone Larry has devastated Australia's banana industry, destroying fruit worth $300 million and
leaving up to 4,000 people out of work. Australians now face a shortage of bananas and likely price
rises after the cyclone tore through the heart of the nation's biggest growing region. Queensland
produces about 95 per cent of Australia's bananas. The storm ruined 200,000 tonnes of fruit and
market supply shortages will be severe because Australia does not allow banana imports because
of the bio-security risks in doing so. Bananas are grown throughout the year in north Queensland,
with the fruit having a growing cycle of around two months.

Source: Adapted from news reports, April 2006

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 34 -

Change in the prices of a substitute in production

A substitute in production is a product that could have been produced using the same
resources. Take the example of barley. An increase in the price of wheat makes wheat growing
more financially attractive. The profit motive may cause farmers to grow more wheat rather than
barley.

The number of producers in the market and their objectives

The number of sellers in an industry affects market supply. When new businesses enter a
market, supply increases causing downward pressure on price.

Competitive supply

Goods and services in competitive supply are alternative products that a business could make
with its factor resources of land, labour and capital. A topical example of this is the diversion of
land used in supplying food to producing bio-fuels and the impact this has had on global food
prices.

Farmers can change their crops if expectations of future price movements also change

More reading on conditions of supply

Each of these links provide short case studies on how changes in supply affect prices and profits

BT to pump £1.5bn into broadband (BBC news, July 2008)

Cadbury‘s plans to increase prices (BBC news, February 2008)
Coffee prices leap on fear of beans shortage (The Guardian, August 2006)
Drought boost for Oz wine prices (BBC news, November 2006)
Dry cleaners facing rising costs (BBC news, June 2008)
Expensive oil makes food prices go up (BBC news, July 2008)
Grain prices are squeezing bakers (BBC news, April 2008)
Hurricanes bring orange growers a windfall (Guardian, December 2006)
Milk costs hit Stilton producers (BBC news, July 2007)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 35 -

Milk shortages feared as supply is squeezed across Europe (The Times, May 2008)
Rio Tinto 'beats' iron ore record (BBC news, July 2008)
USA and EU urged to cut bio-fuels (BBC news, July 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 36 -

Markets: Finding an Equilibrium Price

The Concept of Market Equilibrium

Market price is set by the interaction of supply and demand. Equilibrium price
is the price at which the quantity demanded by consumers and the quantity
that firms are willing to supply of a good or service are the same.
Price

Supply

P3

P1 Equilibrium point – a ―market clearing‖ point where

supply = demand

P2

Demand

Q1 Quantity (Q)

Equilibrium means a state of equality or a state of balance between market demand and
supply. Without a shift in demand and/or supply there will be no change in price. In the diagram
above, the quantity demanded and supplied at price P1 are equal. At price P3, supply exceeds
demand and at P2, demand exceeds supply. Prices where demand and supply are out of balance
are termed points of disequilibrium.

Changes in the conditions of demand or supply will cause changes in the equilibrium price and
quantity in the market.

Demand and supply schedules can be represented in a table. The example below provides an
illustration of the concept of equilibrium. The weekly demand and supply schedules for T-shirts (in
thousands) in a city are shown in the next table:

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 37 -

Price per unit (£) 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Demand (000s) 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Supply (000s) 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4

New Demand 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
(000s)

New Supply (000s) 26 24 22 20 18 16 14 12

1. The equilibrium price is £5 where demand and supply are equal at 12,000 units
2. If the current market price was £3 – there would be excess demand for 8,000 units
3. If the current market price was £8 – there would be excess supply of 12,000 units
4. A rise in income causes demand to rise by 4,000 at each price. The next row of the table
shows the higher level of demand. Assuming that the supply schedule remains unchanged,
the new equilibrium price is £6 per tee shirt with an equilibrium quantity of 14,000 units
5. The entry of new producers into the market causes a rise in supply of 8,000 T-shirts at each
price. The new equilibrium price becomes £4 with 18,000 units bought and sold

Changes in Market Demand and Equilibrium Price

An Inward Shift in Demand An Outward Shift in Demand

Price Price

Supply
Supply

P3
P1
P1
P2

D3

D1 D1

D2

Q2 Q1 Quantity Q1 Q3 Quantity

The outward shift in the demand curve causes an expansion along the supply curve and a rise in
the equilibrium price and quantity. Firms in the market will sell more at a higher price and therefore
receive more total revenue.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 38 -

The reverse effects will occur when there is an inward shift of demand. A shift in the demand curve
does not cause a shift in the supply curve! Demand and supply factors are assumed to be
independent of each other although some economists claim this assumption is no longer valid!

Changes in Market Supply and Equilibrium Price

An Inward Shift in Supply An Outward Shift in Supply

Price Price
S2

S1 S1
S3

P2 P1

P1
P3

D1

D2

Q2 Q1 Quantity Q1 Q3 Quantity

Rising costs feed through to higher bread prices

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 39 -

Wheat and Bread Prices

Monthly data, source: Office of National Statistics, price in pence per loaf
800 800
Index of world wheat prices
700 700
Wheat price index

600 600

500 500

400 400

300 300

200 200

100 100

120 120
Price of bread in pence (millions)

110 110
100 100
90 90

millions
80 80
70 70
60 60
50 50
40 40
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

Bread: white loaf, unwrapped, 800g White loaf, sliced, 800g

Source: Reuters EcoWin

Premier Foods has announced that the price of its Hovis and Mothers Pride branded breads will
rise following the surge in world wheat prices. It is another example of how agri-flation is feeding
through to the prices of processed foods.

For Hovis, wheat is an important variable cost. Premier Foods buys about 1.3m to 1.4m tonnes of
wheat a year. Premier needs to raise bread prices to recover further increases in raw material
costs. In other words, it is banking on an ability to raise price to protect their profit margins. The
effect on demand will depend on how other bread manufacturers respond and also the price
elasticity of demand for bread in the market.
Source: Adapted from news reports, March 2008

Important note for the exams:

A shift in the supply curve does not cause a shift in the demand curve. Instead we move along (up
or down) the demand curve to the new equilibrium position.

The equilibrium price and quantity in a market will change when there shifts in both market supply
and demand. Two examples of this are shown in the next diagram:

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 40 -

An Inward Shift in Demand and a fall in Supply An Outward Shift in Demand and a Rise in Supply

Price Price
S2

S1 S1

S2
P2

P1 P1
P3

D3

D1 D1

D2

Q2 Q1 Quantity Q1 Q2 Quantity

In the left-hand diagram above, we see an inward shift of supply together with a fall in demand.
Both factors lead to a fall in quantity traded, but the rise in costs forces up the market price.

The second example on the right shows a rise in demand from D1 to D3 but a much bigger
increase in supply from S1 to S2. The net result is a fall in equilibrium price (from P1 to P3) and an
increase in the equilibrium quantity traded in the market.

Moving from one equilibrium to another

Changes in equilibrium prices and quantities do not happen instantaneously! The shifts in supply
and demand outlined in the diagrams in previous pages are reflective of changes in conditions in
the market. So an outward shift of demand (depending upon supply conditions) leads to a short
term rise in price and a fall in available stocks. The higher price is an incentive for suppliers to raise
their output (termed as an expansion of supply) causing a movement up the short term supply
curve towards the new equilibrium point.

We tend to use these diagrams to illustrate movements in market prices and quantities – this is
known as comparative static analysis. The reality in most markets and industries is more
complex. For a start, many businesses have imperfect knowledge about their demand curves –
they do not know precisely how consumer demand reacts to changes in price or the true level of
demand at each and every price. Likewise, constructing accurate supply curves requires detailed
information on production costs and these may not be readily available.

Regulated prices

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 41 -

Not all prices are set by the pure forces of market supply and demand. In the British economy for
example, a number of prices are influenced by the decisions of industry regulators – two good
examples are rail fares and the cost of postage stamps.

In the rail market, some of the fares are unregulated allowing train operating companies to set their
own prices. But around half of the fares charged for UK rail travellers are determined by the rail
regulator which applies an RPI+1% formula – this means that fares can rise by the rate of retail
price inflation plus 1% each year. The extra 1% is designed to provide extra revenue for
investment in improving rail infrastructure and new rolling stock.

PostComm is the regulator which controls how much the Royal Mail can charge for postage
stamps.

Suggestions for further reading on changes in equilibrium prices

Each of the articles below has been selected because it relates to a change in the conditions of
supply and/or demand which bring about movements in market prices.
Coal prices surge to record high (BBC news, February 2008)
Cut price tickets for the 2008 Edinburgh tattoo (BBC news, July 2008)
Fares hikes to cover fuel costs (BBC news, July 2008)
Rent prices rise (BBC news, May 2008)
Strong demand for homes to rent (BBC news, June 2008)
Taxi fares in Belfast to rise by 25% (BBC news, May 2008)
The market for allotments (Tutor2u Blog, July 2008)
What shifts the demand and supply curves (Tutor2u blog, May 2008)
Cut in subsidy raises fuel prices in Vietnam (BBC news, July 2008)
Why have oil prices been falling? (BBC news, July 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 42 -

Price Elasticity of Demand

Ped measures the responsiveness of demand for a product following a change in its own
price. The formula for calculating the co-efficient of elasticity of demand is:

Percentage change in quantity demanded divided by the percentage change in price

Since changes in price and quantity usually move in opposite directions, economists usually do not
bother to put in the minus sign. We are more concerned with the co-efficient of elasticity of
demand.

Understanding values for price elasticity of demand

1. If Ped = 0 demand is said to be perfectly inelastic. This means that demand does not
change at all when the price changes – the demand curve will be drawn as vertical.

2. If Ped is between 0 and 1 (i.e. the percentage change in demand from A to B is smaller
than the percentage change in price), then demand is inelastic.

3. If Ped = 1 (i.e. the percentage change in demand is exactly the same as the percentage
change in price), then demand is said to unit elastic. A 15% rise in price would lead to a
15% contraction in demand leaving total spending by the same at each price level.

4. If Ped > 1, then demand responds more than proportionately to a change in price i.e.
demand is elastic. For example a 20% increase in the price of a good might lead to a 30%
drop in demand. The price elasticity of demand for this price change is –1.5.

What Determines Price Elasticity of Demand? Demand for rail services

1. The number of close substitutes for a good – the At peak times, the demand
more close substitutes in the market, the more elastic is for rail transport becomes
demand because consumers can easily switch their inelastic – and higher prices
demand if the price of one product changes relative to are charged by rail
others. companies who can then
achieve higher revenues
2. The cost of switching between products – there may
and profits
be significant costs involved in switching between
products. In this case, demand tends to be relatively
inelastic. For example, mobile phone service providers
may insist on 12 or 18-month contracts being taken out.
3. The degree of necessity or whether the good is a
luxury – goods and services deemed by consumers to
be necessities tend to have an inelastic demand
whereas luxuries tend to have a more elastic demand.
4. The % of a consumer‟s income allocated to spending
on the good – goods and services that take up a high
proportion of a household‘s income will tend to have a
more elastic demand than products where large price
changes makes little or no difference to someone‘s ability to purchase the product.
5. The time period allowed following a price change – demand tends to be more price
elastic, the longer that we allow consumers to respond to a price change.
6. Whether the good is subject to habitual consumption – when this occurs, the consumer
becomes less sensitive to the price of the good in question because their default position is
to buy the same products at regular intervals.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 43 -

7. Peak and off-peak demand - demand tends to be price inelastic at peak times and more
elastic at off-peak times.
8. The breadth of definition of a good or service – if a good is broadly defined, i.e. the
demand for petrol or meat, demand is often inelastic. But specific brands of petrol or beef
are likely to be more elastic following a price change.

Mini Case Study – Wi-Fi and Price Elasticity of demand

From airports to hotels to conference centres. From inter-city rail

services to sports stadiums and libraries, more people are demanding
wireless internet connections for personal and business use. But
demand is being held back by the limited availability of services and, in
places, high hourly charges. However the price of connecting to the
internet through Wi-Fi services is set to fall as competition in the heats
up. Nearly all new laptops now come with wi-fi connections and many
public areas are being equipped with hotspots, but users often
complain about the high price of accessing the internet.

At present airports and hotels can charge high prices because in many
cases a Wi-Fi service provider has exclusivity in that location. However
the supply of Wi-Fi services is more competitive on the high street and prices are falling as
restaurants, coffee shops and fast-food outlets are using low-priced or free Wi-Fi access as a
means of attracting customers. The more Wi-Fi providers there are in the market-place, the higher
is the price elasticity of demand for Wi-Fi connections – often a customer can take their pick of
several coffee stores each offering the service.

Demand curves with different price elasticity of demand

Relatively Inelastic Demand Relatively Elastic Demand

Price Price

P2

P2
P1 P1

P3 P3

Demand

Demand

Q2 Q1 Q3 Q2 Q1 Q3

Elasticity of demand and total revenue for a producer

The relationship between elasticity of demand and a firm‘s total revenue is a very important one.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 44 -

Relatively Inelastic Demand Relatively Elastic Demand

Price Price

P2

P1
P1

P2

Demand

Demand

Q2 Q1 Q1 Q2

When demand is inelastic – a rise in price leads to a rise in total revenue – for example
a 20% rise in price might cause demand to contract by only 5% (Ped = -0.25)
When demand is elastic – a fall in price leads to a rise in total revenue - for example a
10% fall in price might cause demand to expand by only 25% (Ped = +2.5)

The table below gives an example of the relationships between prices; quantity demanded and
total revenue. As price falls, the total revenue initially increases, in our example the maximum
revenue occurs at a price of £12 per unit when 520 units are sold giving total revenue of £6240.

Price Quantity Total Revenue Marginal Revenue

£ per unit Units £s £s
20 200 4000
18 280 5040 13
16 360 5760 9
14 440 6160 5
12 520 6240 1
10 600 6000 -3
8 680 5440 -7
6 760 4560 -11

Consider the elasticity of demand of a price change from £20 per unit to £18 per unit. The
% change in demand is 40% following a 10% change in price – giving an elasticity of
demand of -4 (i.e. highly elastic).
In this situation when demand is price elastic, a fall in price leads to higher total consumer
spending / producer revenue
Consider a price change further down the estimated demand curve – from £10 per unit to
£8 per unit. The % change in demand = 13.3% following a 20% fall in price – giving a co-

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 45 -

efficient of elasticity of – 0.665 (i.e. inelastic). A fall in price when demand is price inelastic
leads to a reduction in total revenue.

Change in the market What happens to total revenue?

Ped is inelastic and a firm raises its price. Total revenue increases
Ped is elastic and a firm lowers its price. Total revenue increases
Ped is elastic and a firm raises price. Total revenue decreases
Ped is -1.5 and the firm raises price by 4% Total revenue decreases
Ped is -0.4 and the firm raises price by 30% Total revenue increases
Ped is -0.2 and the firm lowers price by 20% Total revenue decreases
Ped is -4.0 and the firm lowers price by 15% Total revenue increases

Elasticity of demand and indirect taxation

Many products are subject to indirect taxes. Good examples include the excise duty on cigarettes
(cigarette taxes in the UK are among the highest in Europe) alcohol and fuels. Here we consider
the effects of indirect taxes on a producers costs and the importance of price elasticity of demand
in determining the effects of a tax on market price and quantity.

A Tax When Demand is Price Elastic A Tax when Demand is Price Inelastic
Most of the tax is paid by producer Most of the tax is paid by the consumer

Price S + Tax Price S + Tax

S1
S1

P2
P2
P1

D1
P1

D1

Q2 Q1 Quantity Q2 Q1 Quantity

A tax increases the costs of a business causing an inward shift in supply. The vertical distance
between the pre-tax and the post-tax supply curve shows the tax per unit. With an indirect tax, the
supplier may be able to pass on some or all of this tax to the consumer by raising price. This is
known as shifting the burden of the tax and this depends on the elasticity of demand and supply.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 46 -

Consider the two charts above. In the left hand diagram, the demand curve is drawn as price
elastic. The producer must absorb the majority of the tax itself (i.e. accept a lower profit margin on
each unit sold). When demand is elastic, the effect of a tax is still to raise the price – but we see a
bigger fall in equilibrium quantity. Output has fallen from Q to Q1 due to a contraction in demand.
In the right hand diagram, demand is drawn as price inelastic (i.e. Ped <1 over most of the range of
this demand curve) and therefore the producer is able to pass on most of the tax to the consumer
through a higher price without losing too much in the way of sales. The price rises from P1 to P2 –
but a large rise in price leads only to a small contraction in demand from Q1 to Q2.

The usefulness of price elasticity for producers

Firms can use PED estimates to predict:

The effect of a change in price on the total revenue & expenditure on a product.
The likely price volatility in a market following changes in supply – this is important for
commodity producers who may suffer big price movements from time to time.
The effect of a change in an indirect tax on price and quantity demanded and also
whether the business is able to pass on some or all of the tax onto the consumer.
Information on the PED can be used by a business as part of a policy of price
discrimination (also known as ‗yield management‘). This is where a monopoly supplier
decides to charge different prices for the same product to different segments of the
market e.g. peak and off peak rail travel or prices charged by many of our domestic and
international airlines.

Habitual spending on cigarettes remains high but sales are falling

Sales of cigarettes are falling by the impact of higher taxes mean that smokers must spend more to
finance their habits according to new research from the market analyst Mintel. Total sales of
individual sticks for the UK in 2006 were 68 billion, eleven billion lower than in 2001. Over a quarter
of cigarettes are brought into the UK either duty free or through the black market. In the past,
increases in the real value of duty (taxation) on cigarettes has had had little effect on demand
from smokers because demand has been inelastic. There are signs that a tipping point may have
been reached. Sales of nicotine replacement therapies such as patches, lozenges and gums have
boomed by nearly 50% over the past five years to around £97 million. But for every £1 spent on
nicotine replacement, over £130 is spent on cigarette sticks.

Nearly half of smokers tried to kick the habit last year. According to the Mintel research, smokers
under the age of 34 are the most likely to stop smoking, with people aged 65 and over the least
likely to try quitting. A ban on smoking in public places comes into force in England, Northern
Ireland and Wales in the spring of 2007, the same ban became law in Scotland in March 2006.

Sources: Adapted from Press Association reports, March 2007

Price elasticity of demand and changing market prices

The price elasticity of demand will influence the effects of shifts in supply on the equilibrium price
and quantity in a market. This is illustrated in the next two diagrams. In the left hand diagram below
we have drawn a highly elastic demand curve. We see an outward shift of supply – which leads to
a large rise in equilibrium price and quantity and only a relatively small change in the market price.
In the right hand diagram, a similar increase in supply is drawn together with an inelastic demand
curve. Here the effect is more on the price. There is a sharp fall in the price and only a relatively
small expansion in the equilibrium quantity.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 47 -

An outward shift of supply when demand is An outward shift of supply when demand is
price elastic (Ped > 1) price inelastic (Ped < 1)

Price Price
S1 S1

S2 S2

P1 P1
P2
D1
P2

D1

Q1 Q2 Quantity Q1 Q2 Quantity

Mini Case Study: Airlines to cut supply of seats to force fare prices up

Faced with a looming financial disaster, the U.S. airline industry is turning to basic economics
principles for its salvation: supply and demand. The airlines are hoping that major cut-backs in
their flying schedules will allow them to create a scarcity of seats sufficient to drive up the average
price of an airline ticket, particularly on domestic routes. The Air Transport Association predicts that
U.S. airlines will spend $61 billion on jet fuel in 2008, up $20 billion from last year. But will airlines
be able to increase fares enough to cover their additional fuel costs?

Nine of the 10 major carriers have announced reductions in their domestic systems, ranging from
fairly small – a 5 percent cutback at Air Tran Airways – to rather significant – 13.5 per cent to 14.5
per cent by United Airlines Inc. American, the world's largest airline, is planning to cut its domestic
capacity by 12 per cent. So far, airlines are still filling their airplanes as they push out fare
increases. According to the Air Transport Association, the average passenger paid 15.42 cents per
mile for a ticket in May, up 6.8 percent from May 2007. Through the first five months of 2008, fares
were up 6.7 percent. But there are fears that, as prices climb higher, the needle will move as
consumers look to fly less frequently or search longer for better deals on fares.

Source: Adapted from news reports June 2008

Suggested reading on price elasticity of demand

Each of these articles relates to stories in the news where prices have changed and where we
might expect a change in demand. In each case consider the likely price elasticity of demand.
ASDA starts selling 2p sausage (BBC news, June 2008)
BA raises fuel fees for premium seats (BBC news, June 2008)
Budget car parking charges in London (BBC news, June 2008)
Microsoft cuts European X-box price (BBC news, March 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 48 -

Petrol price increases - Britain changes its behaviour (Independent, June 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 49 -

Price Elasticity of Supply

Price elasticity of supply measures the relationship between change in quantity supplied and a
change in price.
If supply is elastic, producers can increase output without a rise in cost or a time delay
If supply is inelastic, firms find it hard to change production in a given time period.

The formula for price elasticity of supply is:

Percentage change in quantity supplied divided by the percentage change in price

1. When Pes > 1, then supply is price elastic
2. When Pes < 1, then supply is price inelastic
3. When Pes = 0, supply is perfectly inelastic
4. When Pes = infinity, supply is perfectly elastic following a change in demand

What factors affect the elasticity of supply?

(1) Spare production capacity

If there is plenty of spare capacity then a business should be able to increase output without a
rise in costs and therefore supply will be elastic in response to a change in demand. The supply of
goods and services is most elastic in a recession, when there is plenty of spare labour and capital
resources.

(2) Stocks of finished products and components

If stocks of raw materials and finished products are at a high level then a firm is able to respond to
a change in demand - supply will be elastic. Conversely when stocks are low, dwindling supplies
force prices higher because of scarcity in the market.

(3) The ease and cost of factor substitution

If both capital and labour resources are occupationally mobile then the elasticity of supply for a
product is higher than if capital and labour cannot easily and quickly be switched. A good example
might be a printing press which can switch easily between printing magazines and greetings cards.

(4) Time period involved in the production process

Supply is more price elastic the longer the time period that a firm is allowed to adjust its
production levels. In some agricultural markets the momentary supply is fixed and is determined
mainly by planting decisions made months before, and also climatic conditions, which affect the
production yield.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 50 -

An empty restaurant – plenty of spare capacity When networks get congested at peak times,
to meet any rise in demand! elasticity of supply becomes low

Stocks in a warehouse – businesses with For many agricultural products there are time
plentiful stocks can supply quickly and easily lags in the production process which means that
onto the market when demand changes elasticity of supply is very low in the immediate
or momentary time period

If Pes is inelastic: it will be difficult for suppliers to react swiftly to changes in price
If Pes is elastic – supply can react quickly to changes in price

Perfectly elastic supply Price An elastic supply curve

Price

S
P1 S

D1 D2 D2
D1

Q1 Q2 Quantity Q1 Q2 Quantity

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 51 -

Perfectly inelastic supply: Pes = zero (supply cannot respond to a change in demand
/ price) – often associated with the momentary period with agricultural products

Price Perfectly inelastic supply Price Inelastic Supply Curve

P2

P1

D2
D1 D2
D1

Q1 Quantity Q1 Q2 Quantity

The non-linear supply curve

Price Supply

P5
Pes < 1

P4

D5

P3 D4

P2

P1 D3
Pes > 1

D2

D1

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Quantity

Suggestions for further reading on price elasticity of supply

French change rules to exploit the huge bucks to be made from fizz (Guardian, March 2008)
Oil and Food Prices Expected to Ease Only Moderately (IMF report, July 2008)
Oil summit calls for supply boost (BBC news, June 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 52 -

Whisky industry booms as Asia cries for more (The Times, June 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 53 -

Income Elasticity of Demand

Income elasticity of demand measures the relationship between a change in quantity demanded
for good X and a change in real income. The formula for calculating income elasticity is:

% change in demand divided by the % change in income

Normal Goods

Normal goods have a positive income elasticity of demand so as consumers‘ income rises
more is demanded at each price i.e. there is an outward shift of the demand curve
1. Normal necessities have an income elasticity of demand of between 0 and +1 for
example, if income increases by 10% and the demand for fresh fruit increases by 4% then
the income elasticity is +0.4. Demand is rising less than proportionately to income.
2. Luxury goods and services have an income elasticity of demand > +1 i.e. demand rises
more than proportionate to a change in income – for example a 8% increase in income
might lead to a 10% rise in the demand for restaurant meals. The income elasticity of
demand in this example is +1.25.

Inferior Goods

Inferior goods have a negative income elasticity of demand meaning that demand falls as
income rises. Typically inferior goods or services tend to exist where superior goods are
available if the consumer has the money to be able to buy it. Examples include the demand for
cigarettes, low-priced own label foods in supermarkets and the demand for council-owned
properties.

The income elasticity of demand is usually strongly positive for

Fine wines and spirits, high quality chocolates (e.g. Lindt) and luxury holidays overseas.
Consumer durables - audio visual equipment, 3G mobile phones and designer kitchens.
Sports and leisure facilities (including gym membership and sports clubs).

In contrast, income elasticity of demand is lower for

Staple food products such as bread, vegetables and frozen foods.
Mass transport (bus and rail).
Beer and takeaway pizza!
Income elasticity of demand is negative (inferior) for cigarettes and urban bus services.

Product ranges and longer term trends.

However the income elasticity of demand varies within a product range. For example the Yed for
own-label foods in supermarkets is less for the high-value ―finest‖ food ranges that most major
supermarkets now offer. There is a general downward trend in the income elasticity of demand for
many products, particularly foodstuffs. One reason is that as a society becomes richer, there are
changes in tastes and preferences. What might have been considered a luxury good several
years ago might now be regarded as a necessity? How many of you regard a Sky sports
subscription as a pure necessity?

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 54 -

How high is the income elasticity for fine wines? Income elasticity for baked beans? Likely to be
low but positive as beans are a staple food

Income elasticity for cigarettes? According to What of the income elasticity of demand for
some estimates, cigarettes are inferior goods private executive air travel?

The table below shows the estimated price and income elasticity of demand for a selection of
foods:

Product Share of budget Price elasticity of Income elasticity of

(% of household demand (Ped) demand (Yed)
income)
All Foods 15.1 n/a 0.2
Fruit juices 0.19 -0.55 0.45
Tea 0.19 -0.37 -0.02
Instant coffee 0.17 -0.45 0.16
Margarine 0.03 n/a -0.37

Source: DEFRA www.defra.gov.uk

The income elasticity of demand for most types of food is pretty low – occasionally negative (e.g.
for margarine) and likewise the own price elasticity of demand for most foodstuffs is also inelastic.

How do businesses make use of estimates of income elasticity of demand?

Knowledge of income elasticity of demand helps firms predict the effect of an economic cycle on
sales. Luxury products with high income elasticity see greater sales volatility over the business
cycle than necessities where demand from consumers is less sensitive to changes in the cycle

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 55 -

Since the early 1990s the British economy has enjoyed a run of many years of sustained growth
and rising real living standards. But in 2008 the economy headed into turbulent territory with
reports of a large decline in people‘s real disposable income. The slowdown and probable
recession will undoubtedly affect the pattern of demand for different goods and services – in
general, producers of goods and services towards the lower end of the price chain will tend to do
better as consumers tighten their purse strings and look to make savings. But there was also
plenty of evidence emerging in the summer of 2008 that luxury retailers were doing well despite
mounting economic worries.

Burberry sales and profits are up

The luxury goods company Burberry has reported rising profits despite what it calls "challenging
times". Pre-tax profits for the year to the end of March 2008 came in at £195.7m, 25% above the
previous year's figure. Burberry said its growth had been driven by sales of luxury handbags,
including the £1,595 Knight bag.

Consumers head to discount retailers

The budget food retailer Aldi has reported sales for the last three months up 21% on the same
period last year, as consumers grapple with the rising cost of the weekly shop. Aldi, which
promises to save customers £30 on a £100 weekly shop, bases its winning formula on no-frills
stores which stock just 1,000 product lines, compared with 25,000 in a traditional supermarket.
Most are own-brand, with only a handful of branded products. By concentrating on so few
products, but buying in large quantities, discounters are able to offer lower prices.

Source: Adapted from news reports, June 2008

Income elasticity and the pattern of consumer demand

Over time we expect to see our real incomes rise. And as we become better off, we can afford to
increase our spending on different goods and services. Clearly what is happening to the relative
prices of these products will play a key role in shaping our consumption decisions. But the income
elasticity of demand will also affect the pattern of demand over time.

For normal luxury goods - income elasticity of demand exceeds +1, so as incomes rise,
the proportion of a consumer‘s income spent on that product will go up.
For normal necessities (income elasticity of demand is positive but less than 1) and for
inferior goods (where the income elasticity of demand is negative) – then as income rises,
the share or proportion of their budget on these products will fall

Suggestions for further reading on income elasticity of demand

A new love affair with Aldi (The Times, June 2008)

Five signs of the economic storm (BBC news, May 2008)
Rolls-Royce and rivals face challenging times (BBC news, June 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 56 -

Cross Price Elasticity of Demand

Cross price elasticity (CPed) measures the responsiveness of demand for good X following a
change in the price of a related good Y. We are looking here at the effect that changes in relative
prices within a market have on the pattern of demand. With cross elasticity we make a distinction
between substitute and complementary products:

Substitutes:
With substitute goods such as brands of cereal, an
increase in the price of one good will lead to an
increase in demand for the rival product. The cross
price elasticity for two substitutes will be positive.

For example, the iPhone now provides genuine

competition for the Blackberry in providing users
with ‗push technology‘ to send all emails through to
a mobile device. But how many Blackberry users will
switch? Many have become addicted to their
machines!

Another good example is the cross price elasticity of demand for music. Sales of digital music
downloads have been soaring with the growth of broadband and falling prices for downloads. As a
result, sales of traditional music CDs are declining at a steep rate.

Complements:

Complements are in joint demand. The CPED for two complements is negative.

The stronger the relationship between two products, the higher is the co-efficient of cross-
price elasticity of demand. For example with two close substitutes, the cross-price elasticity will
be strongly positive. Likewise when there is a strong complementary relationship between two
products, the cross-price elasticity will be highly negative. Unrelated products have a zero cross
elasticity.

Pricing strategies for substitutes:

If a competitor cuts the price of a rival product, firms use estimates

of cross-price elasticity to predict the effect on the quantity
demanded and total revenue of their own product. For example,
two or more airlines competing with each other on a given route will
have to consider how one airline might react to its competitor‘s
price change. Will many consumers switch? Will they have the
capacity to meet an expected rise in demand? Will the other firm
match a price rise? Will it follow a price fall?

Pricing strategies for complementary goods:

For example, popcorn, soft drinks and cinema tickets have a high
negative value for cross elasticity– they are strong complements.
Popcorn has a high mark up i.e. pop corn costs pennies to make

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 57 -

but sells for more than a pound. If firms have a reliable estimate for CPed they can estimate the
effect, say, of a two-for-one cinema ticket offer on the demand for popcorn.

The additional profit from extra popcorn sales may more than compensate for the lower cost of
entry into the cinema. For some movie theatres, the revenue from concessions stalls selling
popcorn; drinks and other refreshments can generate as much as 40 per cent of their annual
turnover.

Advertising and marketing:

In highly competitive markets where brand names carry substantial value, many businesses
spend huge amounts of money every year on persuasive advertising and marketing. There are
many aims behind this, including attempting to shift out the demand curve for a product (or product
range) and also build consumer loyalty to a brand.

When consumers become habitual purchasers of a product, the cross price elasticity of demand
against rival products will decrease. This reduces the size of the substitution effect following a
price change and makes demand less sensitive to price. The result is that firms may be able to
charge a higher price, increase their total revenue and achieve higher profits.

Relationship between two close Relationship between two substitutes

complements
Price Price of
Of Good Y Good B

An increase in the price of good Y An increase in the price of good B

leads to a decrease in demand for leads to an increase in demand for
good X good A (a substitute)

P2 Demand for
Good A

P1 P2

P1

Demand for
Good X

Q2 Q1 Quantity Q1 Q2 Quantity

Cross elasticity of demand: Food prices and the demand for allotments

From Wrexham to Eastbourne the demand for allotment space is rising faster than local councils
can supply. Allotments peaked in popularity in the immediate post-war years as people looked to
grow their own food and avoid the effects of rationing. But gradually the number of allotments
declined as the food availability improved, real prices fell and the number of supermarkets
expanded. By the 1980s using an allotment was widely regarded as the preserve of the ‗Good Life‘
crowd and those in retirement wanting a way to pass the time.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 58 -

But now the cumulative effects of rising food prices, growing concerns over the environmental
impact of food miles and demand for locally-grown organic produce has prompted a fresh wave of
demand for scarce allotment space.

Sadly the supply of plots is inelastic and lengthy waiting lists have remained the method of choice
for balancing supply and demand. In some towns there are no allotments at all as land has been
sold to private property developers by local councils strapped for cash. Councils are legally obliged
to provide 15 allotments per 1,000 households and under current rules no more than six people are
allowed to be waiting for a plot at any one time. One approach has been to divide up allotment
space into smaller plots. Another has been to give beginners smaller areas of land.

If demand is running well ahead of supply, the market approach would be to raise the annual rent
or perhaps introduce an auction system for allotment land as it becomes available. However
charging market prices might have equity considerations especially when a large number of people
tending their plots are elderly and on low incomes. In Harlow in Essex for example, the cost of
renting a plot is typically about £18.00 for the whole year depending upon the size of the plot, with
concessions given for pensioners or those on benefit.

Looking ahead, if food prices look like remaining high, many councils will want to make more land
available, for example by turning brown-field land in urban areas back into land that is available for
cultivation.
Source: Tutor2u economics blog, July 2008

Suggestions for further reading on cross price elasticity of demand

Cross-Price Elasticity: Consumers Respond (Mark Perry‘s Blog, June 2008)

Falling demand for Chelsea Tractors! (BBC news, June 2008)
Impact of rising oil prices in India (BBC news, July 2008)
Oil prices and the demand for new aircraft (Tutor2u blog, July 2008)
Oil prices and the demand for scooters (Tutor2u blog, June 2008)
Price of oil and the demand for camels! (Greg Mankiw‘s blog, May 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 59 -

Functions of the Price Mechanism

The invisible hand – the workings of the price mechanism

Adam Smith, one of the Founding Fathers of economics once

described ―invisible hand of the price mechanism‖. He described how
the hidden hand of the market operated in a competitive market through
the pursuit of self-interest to allocate resources in society‘s best interest.
This remains the central view of free-market economists who believe in
the virtues of an economy with minimal government intervention.

The price mechanism is a term used to describe the means by which

the millions of decisions taken each day by consumers and businesses
interact to determine the allocation of scarce resources between
competing uses.
The price mechanism plays three important functions in any market-
based system:

The signalling function

Firstly, prices perform a signalling function. This means that prices will adjust to demonstrate
where resources are required, and where they are not.

Prices rise and fall to reflect scarcities and surpluses. So, for example, if market prices are rising
because of high and rising demand from consumers, this is a signal to suppliers to expand their
production to meet the higher demand.

Fish stocks, prices and signals

Decline in North Sea fish stocks has led to a large fall in supply and rising prices (but declining
revenues for trawler businesses). This sends a signal to several stakeholders in the market:

Fish consumers
Suppliers in competing markets e.g. farmed fish
Manufacturers of equipment for the ocean fishing industry

Scarcity and market prices

“We are no longer living in an age of abundant resources. The high prices of scarce resources
such as oil and gas are the market‘s response to huge shifts in supply and demand. The market is
saying that we must use more wisely resources that have now become more valuable. The market
is right.‖

Source: Adapted from Martin Wolf, Financial Times www.ft.com accessed May 14th 2008

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 60 -

Higher demand signals to producers In this diagram, an increase in

to step up production – if they are supply leads to lower market prices
driven by the profit motive. Total – a signal to consumers that their
revenue is higher at price P2 and real income has increased – they
output Q2 can afford to buy more
Price of Price of Digital
Computer Cameras
Games S1
S2

S1

P2

P1
P1

P2
D2

D1 D2

Q1 Q2 Q1 Q2
Quantity Quantity

In the example on the right, an increase in market supply causes a fall in the relative prices of
digital cameras and prompts an expansion along the market demand curve

Conversely, a rise in the costs of production will induce suppliers to decrease supply, while
consumers will react to the resulting higher price by reducing demand for the good or services.

The transmission of preferences

Through the signalling function, consumers are able through their expression of preferences to
send information to producers about the changing nature of needs and wants. When demand
is strong, higher market prices act as an incentive to raise output because the supplier stands to
make a higher profit. When demand is weak, then the market supply contracts. We are assuming
here that producers do actually respond to these price signals!

One of the features of a free market economy is that decision-making in

the market is decentralised in other words, the market responds to the
individual decisions of millions of consumers and producers, i.e. there is
no single body responsible for deciding what is to be produced and in
what quantities. This is a remarkable feature of an organic market
system.

The rationing function

Prices serve to ration scarce resources when demand in a market

outstrips supply. When there is a shortage of a product, the price is bid
up – leaving only those with sufficient willingness and ability to pay
with the effective demand necessary to purchase the product. Be it the

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 61 -

demand for tickets among England supporters for an Ashes cricket series or the demand for a rare
antique, the market price acts a rationing device to equate demand with supply.

The popularity of auctions as a means of allocating resources is worth considering as a means of

allocating resources and clearing a market.

The price mechanism is the only allocative mechanism solving the economic problem in a free
market economy. However, most modern economies are mixed economies, comprising not only a
market sector, but also a non-market sector, where the government (or state) uses the planning
mechanism to provide public goods and services such as police, roads and merit goods such as
education, libraries and health.

In a state run command economy, the price mechanism plays little or no active role in the
allocation of resources. Instead planning directs resources to where the state thinks there is
greatest need. The reality is that planning has more or less failed as a means of deciding what to
produce, how much to produce, how to produce and for whom. Following the collapse of
communism in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the market-based economy is now the dominant
system – even though we are increasingly aware of imperfections in the operation of the
market.

Prices and incentives

Incentives matter enormously in our study of microeconomics. For competitive markets to

work efficiently all ‗economic agents‘ (i.e. consumers and producers) must respond to
appropriate price signals in the market.

Market failure occurs when the signalling and incentive functions of the price mechanism
fail to operate optimally leading to a loss of economic and social welfare. For example, the
market may fail to take into account the external costs and benefits arising from
production and consumption. Consumer preferences for goods and services may be based
on imperfect information on the costs and benefits of a particular decision to buy and
consume a product. Our individual preferences may also be distorted and shaped by the
effects of persuasive advertising and marketing to create artificial wants and needs.

A change in the pattern of demand in the vehicle market

Britain's demand for powerful top-end cars is running out of steam. Sales of sports cars have fallen
by 15% in the last year and sales of 4x4s are down by nearly 20% over the same period. The pain
of higher fuel prices is being compounded by the effects of increasing taxes on vehicles that have
a high level of CO2 emissions per kilometre travelled. In the UK, vehicle excise duty from 2010 will
impose a £950 charge for the most polluting cars. Demand is also being affected by a worsening
economic climate leading to a decline in real disposable incomes and a dip in consumer
confidence. Fleet sales are also down this year.

General Motors and Ford have both moved to close car plants and plough more resources into
producing smaller cars.
Source: Adapted from news reports, June 2008

Secondary markets

Secondary markets occur when buyers and sellers are prepared to use a second market to re-sell
items that have already been purchased. Perhaps the best example is the secondary market in
tickets for concerts and sporting-events. According to a recent survey there are more than 50

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 62 -

online secondary ticket agencies operating in the UK and more than 800 in the US. The market is
worth hundreds of millions of pounds every year.

Government intervention in the market mechanism

Often the incentives that consumers and producers have can be changed by government
intervention in markets. For example a change in relative prices brought about by the introduction
of government subsidies and taxation.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 63 -

Indirect Taxes Government Subsidies

An indirect tax increases the relative price of a A subsidy to consumers to cover some of the costs
product and should cause a contraction of demand. of buying child care or employing nannies is
The government is intervening in the market designed to reduce the relative cost of this and
because it wants to changes the price signals and therefore increase demand. The justification could be
incentives of producers and consumers. In this case to encourage more young mothers to actively seek
the justification may be a desire to correct for work, expand the labour supply and contribute to the
negative externalities. country‘s productive potential.

Price Price
S + Tax Supply

S1

P2

P1

P2
P1

D1

D1 D2

Q2 Q1 Quantity Q1 Q2 Quantity

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 64 -

Agents may not always respond to incentives in the manner in which textbook economics
suggests.
The “law of unintended consequences” encapsulates the idea that government interventions
can often be misguided of have unintended consequences!

Suggestions for further reading on the functions of the price mechanism

Grain traders buzz as prices soar (BBC news, March 2008)

NHS rationing rife say doctors (BBC news, September 2007)
Slump in the number of new homes (BBC news, June 2008)
Struggle for first time buyers (BBC news, April 2008)
The invisible hand is shaking (New York Times, May 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 65 -

Price Volatility in Markets

We often find that prices in markets rise and fall by large amounts over a short time period. In this
chapter we look at some of the causes and consequences of price volatility.

Price stability

Not all markets experience volatile prices. They tend to be markets with products where the
conditions of supply and demand are stable from year to year and where the price elasticity of
demand and the elasticity of supply are both high. We can see this in the diagram below.

When demand is highly elastic, shifts When supply is highly elastic, shifts in
in the supply curve have little effect on demand again have little impact on the
the market equilibrium price, although market equilibrium price. In the
market quantities will change. In the example below we see the effects of
example below, there is a fall in market an outward shift in the market demand
supply with conditions of demand curve.
remaining unchanged.
Price Price
S2

S1

S
P2
P1
P2
P1 D1

D1 D2

Q2 Q1 Quantity Q1 Q2 Quantity

Stable prices

The price of milk is pretty stable over time. Partly this is due to intense competition between the
leading supermarkets but the conditions of market demand and supply are also relatively stable
and predictable. The recent increase in milk prices is the result of sharply rising costs of wholesale
milk.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 66 -

Average Price of Pasteurised Milk

per pint, measured at current Prices
41 41

40 40

39 39

38 38

37 37
Pence per pint (millions)

36 36

millions
35 35

34 34

33 33

32 32

31 31

30 30

29 29
90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

Source: Reuters EcoWin

Price volatility

Products with unstable conditions of supply and demand will experience price fluctuations from
year to year. For example, for many products there are big seasonal variations in demand which
cause prices to rise sharply at peak times and then fall back during the off-peak periods.
Seasonal demand is particularly strong in the tourism and leisure industries. You will find that the
prices of hotel rooms and the prices of package holidays are always higher during the school
holidays because hoteliers and travel businesses know that, during peak demand, the demand is
price inelastic and families will have to pay higher prices.

Agricultural prices and prices of other traded commodities

Agricultural prices tend to be volatile (unstable) because:

Supply changes from one time period to the next because of variable weather
conditions which affect the size of the harvest
When supply falls short of planned output, for a given demand, price will rise
When actual output is in excess of planned output, for a given level of demand, market
price will fall
The effects of changes in supply can be amplified by a price-inelastic demand, for raw
materials and components where the buyer sees them as essential to their production
processes they must buy at whatever the prevailing market price is.
Price volatility can be magnified because of the activity of speculators who are betting
on future price changes. We have noticed this in many of the world‘s commodity
markets during the recent boom in international commodity prices. Hedge funds and

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 67 -

pension funds together with other speculators have been buying into ―hard
commodities‖ such as copper, nickel, tin and ―softs‖ such as rubber and coffee because
they expect market prices to remain high. Their demand has the effect of driving prices
higher at times when stocks of these commodities are low.
Speculation is also rife in the property market. In 2007, the Spanish government passed
a law designed to deter property speculators who the government blamed for spiralling
house prices.

Inelastic demand and shifts in Inelastic supply and demand

supply
We then consider shifts in demand
When the price elasticity of demand is when the price elasticity of demand is
low, volatile shifts in market supply low. If Ped and Pes are both low then
causes large changes in the market the scene is set for big changes in the
equilibrium price, although the market equilibrium price. E.g. a fall in
equilibrium quantity traded may not supply from S1 to S2 and an increase
change that much. in demand from D1 to d2 causes
Price Price
market price to jump from P1 to P4
S2 S2

S1 S1

P4
S3 S3

P2 P2

P1 P1

P3 P3

D2
D D1

Q2 Q1 Quantity Q2 Q1 Quantity

Many economists regard price volatility as a source of market failure. Problems arising from price
volatility in markets can include the following:

Risk: Makes incomes and profits for producers more unpredictable and may inhibit
investment spending because suppliers are concerned about their expected profits
(returns).
Poverty: Sharp falls in prices and incomes can cause hardship and poverty and also
unemployment, especially in regions and countries dependent on cash from exporting.
Balance of Payments: Big swings in prices can cause large changes in export
revenues for major exporters of primary commodities - affecting their balance of
payments and their ability to finance essential imports of food and technology.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 68 -

The Surge in World Commodity Prices

In recent years we have seen a sharp rise in the prices of many internationally traded commodities
such as oil, gas, iron ore, palm oil, rubber, copper and many foodstuffs. There are many factors at
work here as this IMF report makes clear:

The food price surges since 2006 reflect a confluence of factors. Demand growth has generally
outstripped supply growth for many food commodities over the past 10 years or so, particularly
for edible oils and major grains—including corn, rice, soybeans, and wheat. Correspondingly,
global stocks of these crops have declined to relatively low levels last seen in the mid-1970s over
the past several years.

The upward pressure on prices has been increased through the effects of unfavourable weather
conditions in a number of countries which reduced crop production in 2006-07, particularly wheat.
Second, the demand for corn increased sharply in 2006-07 as a result of the sharp increase in
corn-based ethanol production. On top of this, the rising oil prices over the past year and a half
have added substantial broad cost pressures. In a seller's market, such cost increases are passed
on fully to producer prices.

Finally, a growing number of countries have imposed export restrictions in response to rising
food prices, which added to international price pressures. As usual, these developments not only
pushed up the prices of the foods directly affected, but also those of close substitutes. In addition,
rising food prices have led to cost pressures elsewhere along the food chain, notably poultry and
meats

Source: Adapted from an International Monetary Fund report, July 2008

1. Strong GDP growth in emerging market countries including China, India, Brazil, Russia,
Indonesia, Vietnam et al (see the Goldman Sachs analysis on the BRICS and N-11)
a. The China effect:
i. Huge rise in manufacturing output (the workshop of the world)
ii. Massive infrastructural spending including preparations for the Olympics
iii. Rising per capita incomes – driving demand higher for food especially meat
– which then increases the demand for grain (income elasticity of demand
relevant here!)
b. Many other emerging market countries are booming
i. Strong derived demand for fuels e.g. oil and gas
ii. High derived demand for materials and components e.g. cement, copper
wiring, steel and energy
iii. Many have accumulated high trade surpluses and can therefore afford to
pay high prices for the imports they need
2. Impact of some extreme weather events cutting supply for a range of commodities
a. Australian drought
b. Drought in China
c. Floods in the UK
d. Hurricane Katrina in the USA

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 69 -

3. Supply constraints from war and geo-political tensions and the effects of cartel behaviour
by energy producers including OPEC
4. Previous lack of investment in supply capacity e.g. affecting the oil and gas industry
5. Big shifts of scarce resources towards bio-fuels e.g. 1/3rd of US wheat production now
goes into meeting demand for bio-fuels – taking supply out of the food chain and causing
agflation.
6. The fall in the external value of the US dollar – most commodities are priced in dollars,
so a weaker dollar makes them cheaper for consumption.
a. The Credit Crunch has amplified this effect with the Fed Reserve slashing interest
rates – creating expectations that the dollar will fall further
7. Speculative demand for commodities
a. Many soft and hard commodities now seen as an asset class in their own right
b. Weak stock markets and recession in property is causing hedge funds and other
investors to go long on commodities
c. The IMF believes that speculation plays a part in the explanation for the price boom

When explaining the price changes – one useful distinction to make is between
Fundamental factors e.g. globalisation, urbanisation, industrialisation of emerging
economies – fuelling increased demand
Cyclical factors e.g. strong demand from countries in the boom phase of their
economic cycle
Short term factors e.g. speculative activity, short term volatility of exchange rates and
interest rates
The Economist Commodity Price Index
Index of Prices 2000=100
325 325

300 Industrial Metals 300

275 275

250 250

225 All Commodities 225

200 200
Index

175 175

150 150

125 125
Food

100 100

75 75

50 50
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

Source: Reuters EcoWin

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 70 -

Consequences of the commodity price boom

Changes in commodity prices are often called ―external shocks‖ and they have direct and indirect
effects on consumers and producers across many different parts of the economy. The notes below
trace some of the costs and benefits mainly from a UK perspective.

Costs

1. Rise in input costs (variable costs) – leading to surge in producer price inflation – now
showing through in a rise in consumer price inflation
2. Higher food price inflation (agflation) – perhaps brings an end to the era of cheap food.
This may be damaging to lower income groups and especially those with little/no wage
bargaining power.
3. Rising cost of essential foodstuffs and energy has caused a fall in real incomes and less
income available to spend after ‗essentials‘ such as food and utilities This in turn has
negatively affected consumer confidence and risks causing an economic recession.
4. Higher input costs for businesses: Hits profits especially if manufacturers cannot pass
on to final consumers. More expensive commodities may accelerate trend towards out-
sourcing production to lower cost countries and it also makes it more costly to transport
products around the world. There is possible damage to export businesses if rising costs
worsen competitiveness and the risk of stagflation
5. Worsening trade deficit: The UK is a net importer of foodstuffs and also now a net
importer of oil! A trade deficit is a leakage from the circular flow – causing a slowdown in
AD

Benefits

1. Higher food prices are good for our farming sector which has suffered from years of
declining real prices and real incomes. (That said, farming contributes less than 1 per cent
of UK GDP!)
2. Boost too for sectors such as renewable energy and if fuel prices remain high this may
have important environmental benefits – e.g. encourage car manufacturers to invest more
in improving fuel efficiency / change the pattern of demand towards smaller cars. Will rising
food prices contribute to less obesity? Or have the reverse impact?
3. A stimulus to the North Sea oil and gas industry and related sectors

Mini Case Study: Rice Prices Hit Curry Lovers

Devotees of their local curry house should make a point of checking the menu next time they pop
out for a hot one. The cost of the fragrant basmati rice - one of the most popular in the UK - has
almost doubled leaving curry houses with little choice but to pass some of this onto their
customers!

It is a mixture of supply and demand-side factors help explain the steep increase in world prices.
95 per cent of the world's rice is consumed in the country in which it is produced, but the largest
producers such as India, Thailand and China have deliberately reduced their exports, and Vietnam
and Egypt have taken their exports off the market altogether. India and China are concerned that
their fast-growing populations and rising incomes which have encouraged a switch in demand
towards higher quality rice may leave them with insufficient rice to feed their own people.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 71 -

The supply-potential of the major rice growing nations has also been affected by a switch in the
use of farming land away from food production towards bio-fuels. According to the International
Rice Research Institute: 'China provides an example — rice area decreased by almost 3 million
hectares between 1997 and 2006 because of this economic pressure.' Rice fields are also being
given over to property developments in countries such as The Philippines and Vietnam. And floods
and cyclones in Bangladesh have devastated large parts of their rice crop.

World Rice Prices - Thai

Dollars per tonne
1100 1100

1000 1000

900 900

800 800
USD/Ton

700 700

600 600

500 500

400 400

300 300
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul
07 08
White 5% Bangkok FOB White 100% 1st-A, Bangkok FOB
Source: Reuters EcoWin

Global demand for rice has been rising steadily in both advanced and emerging market countries.
Demand for rice in Asia is expected to continue to rise in the future as its population expands even
though per capita consumption might decline above a certain income level. Additional demand is
likely to arise from Africa, where rice is becoming an increasingly important food crop. The rising
cost of shipping rice around the world is another reason for the price increases.

Britain is directly affected by big movements in world prices. We are the largest importer of rice in
the European Union buying in around 200,000 tonnes of rice every year. We also have a sizeable
Bangladeshi community whose staple diet is rice - there are fears about how big price hikes will hit
this particular group. For people whose dependence on rice as part of their essential diet is high,
the impact is serious.
Source: EconoMax, March 2008

Suggestions for further reading on price volatility

Corn prices surge to record high (BBC news, June 2008)
Financial Times special reports on the commodity price boom
Malnutrition costs economies (BBC news, July 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 72 -

Oil prices drop in volatile market (BBC news, July 2008)

Q&A on rising world food prices (BBC news, April 2008)
Time to intervene in commodities markets (New York Sun, June 2008)
Varied harvest adds to grain price volatility (The Scotsman, July 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 73 -

Inter-relationships between Markets

Supply and demand analysis can be used to explain and inter-relationships between different
markets and industries.

Airline Ticket Price of

Prices Domestic
S1 Holidays
S1
S2

P1 P1

P2
P2

D2 D1

D1
D2

Q1 Q2
Quantity demanded Quantity demanded of holidays in the UK
(Million passenger km per year)

In the first example we consider an increase in the supply of low-cost flights available from airports
across the United Kingdom. The market supply of flights has shifted out to the right as lost cost
airlines have entered the market and existing airlines have expanded their route network and fleet
capacity. The result is a reduction in the real price of flights to short-haul destinations in Europe.

A fall in the price of airline flights increases the market demand for overseas holidays (short city
breaks, package holidays for example). Assuming that British tourists can choose to holiday at
home or overseas and regard the two products as substitutes, then the effect is to reduce the
demand for holidays in the UK – putting downward pressure on prices, profit margins and leading
to the risk of excess capacity in the UK tourist industry.

Unintended consequences of market price volatility!

The price of scrap metal has been soaring and this has led to a rise in criminal activity! Thieves
seem prepared to steal lead from church roofs and railway yards have also been targeted, Thieves
can currently get £120 a tonne for steel and between £500 and £600 a tonne for scrap aluminium.
The UK collects around 15m tonnes of used metal each year and uses only 40% of it. The
remaining 60% is exported around the world with increasing demand notable from Russia, Saudi
Arabia, China, India and South America.

Source: Adapted from news reports, June 2008

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 74 -

Consider how rising oil prices can feed through to related markets

Increasing demand for crude oil forces up the world market price (P1 – P2 – P3)
Crude oil is used as a raw material in producing heating oil for central heating systems
– the higher price of crude causes an increase in costs and reduction in the market
supply of heating oil at each price level (shown in the right hand diagram)

Crude Oil Price of

Prices ($ per Heating
S1
barrel) Oil
S2
S1
P3

P2
P1
P2
P1
D3

D2

D1
D1

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q2 Q1
Quantity demanded Quantity demanded of heating oil
Of crude oil (millions of barrels per day)

Derived demand

The demand for a product X might be strongly linked to the demand for a related product Y. For
example, the demand for steel is strongly linked to the market demand for new cars, the
construction of new buildings and many manufactured products. In factor markets, the demand
for labour is derived from the demand for the goods and services that we employ labour to
produce.

Composite demand

Composite demand exists where goods or services have more than one use so that an increase
in the demand for one product leads to a fall in supply of the other. The most commonly quoted
example is that of milk which can be used for cheese, yoghurts, cream, butter and other products.
Another good example is land – land can be developed in many different ways – for commercial
property, residential properties, leisure facilities, farming, common land and so forth.

Joint supply

Joint supply describes a situation where an increase or decrease in the supply of one good leads
to an increase or decrease in supply of another. For example an expansion in the volume of beef
production will lead to a rising market supply of beef hides. A contraction in supply of lamb will
reduce the supply of wool.

Suggestions for further reading on market inter-relationships

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 75 -

Inter-related markets and climate change (Tutor2u blog, March 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 76 -

Consumer Surplus

When there is a difference between the price that you pay in the market and the value that you
place on the product, then the concept of consumer surplus becomes a useful one to look at.

Consumer surplus is a measure of the welfare that

people gain from the consumption of goods and
services, or a measure of the benefits they derive
from the exchange of goods.

Consumer surplus is the difference between the total

amount that consumers are willing and able to pay
for a good or service (indicated by the demand curve)
and the total amount that they actually do pay (i.e. the
market price for the product). The level of consumer
surplus is shown by the area under the demand curve
and above the price as in the diagram below.

Consumer surplus is the difference between the price that a consumer is

prepared to pay and the actual price paid

Price Supply

Equilibrium Point
Consumer
Surplus

P1

Demand

Q1 Quantity

Consumer surplus and price elasticity of demand

When the demand for a good or service is perfectly elastic, consumer surplus is zero because the
price that people pay matches precisely the price they are willing to pay. This is most likely to
happen in highly competitive markets where each individual firm is a „price taker‟ in their chosen
market and must sell as much as it can at the ruling market price.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 77 -

In contrast, when demand is perfectly inelastic, consumer surplus is infinite. Demand is totally
invariant to a price change. Whatever the price, the quantity demanded remains the same. Are
there any examples of products that have such a low price elasticity of demand?

The majority of demand curves are downward sloping. When demand is inelastic, there is a greater
potential consumer surplus because there are some buyers willing to pay a high price to continue
consuming the product. This is shown in the diagram below.

Relatively Inelastic Demand Price Relatively Elastic Demand

Supply
Supply

P1

Demand

Demand

Q1 Quantity Demanded Q2 Quantity Demanded

Changes in demand and consumer surplus

Outward Shift in Demand Outward Shift in Supply

(Higher consumer surplus) (Higher consumer surplus)
Price Price

Supply S1

S2

Consumer
Surplus
P2

P1 P1

P2

D2

D1 Demand

Q1 Q2 Quantity Q1 Q2 Quantity

When there is a shift in the demand curve leading to a change in the equilibrium market price and
quantity, then the level of consumer surplus will alter. This is shown in the diagrams above. In the

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 78 -

left hand diagram, following an increase in demand from D1 to D2, the equilibrium market price
rises to from P1 to P2 and the quantity traded expands. There is a higher level of consumer
surplus because more is being bought at a higher price than before.

In the diagram on the right we see the effects of a cost reducing innovation which causes an
outward shift of market supply, a lower price and an increase in the quantity traded in the market.
As a result, there is an increase in consumer welfare shown by a rise in consumer surplus.
Consumer surplus can be used frequently when analysing the impact of government intervention in
any market – for example the effects of indirect taxation on cigarettes consumers or the introducing
of road pricing schemes such as the London congestion charge.

Text calls and consumer welfare

The EU Competition Commission is set to cap the cost of mobile phone text messages as
complaints rise that consumers are being ripped off. Their research finds that texting across
borders carries a big price tag in Europe - British holidaymakers in Spain can pay up to €0.63 for a
message home.

EU Telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding has decided that such charges are unjustified and
should be capped at €0.11, down from an average price of €0.29 in the 27-member EU. ―EU
citizens should be free to text across borders without being ripped off,‖ Reding said. ―Roaming
charges have already drained the wallets of mobile customers too much.‖ 2.5 billion roaming
messages sent every year by mobile users in the EU and they cost over 10 times more than the
messages they send when at home.

Sources: Adapted from EU Commission press releases and newspaper reports, July 2008

Price discrimination and consumer surplus

Producers often take advantage of consumer surplus when setting prices. If a business can identify
groups of consumers within their market who are willing and able to pay different prices for the
same products, then sellers may engage in price discrimination – the aim of which is to extract
from the purchaser, the price they are willing to pay, thereby turning consumer surplus into extra
revenue.

Airlines are expert at practising this form of yield management, extracting from consumers the
price they are willing and able to pay for flying to different destinations are various times of the day,
and exploiting variations in elasticity of demand for different types of passenger service. You will
always get a better deal / price with airlines such as EasyJet and Ryan Air if you are prepared to
book weeks or months in advance. The airlines are prepared to sell tickets more cheaply then
because they get the benefit of cash-flow together with the guarantee of a seat being filled. The
nearer the time to take-off, the higher the price. If a businessman is desperate to fly from
Newcastle to Paris in 24 hours time, his or her demand is said to be price inelastic and the
corresponding price for the ticket will be much higher.

One of the main arguments against firms with monopoly power is that they exploit their monopoly
position by raising prices in markets where demand is inelastic, extracting consumer surplus from
buyers and increasing profit margins at the same time. We shall consider the issue of monopoly in
more detail when we come on to our study of markets and industries.

Suggestions for further reading on the concept of consumer surplus

Have a look at Price Line and consider whether sites such as this affect your consumer surplus!

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 79 -

Dartford toll discounts for local residents (BBC news, June 2008)
Most paid nothing for new Radiohead album (BBC news, November 2007)
Supermarkets fire new shots in price war (Telegraph, July 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 80 -

Producer Surplus

Producer surplus is a measure of producer welfare. It is measured as the difference between

what producers are willing and able to supply a good for and the price they actually receive. The
level of producer surplus is shown by the area above the supply curve and below the market price
and is illustrated in the diagram above.

Producer surplus is the difference between the market price received by the
seller and the price they would have been prepared to supply at
Price

Supply

Equilibrium Point

P1

Producer Surplus

Demand

Q1 Quantity

Producer surplus and changes in demand and supply

We first consider the effects of a change in market supply – for example caused by an
improvement in production technology or a fall in the cost of raw materials and components used in
the production of a good or service

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 81 -

An outward shift of supply causes a fall in market price and a rise in equilibrium quantity
The result is an increase in the total level of producer surplus
Price
Supply (1)
Supply (2)

C Producer surplus at
P1 price P1 = area
D P1CA
P2
Producer surplus at
PS1 price P2 = area
P2DB

Demand
B

Q1 Q2 Quantity

We now consider the effects on producer surplus of a rise in market demand

An outward shift in demand causes a rise in both equilibrium price and quantity
The result is an increase in the total level of producer surplus
Price

Supply

C Producer surplus at
P2 price P1 = area
B P1BA
P1
Producer surplus at
PS1 price P2 = area
P2CA

Demand (2)

Demand (1)
A

Q1 Q2 Quantity

Suggestions for further reading on producer surplus

Music firms tune into new deals (BBC news, June 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 82 -

Remote oil becoming profitable (BBC news, July 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 83 -

Markets in Action: The Market for Oil

The effects of changes in the price of oil traded on the petroleum exchanges can be far-
reaching, not just for Britain but for the global economy too. A basic study of the oil market is a
useful application of the principles of supply and demand analysis and a way of understanding the
interconnections between the microeconomics of the oil market and their macroeconomic
consequences.

Market theory in action - what determines crude oil prices?

West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil

US dollars per barrel, one month futures price, NYMEX
150 150

125 125

100 100
USD/Barrel

75 75

50 50

25 25

0 0
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

Source: Reuters EcoWin

Oil is one of the most heavily traded commodities in the world. Fluctuating prices have important
effects for oil producers/exporters and the many countries that remain dependent on oil as a key
input in their energy, manufacturing and service industries.

The Demand for Oil

1. Cyclical demand: When global economic growth is strong, the demand for crude oil
increases. There is a positive relationship between world GDP and total demand for crude.
Fast-growing emerging market countries have provided the bulk of the extra demand for
crude in recent years although the world‘s biggest economy – the United States – has also
added to total demand.
2. Rising living standards: Undoubtedly the sustained rise in living standards in many
countries that has accompanied a decade or more of globalisation has contributed to
increasing demand for energy and other oil-related products. China overtook Japan as the
world's second-largest consumer of oil five years ago and is closing in on the USA, with
demand for oil growing by more than ten per cent a year. Transport provides an important

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 84 -

clue to unparalleled demand for crude oil. In July 2008, OPEC forecast that world demand
for oil would grow by 50% between now and 2030 as people in developing countries drive
more cars.
3. Prices of substitutes: Demand for crude oil affected by the relative prices of and
availability of economically viable oil substitutes. If, in the longer term, reliable and relatively
cheaper substitutes for oil can be developed, then we might expect to see a shift in demand
away from crude oil towards the emerging substitutes.
4. Changes in climate – e.g. affecting the demand for heating oil. It is often said that if the
winter in North America is fierce, then the price of crude rises as the USA and Canadian
economies raise their demand to fuel household heating systems and workplaces
5. Market speculation: There is always a speculative demand for oil. Indeed one of the
features of the most recent spike in oil prices has been the high level of demand by hedge
funds and other investors pouring into the international petroleum exchanges to buy up
surplus oil futures contracts. They hope that by the time the contracts are ready to be
fulfilled, they will have made a large profit. Speculation involves risk, prices can do down as
well as up. The scale of speculative activity has been open to question – some of it has
been encouraged by the depreciation in the value of the US dollar. This is because oil is
priced in dollars – so overseas investors holding other currencies can buy more barrels of
oil as the dollar declines.

Nearly two thirds of global crude oil production is consumed by the leading industrialised nations –
i.e. the nations that make up the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development. But
a rising share of oil demand is coming from the emerging market economies including China,
Brazil, Russia and India.

Derived demand for oil

Crude oil is bought not for its own sake (although speculators might disagree) but for its uses
including:
1. Gasoline: used in motor spirit/petrol
2. Middle Distillates e.g. diesel – used in vehicles and other motors/engines and jet fuel
3. Kerosene – cooking/heating
4. Heating Oil
5. Fuel Oil: boiler fuel for industry, power and shipping
6. Other: lubricants, bitumen etc

The supply of oil

Oil supply can be viewed either in the short-run or in the long-run. Supply is a flow concept – what
matters for the international oil market is how many barrels of oil per day are being extracted from
reserves and how much of that is able to be refined for different uses.

In short, the short-run supply of crude oil is affected by a series of different factors
1. Profit motive: The production decisions of OPEC and Non-OPEC countries.
2. Spare capacity: The level of spare production capacity in the oil sector.
3. Stocks: The level of crude oil stocks available for immediate supply from the refineries
4. External shocks: The effects of production shocks e.g. loss of output from rig closures or
disruption of oil supplies due to war and terrorist attacks.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 85 -

Taking a longer-term perspective, the long run world oil supply is linked to
1. Reserves: Depletion of proven oil reserves – the faster that demand grows, the quicker the
expected rate of depletion. Peak oil theory claims that the world has long since past the
peak of new discoveries of oil and that most oil producing nations will see a long-term
decline in crude oil output in the years ahead.
2. Exploration: Investment spending on exploring, finding and exploiting new oil reserves.
When oil prices are high and are expected to stay strong, it makes financial sense to invest
in exploring for new reserves, even though these may not come on stream for some years.
3. Technology: Technological change in oil extraction which affects the costs of extraction
and the profitability of extracting and then refining the oil.

The interaction between oil demand and supply in the short run

Higher oil demand matched against an inelastic short run supply invariably drives prices higher –
this is shown in the diagram below. An increase in demand causes a fall in stocks at refineries and
pushes prices higher. This acts as a signal to suppliers to expand production. However there are
time lags between a change in price and extra supplies coming on stream.

The demand for oil is also price inelastic at least in the short term. This combination of an
inelastic demand and supply helps to explain some of the volatility in world oil prices.

Oil Price
$ Per barrel Supply
Supply

P2
P3

P2 P1
P1
D3 D3

D2 D2
D1 D1

Q1 Q2 Q3
Oil Output Oil Output
Million barrels per day Million barrels per day

OPEC

A producer cartel founded in 1960 – now has thirteen members although several other
countries are considering becoming members (and Indonesia‘s place in under threat)
Controls around 45% of world crude oil output (compared to 55% in the mid 1970s) and
just over half of world oil exports

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 86 -

But has a larger share of world crude oil reserves (long run importance?)
Controls it‘s own supply through a system of output quotas
Many of the OPEC nations have accumulated huge FX reserves as the world price of
oil has soared – contributing to the growing power of sovereign welfare funds
UK is a net importer of oil, along with Norway and the USA it is not part of OPEC

OPEC's declared mission is to coordinate and

unify the petroleum policies of Member
Countries and ensure the stabilization of oil
markets in order to secure an efficient,
economic and regular supply of petroleum
to consumers, a steady income to
producers and a fair return on capital to
those investing in the petroleum industry.

The producer cartel needs to tread a fine line –

too low a price for oil and their balance of
payments and fiscal balances suffer especially for those countries highly dependent on oil exports.
But if world crude prices stay at super-charged levels for too long, demand will fall away because
the economic incentives for finding oil substitutes become increasingly strong.

Non-OPEC countries (including the UK and Norway) still account for the largest portion of total
supply. Oil is produced in nearly every corner of the world. This includes Europe, where Norwegian
oil companies are achieving a rapid increase in extraction and Russia now one of the world‘s
largest oil suppliers.

OPEC and World Crude Oil Production

Millions of barrels per day
80 OPEC countries 32.0771M 80
Total World 71.4823M

70 70

World Production
60 60
Barrel/Day (millions)

50 50
millions

40 40

30 30
OPEC countries

20 20

10 10
80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07

OPEC countries Total World

Source: Reuters EcoWin

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 87 -

Microeconomic effects of higher oil prices

After a long period of low oil prices, in the last few

years, the world economy has had to come to terms
with the prospect that the era of cheap oil is now over.
This affects many industries and has direct and indirect
effects on consumers.

For those industries that use oil as an input into their

production process, then a rising price acts as a
supply-side shock – leading to a rise in their variable
costs of production. The increase in costs causes a
profit maximising firm to increase price and reduce the
equilibrium level of output. The extent to which a
business is able to pass on an increase in costs
depends on the price elasticity of demand for their products. If demand is price inelastic, then the
supplier may choose to pass on some or all of any rise in variable costs to the consumer of the
final product. For example, a controversial issue has been the decision by many (although not all)
of the airlines to increase their fuel surcharges to customers.

For consumers, higher oil prices has led directly to more expensive fuel at the pumps, higher gas
and electricity bills and a reduction in their real incomes. The super-spike in world oil prices in
2008 has increased the risk of stagflation and the chances of a recession in the world economy.

Suggestions for reading on the world oil market

Here are some suggestions for wider reading. The oil market is going through a particularly
turbulent time at the moment so check out the relevant section of the Tutor2u Economics blog

Causation
Does OPEC have too much power? (Independent, May 2008)
Non-Opec oil could peak in two years (Times, July 2008)
What is keeping oil prices so high? (BBC news, June 2008)
Economic effects of high oil prices
A380 'to benefit from oil prices' (BBC news, July 2008)
High fuel prices – good or bad (BBC news, June 2008)
India hit by oil price rises (BBC news, July 2008)
Oil is making food prices go up (BBC news, July 2008)
The end of the budget airline (Guardian, May 2008)
Background reports on the oil industry
FT Special Reports on Oil
Global oil industry in figures (BBC news, July 2008)
Guardian Special Reports on Oil and Petrol
Oil reserves – a brief guide (Guardian)
Oil institutions

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 88 -

Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 89 -

Markets in Action: The Market for Copper

Copper is a commodity that measures the pulse of the global economy. The world price nearly
trebled between the start of 2005 and the summer of 2006 and, after a dip in prices in the early
months of 2007, the price of copper has heading higher again climbing towards $9,000 a tonne in
the summer of 2008. Much of the steep rise in price has been due to demand-side factors. Global
demand for copper has been rising much faster than the growth in market supply that flow from
new discoveries of copper and increased extraction rates of known reserves.

The World Market for Copper - Stocks and Prices

Source: London Metal Exchange
1.0 1.0
Stocks of Copper - million tonnes
0.8 0.8
Ton (millions)

0.6 0.6

millions
0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2

0.0 0.0
9000 9000
World Price of Copper - US dollars per tonne
8000 8000
7000 7000
6000 6000
USD/Ton

5000 5000
4000 4000
3000 3000
2000 2000
1000 1000
0 0
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

Month and Year

Source: Reuters EcoWin
Discoveries of copper have raised global reserves by less than 1 per cent a year since 1925 but
usage has risen at 3.3 per cent per annum. And demand is growing strongly on the back of
phenomenal growth in China, India and other emerging market economies. As our chart indicates,
stocks of copper have been in decline in the last few years and it is this scarcity that has driven
prices higher as commodities traders out-bid each other as they scramble for available supplies.

The world supply of and demand for copper

Most copper ore is mined or extracted as copper sulfides from open pit mines. Over 40 per cent of
world supply comes from North and South America; 31 per cent from Asia and 21 per cent from
Europe. Chile is far and away the world‘s largest supplier of copper with around 35% of the total.

Copper – an example of derived demand

Because copper is malleable and ductile, there is a huge industrial demand for copper. Like
most metals the demand for it is derived from the demand for products that use copper as an

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 90 -

important component or raw material – notably the construction and electrical sectors. From
copper wire to copper plumbing, from the use of copper in integrated circuits to its value as a
corrosive resistant material in shipbuilding and as a component of coins, cutlery and to colour
glass, copper has a huge array of possible industrial uses. In the automobile industry, an
average new car contains 27.6kg of copper. And hybrid cars which incorporate electric motors in
conjunction with combustion engines could lead to further rises in copper demand. A typical
electric hybrid car might use around 2 times the current usage of copper in extra cabling and
windings for electric motors."

There has also been speculative demand

for copper as investment funds around the
world have started to track commodity prices
as an asset class in its own right.

Low elasticity of supply

The elasticity of supply of copper is low.

Supply is usually unresponsive to price
movements in the short term because of the
high fixed costs of developing new
extraction plants which involve lengthy lead-
times. If existing copper mining businesses are working close to their current capacity then a rise
in world demand will simple lead to a reduction in available stocks.

The effects of rising copper prices

The demand for copper will continue to remain strong provided that the global industrial sectors
continue to expand production. Little surprise that emerging market countries such as China and
India are spending billions of dollars from their trade surpluses to secure supply contracts for
copper ore from producers such as Peru and Chile.

But if prices remain high then we can expect to see some shifts occurring. For a start, copper can
be recycled although the costs of doing so are often high and there are fears concerning the
negative externalities arising from the pollution created by trying to recycle used copper. These
external costs include atmospheric emissions from recycling plants and waste products dumped
into rivers.

Price theory would predict an increase in demand for scrapped copper and a substitution
effect away from copper towards aluminium. And in the medium term new technologies may
cause a shift in demand away from copper based products. Plastics provide lower material and
installation costs for businesses. The take off in wireless technology and fibre optics will also
have an impact.

And higher prices should stimulate an expansion of copper ore production. In recent years, copper
mining production has fallen short of expectations. But as with any market, if the price is high
enough suppliers will eventually respond!

Suggested reading on the world copper market

London Metal Exchange

New fight for the Congo‘s riches (Guardian, June 2008)
Peru's 'copper mountain' in Chinese hands (BBC news, June 2008)
Thieves risking lives for copper (BBC news, July 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 91 -

Zambia targets copper fortune (BBC news, July 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 92 -

Markets in Action: The Market for Coffee

Each day nearly 2.5 billion cups of coffee are consumed. It is the 5th most widely traded commodity
in the world and millions of people depend directly or indirectly on the production and sale of coffee
for their livelihoods. The global market for coffee is characterised by volatile prices and production
levels which impacts directly on the incomes and survival of producers.

The Coffee Paradox

―While espresso, cappuccino and latte drinkers are bringing huge profits to some of the world's
biggest multinationals, the place where coffee originated remains one of the poorest on Earth.
Around the world more than 2 billion cups of the stuff are consumed each day. In Starbucks in
south London the cheapest shot of espresso costs £1.35. A coffee worker in Ethiopia earns less
than half of that in a day.

―The importance of coffee to Ethiopia is difficult to overstate. The country is the largest coffee
producer in Africa and the sixth- biggest in the world. Coffee accounts for no less than 90 per cent
of Ethiopia's exports, half of which go to EU countries. The trade generates some 54 per cent of
Ethiopia's gross domestic product.‖

Source: Adapted from the Independent, October 2006

Experts on the world coffee market often make reference to the ―coffee paradox‖.
A coffee crisis in producing countries with a trend towards lower real prices,
declining producer incomes and profits affecting millions of people in some of the
world‘s poorest countries.
A coffee „boom‟ in consuming countries with rising sales and profits for coffee
retailers.
A widening gap between producer and consumer prices only partly offset by the
growing influence of Fair Trade in the coffee industry.

Coffee production and developing countries

The World Bank estimates that out of the total 141 developing countries, 95 depend on exports of
commodities for at least 50 percent of their total export earnings. Coffee is a good example of
―commodity-dependency‖ representing, for example, 75% of the total exports of Burundi and 54%
in Uganda, and about 22% in the case of Honduras. About 20 to 25 million families produce and
sell coffee for their livelihood and most of them are small-scale farmers with limited financial
resources and scope to diversify out of coffee production.

Globally, coffee sales each year exceed $70 billion, but coffee producing countries only capture
$5 billion of this value, with the bulk of revenues from the coffee trade retained by developed
countries. Coffee farmers in producing countries only obtain a fraction of the final retail price of
coffee. A recent Oxfam research report showed that Ugandan coffee farmers only get about 2.5
percent of the final retail price of their coffee in the UK market.

Because the supply-side of the world coffee market is very fragmented – will millions of small-scale
producers – much of the power in the market lies with the major buyers, notably the coffee roasting
companies who buy the raw coffee beans and then process them into coffee-based products.
When buyers have significant power and influence over the market price we call this a

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 93 -

monopsony. And the danger is that this buying power can force down the price that farmers
receive for their products – creating problems of poverty and damaging the chances of sustainable
economic development for regions dependent on coffee production.
Coffee prices

There have been no price controls in the global coffee trade since 1989, when the buffer-stock
system run by the International Coffee Agreement broke down. Since then prices have been
determined by the market forces of supply and demand. As the chart below confirms, over the last
ten years coffee prices have been volatile – collapsing from $1.30 per lb in 1998 to less than $0.40
in 2002. In the last four or five years there has been a recovery in prices – but they remain below
the levels seen in the mid 1990s.

World Coffee Prices

US cents per lb, daily closing price
150 150

140 140

130 130

120 120
Price of Coffee - US cents per lb

110 110

100 100

90 90

80 80

70 70

60 60

50 50

40 40

30 30
98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

Source: Reuters EcoWin

Consumption of coffee and price elasticity of demand

Coffee consumption worldwide in 2007 was

estimated at around 122.7 million bags - up
from 121.08 million bags in 2006 and 118.1
million bags in 2005.

Demand has been stagnating in many of the

richer advanced nations of the world but
consumption growth has been stronger in
emerging market countries and especially in
some of the former eastern Bloc countries
most of whom have recently joined the
European Union.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 94 -

The main buyers of raw coffee beans are the largest multinational buyers, dominated by four firms:
Nestlé, Kraft, Procter & Gamble and Sara Lee.

Coffee consumption has been growing at a steady rate of between 1 and 1.5 % per year; a
growth rate is well below that for food products as a whole which is closer to 4% per annum.
Changes in eating habits and increased demand for alternative drinks to coffee are largely behind
this relatively slow growth of global market demand. Even the sharp fall in coffee prices during
2000 - 2004 seemed to have little impact on world demand, suggesting that coffee has a very low
price elasticity of demand.

Employment in coffee producing countries

Coffee production employs a labour force estimated at around 25 million families by the ICO and
accounts for more than 50% of export earnings in many countries, an increase in consumption
favouring a gradual rise in world prices would be a positive factor for economic growth and
increased per capita incomes in these countries. In Brazil alone more than a million jobs are
generated by the coffee industry. According to the International Coffee Organisation ―25 million
small coffee farmers and their families who produce 90% of the world‘s coffee are particularly
affected by fluctuations in market prices and imbalances in supply and demand.‖

The economic and social costs of the coffee price collapse 2000-2004

The slump in global coffee prices in the early years of this decade was caused by overproduction
in countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia and the sharp fall in prices had a devastating impact
on some of the world's poorest communities and on the environment. Coffee farmers dependent
on selling raw coffee beans to buyers at rock-bottom prices were afflicted by deep poverty by
falling prices and many opted to maintain their livelihoods by increasing production of cheaper
varieties of coffee at the expense of the environment. Other coffee growers abandoned their farms
to other crops including the drug Chat or to livestock grazing or they chose to chop down forests to
grow a cheaper variety of coffee called Robusta that is less environmentally friendly. The
sustainability of the industry in many countries was thrown into real doubt.

The International Coffee Organisation (ICO)

The International Coffee Organization (ICO) is the main organization for coffee, bringing together
producing and consuming countries to tackle the challenges facing the world coffee sector through
cooperation.

Brazil is the world leader in coffee production and consumption. Brazil is effectively the ―swing
producer‖ for the global coffee markets, in other words, since Brazil is the largest coffee producer,
changes in Brazil's supplies of coffee account for a large portion of the change in the world total
supplies of coffee which then directly affects the prevailing international price.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 95 -

Coffee Prices and value of Exports of Brazilian Coffee

Monthly value of exports, $ million (bottom pane) and world price (top pane)
140 140

120 120
USc/Pound

100 ICO Coffee Price 100

80 80

60 60

40 40

400 400

350 350

300 300
USD (millions)

250 250

millions
200 200
Brazilian coffee export revenues
150 150

100 100

50 50
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

Source: Reuters EcoWin

As we can see there is a relationship between the current world price and the value of exports of
coffee from nations such as Brazil. Factors such as changes in the exchange rate can influence
the income that coffee exporting countries will generate from their overseas sales. But for Brazil,
the recovery in prices since 2004 has been important in boosting for their export incomes although
plateau in the value of coffee exports in 2007-08 is largely due to the fall in the value of the US
dollar- the currency used to value trade in coffee.

Background reading on the coffee market

Black Gold – the movie

Black Gold film highlights coffee industry (BBC news, June 2007)
Fair Trade campaign on coffee prices
Film highlights coffee industry – BBC news online, June 2007
In search of the perfect cash crop (BBC news, July 2008)
Is the domination of Starbucks on the wane? (Independent, July 2008)
Starbucks closes over 500 shops (BBC news, June 2008)
The hidden cost of your £2 latte – The Guardian, May 2007
The real price of coffee (Independent, October 2006)
Tracking the true cost of coffee (BBC worldwide, March 2007)
UK leads Fairtrade shopping revolution as sales hit £560m (Independent, May 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 96 -

Markets in Action: The UK Housing Market

This chapter applies supply and demand concepts to the housing market. The determination of
price levels in local housing markets are great examples of microeconomics in action! Each day
there are hundreds and thousands of separate negotiations between buyers and sellers with prices
being offered and agreed before a final transaction is made.

The price that is established with each housing transaction in the market depends on

The price that the seller is willing to agree for their property.
The actual price that the buyer is willing and able to pay.

A Sellers Market

When demand for properties in a locality, area or region is high

and when there is a shortage of properties then the balance of
power in the market shifts towards the seller. They can wait for
offers on their property to reach (or exceed) their minimum
selling price. Indeed early potential buyers may come straight in
with an offer in excess of the asking price in order to avoid the
possibility of losing the property that they want.

A Buyers Market

When there is a glut of properties available on the market

(excess supply), the balance of power switches to buyers. They
have the luxury of a wider choice of housing and they should be
able to negotiate a price lower than the published price. Sellers
may require a quick sale and this puts extra bargaining power
into the hands of buyers.

Housing Demand

The demand for housing is the quantity of properties that homebuyers are willing and able to buy at
a given price in a given time period. Some of the conditions of demand in the market are as
follows:

1. Real Incomes: As living standards rise, so the demand for housing expands, including
demand for more expensive properties as people move ―up market.‖
2. Mortgage Interest Rates: Since most homes are purchased with a mortgage, changes in
interest rates affect demand for housing. A rise in mortgage rates increases the cost of
financing the loan on the purchase of a property.
3. Consumer confidence: Consumer confidence is vital for if expectations for the future
performance of the economy deteriorate and people become less optimistic about their own
financial circumstances, they may be tempted to delay entry into the market for property.
4. Economic Growth: When the economy is enjoying sustained growth and rising prosperity,
improved confidence raises the number of homebuyers.
5. Unemployment: In areas or regions when unemployment is above the national average,
incomes will be lower and this limits the number of people who are able to afford properties.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 97 -

6. The Price of Substitutes: For people wanting to buy their own home, the main alternative
is to rent – so a higher cost of renting could lead to an increased demand for owner-
occupied homes.

Effective demand for housing – property affordability

Demand in a market is only effective when potential buyers have the ability to pay. Nowhere is this
truer than in the property market. In recent years the boom in house prices in the UK has caused a
major affordability problem for millions of people wanting to enter the market for the first time. The
ratio of average prices to incomes has climbed higher and made it much more expensive to take
out a mortgage. The decline in effective demand has been an important factor bringing about an
end to the boom as first-time-buyers have gradually disappeared from the market. At the time of
writing, property values are falling sharply in the UK and are forecast to dip by more than 20
percent over the next year or so. This will help to improve the affordability problem.

Housing Affordability - UK house price/earnings ratio

Monthly data, source: Halifax house price index
6.0 6.0

5.5 5.5
Ratio of house prices to average earnings

5.0 5.0

4.5 4.5

4.0 4.0

3.5 3.5

3.0 3.0
95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

Source: Reuters EcoWin

Expectations of future price movements and housing demand

Expectations of changing prices can have a considerable bearing on the demand for all types of
property. Consider this question. Should housing to be regarded as a consumer durable that
provides a flow of services to the owner over a long period? Or should we think of a house
purchase, as one of major investments that we expect will provide us with substantial capital
gains? The answer is probably a mix of the two!

Price elasticity of demand for housing

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 98 -

Price elasticity of demand (Ped) measures the responsiveness of demand for a product to a
change in its own price. When housing is regarded as a necessity and when there are few close
substitutes available, we expect demand to be inelastic. This may well force up the eventual
market price when a transaction is agreed.

Price An elastic demand for housing Price An inelastic demand for housing

Supply
Supply

P2

P1

D1

D2

Q1 Quantity Q2 Quantity

The price elasticity of demand for a property depends on the availability of close substitutes – for
example the supply of rented housing. If you have set your heart on a particular property, or are
convinced that you need to live in a specific area, perhaps to live within a school catchment area or
because you want to be close to friends and family, then you will be far less sensitive to the market
price and demand will become price inelastic.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 99 -

UK House Prices (Nationwide Index)

All properties, average, £s
190000 190000

180000 180000

170000 170000

160000 160000

150000 150000
Average property prices £s

140000 140000

130000 130000

120000 120000

110000 110000

100000 100000

90000 90000

80000 80000

70000 70000
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

Source: Reuters EcoWin

Housing Supply

The housing supply is the total flow of properties available at a given price in a given time period.
The supply will be a mix of newly-built housing and older properties.

For new housing, the conditions of supply include the following:

1. Costs of production for construction companies

a. Employment costs (including wages, overtime payments and employer national
insurance contributions etc).
b. Costs of purchasing land for housing development.
c. Costs of purchasing building components and raw materials.
d. Costs associated with achieving planning consent from local authorities.
2. The number of construction companies in the market and their business objectives.
3. The extent to which the construction industry is able to achieve economies of scale in
house building and reduce their constructions costs by implementing innovation in building
projects.
4. Government taxation and subsidy of new housing developments (e.g. grant aid and
other forms of state funding for housing developers building properties for key workers and
financial support for other forms of social housing).

Elasticity of Housing Supply

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 100 -

The supply of new housing tends to be inelastic in the short run which means that house prices are
determined almost exclusively by demand factors such as income, unemployment and interest
rates. Several reasons have been put forward for the low price elasticity of supply of housing:

1. Construction companies cannot suddenly plan and then build thousands of new homes in
areas when there is an increase in demand. One reason is the existence of planning
regulations and other constraints on new housing developments.
2. Supply is also restricted by the limited availability of skilled labour such as bricklayers and
electricians and other factor inputs needed in the construction process.

When the price elasticity of supply of new homes is low, then the quantity of housing available for
purchase is not responsive to short term changes in price. So for example a 15 per cent rise in
price may lead to only a 3% increase in new housing supply in the first year. Elasticity of supply in
this case is +0.2 (a low figure). This low supply elasticity suggests that rising demand can quickly
feed through into higher prices in the market.

The Need for More Housing Supply

Increases in UK house prices are due in part to supply shortages in the market according to the
House Builders' Federation (HBF) which revealed that new home building is failing to keep pace
with demand. A spokesman for the HBF said: "The country needs 200,000 new homes annually to
keep pace with the growth in households. With only 160,000 being built, we have a serious
problem."

Source: Adapted from the House Builders’ Federation web site

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 101 -

Markets in Action: The Labour Market

The labour market is a factor market – it provides a means by which employers find the labour they
need, whilst millions of individuals offer their labour services in different jobs.

The Demand for Labour

Many factors influence how many people a business is willing and able to take on. But we start
with the most obvious – the wage rate or salary. There is usually an inverse relationship between
the demand for labour and the wage rate that a business needs to pay as they take on more
workers. If the wage rate is high, it is more costly to hire extra employees. When wages are lower,
labour becomes relatively cheaper than for example using capital inputs. A fall in the wage rate
might thus create a substitution effect and lead to an expansion in labour demand.

Wage
Rate

W3
Contraction of demand

W1

Expansion of demand

W2

Labour Demand (1)

E3 E1 Employment of Labour (E)

E2

Shifts in the Demand for Labour

The number of people employed at each wage level can change and in the diagram below we see
an outward shift of the labour demand curve. The curve shifts when there is a change in the
conditions of demand in the jobs market. For example:

A rise in the level of consumer demand for a product which means that a business needs to
take on more workers (see below on the concept of derived demand)
An increase in the productivity of labour which makes using labour more cost efficient than
using capital equipment
A government employment subsidy which allows a business to employ more workers

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 102 -

The labour demand curve would shift inwards during an economic slowdown / recession when
sales of goods and services are in decline, business profits are falling and many employers cannot
afford to keep on their payrolls as many workers. The result is often labour redundancies and an
overall decline in the demand for labour at each wage rate.

Wage
Rate

W1

Labour Demand (2)

Labour Demand (1)

E1 E2 Employment of Labour (E)

Labour as a Derived Demand

The demand for all factor inputs, including labour, is a

derived demand i.e. the demand depends on the demand
for the products they produce. When the economy is
expanding, we expect to see a rise in the aggregate
demand for labour providing that the rise in output is
greater than the increase in labour productivity. In contrast,
during a recession or a slowdown, the aggregate demand
for labour will decline as businesses look to cut their
operations costs and scale back on production.

In a recession, business failures, plant shut-downs and

short term redundancies lead to a reduction in the derived
demand for labour. Here is a good example of the derived
demand in the jobs market:

Car-maker cuts jobs as sales fall

The biggest car-maker in the United States, General Motors, is shedding jobs from the assembly
plant to the boardroom as it struggles to respond to falling demand for its vehicles. Soaring petrol
prices and fears of recession have put motorists off buying its pick-up trucks and gas-guzzling
4x4s. Many Americans are switching to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, which tend to be a
speciality of Asian motor manufacturers. General Motors has announced a two-year pay freeze
and a programme of voluntary redundancies as it looks to reduce labour costs. GM and its rivals -
Ford and Chrysler - have already cut more than 100,000 jobs since 2006.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 103 -

Source: adapted from news reports, June 2008

The construction industry is another example of the derived demand for labour. The decade long
property boom in the UK has led to rising prices, output and employment. But the turnaround in the
housing market is likely to lead to thousands of job losses during 2008 and 2009 as the market
demand for workers in housing construction has shifted inwards.

Elasticity of Demand for Labour

Elasticity of labour demand measures the responsiveness of demand for labour when there is a
change in the ruling market wage rate. The elasticity of demand for labour depends on these
factors:

1. Labour costs as a % of total costs: When labour expenses are a high proportion of total
costs, then labour demand is more elastic than a business where fixed costs of capital are
the dominant business expense. In many service jobs such as customer service centres or
gas boiler repairs, labour costs are a high proportion of the total costs of a business.
2. The ease and cost of factor substitution: Labour demand will be more elastic when a
firm can substitute quickly and easily between labour and capital inputs. When specialised
labour or capital is needed, then the demand for labour will be more inelastic with respect to
the wage rate. For example it might be fairly easy and cheap to replace security guards
with cameras but a hotel would find it almost impossible to replace hotel cleaning staff with
machinery!
3. The price elasticity of demand for the final output produced by a business: If a firm is
operating in a highly competitive market where final demand for the product is price elastic,
they may have little market power to pass on higher wage costs to consumers through a
higher price. The demand for labour may therefore be more elastic as a consequence. In
contrast, a firm that sells a product where final demand is inelastic will be better placed to
pass on higher costs to consumers.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 104 -

Wage Labour demand (2) is more elastic – perhaps because the employer
Rate can easily switch to capital inputs as a means of producing an output if
wage rates were to increase

Labour demand (1) is relatively inelastic – e.g. -0.4 i.e. a 10% fall in the
wage rate might only lead to a 4% expansion of labour demand
W1

W2

Labour Demand (2)

Labour Demand (1)

E1 E2 E3 Employment of Labour (E)

Labour Supply

The labour supply refers to the total number of hours that labour is willing and able to supply at a
given wage rate. It can also be defined as the number of workers willing and able to work in a
particular job or industry for a given wage.

The labour supply curve for any industry or occupation will be upward sloping. This is because, as
wages rise, other workers enter this industry attracted by the incentive of higher rewards. They
may have moved from other industries or they may not have previously held a job, such as
housewives or the unemployed. The extent to which a rise in the prevailing wage or salary in an
occupation leads to an expansion in the supply of labour depends on the elasticity of labour supply.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 105 -

The Labour Supply Curve

The supply curve for labour shows the
number of workers willing and able to Shifts in the Labour Supply Curve
enter an industry or occupation different
wage levels
Wage Wage
Rate Rate
LS1
Labour Supply LS2

W2

W1
W1

W3

D2

D1

E3 E1 E2 Employment E1 E2 Employment

Key factors affecting labour supply

The supply of labour to a particular occupation is influenced by a range of factors:

1. The real wage rate on offer in the industry itself – higher wages raise the prospect of
increased factor rewards and should boost the number of people willing and able to work
2. Overtime: Opportunities to boost earnings come through overtime payments, productivity-
related pay schemes, and share option schemes.
3. Substitute occupations: The real wage rate on offer in competing jobs is another factor
because this affects the wage and earnings differential that exists between two or more
occupations. So for example an increase in the relative earnings available to trained
plumbers and electricians may cause some people to switch their jobs.
4. Barriers to entry: Artificial limits to an industry‘s labour supply (e.g. through the
introduction of minimum entry requirements or other legal barriers to entry) can restrict
labour supply and force average pay and salary levels higher – this is particularly the case
in professions such as legal services and medicine where there are strict ―entry criteria‖ to
the professions.
5. Improvements in the occupational mobility of labour: For example if more people are
trained with the necessary skills required to work in a particular occupation.
6. Non-monetary characteristics of specific jobs – include factors such as the level of risk
associated with different jobs, the requirement to work anti-social hours or the non-
pecuniary benefits that certain jobs provide including job security, opportunities for
promotion and the chance to live and work overseas, employer-provided in-work training,

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 106 -

employer-provided or subsidised health and leisure facilities and other in-work benefits
including occupational pension schemes.
7. Net migration of labour – the UK is a member of the European Union single market that
enshrines free movement of labour as one of its guiding principles. A rising flow of people
seeking work in the UK is making labour migration an important factor in determining the
supply of labour available to many industries – be it to relieve shortages of skilled labour in
the NHS or education, or to meet the seasonal demand for workers in agriculture and the
construction industry.

Equilibrium wages

The equilibrium price of labour (market wage rate) in a given market is determined by the interaction
of the supply and demand for labour. Employees are hired up to the point where the extra cost of
hiring an employee (their wage) is equal to the addition to sales revenue from hiring them, their MRP.

Real Real
Wage Wage
Rate Rate

Labour
Supply

Labour
W3
Supply

W1 W1

W2

D3
D1 D1

D2

E1 Employment E2 E1 E3 Employment

Wage differentials in the economy

There is a wide gulf in pay and earnings rates between different occupations in the UK labour
market. No one factor explains the gulf in pay that exists and persists between occupations and
within each sector of the economy. Some of the relevant factors are listed below
1. Compensating wage differentials - higher pay can often be some reward for risk-taking
in certain jobs, working in poor conditions and having to work unsocial hours.
2. Equalising difference and human capital - in a competitive labour market equilibrium,
wage differentials compensate workers for (opportunity and direct) costs of human capital

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 107 -

acquisition. There is an opportunity cost in acquiring qualifications - measured by the

current earnings foregone by staying in full or part-time education.
3. Different skill levels - the gap between poorly skilled and highly skilled workers gets wider
each year. One reason is that the market demand for skilled labour grows more quickly
than the demand for semi-skilled workers. This pushes up pay levels. Highly skilled workers
are often in inelastic supply and rising demand forces up the "going wage rate" in an
industry.
4. Differences in labour productivity and revenue creation - workers whose efficiency is
highest and ability to generate revenue for a firm should be rewarded with higher pay. City
economists and analysts are often highly paid not least because they can claim annual
bonuses based on performance. Top sports stars can command top wages because of
their potential to generate extra revenue from ticket sales and merchandising.
5. Trade unions and their collective bargaining power - unions might exercise their
bargaining power to offset the power of an employer in a particular occupation and in doing
so achieve a mark-up on wages compared to those on offer to non-union members
6. Employer discrimination is a factor that cannot be ignored despite over twenty years of
equal pay legislation in place

Real Real Ls
Wage Wage
Rate Rate

W2

Ls

W1

Ld
Ld

E1 Employment E2 Employment

Trade Unions

Trade unions are organisations of workers that seek through collective bargaining with
employers to protect and improve the real incomes of their members, provide job security, protect
workers against unfair dismissal and provide a range of other work-related services including
support for people claiming compensation for injuries sustained in a job.

Most trade unions in the UK belong to the Trades Union Congress (TUC). Examples include
Amicus, Unison, the Rail and Maritime Union and the National Union of Teachers.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 108 -

Main roles of trade unions

Protecting and improving the real living standards of their members

Protecting workers against unfair dismissal (employment rights)
Promoting improvements in working conditions, workload & health and safety issues
Workplace training and education, accumulation of human capital
Protection of pension rights for union members
A counter-balance to possible power of employers in the labour market

Trade Union membership

There has been a large decline in union membership over the last twenty-five years
In 2006 an estimated 6.39 million employees in the UK were members of a trade union- less than
half the figure when union membership peaked in 1979.

Elastic labour demand – union control of Inelastic labour demand – unions may be
labour supply forces wages higher – but more effective in negotiating higher pay levels
employment contracts and increasing total wage income.

Labour Supply (union Labour Supply (union

Wage controlled) controlled)
Rate W3

W2

W1
W1 Labour
Supply to
the
Economy
Labour
Demand

Labour
Demand

E2 E1 Employment E2 E1 Employment

Unions might seek to exercise their collective bargaining power with employers to achieve a
mark-up on wages compared to those on offer to non-union members. For this to happen, a union
must have some control over the total labour supply available to an industry. In the past this
was possible if a union operated a closed shop agreement with an employer – i.e. where the
employer and union agreed that all workers would be a member of a particular union. However in
most sectors, the closed shop is now history.

More frequently, a union may simply bid through bi-lateral negotiations with employers to achieve
an increase in wages ahead of the rate of inflation so that real wages rise, and other improvements
to working hours and conditions.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 109 -

Government economic policies and the labour supply

The main policies designed to increase the supply of labour available to the economy are as
follows:
1. Reforms to the system of direct taxation: In the 1980s, Thatcherite economics focused
on cutting income tax rates particularly at the top end and switching away from direct
towards indirect taxation. More recently, successive governments have tended to focus
more on reductions in the lower rates of income tax and tax allowances for lower-paid
workers. The theoretical idea remains broadly the same, that lower direct taxes increase
the post-tax reward to working and act as an incentive for more people to join the labour
supply. In 2007 the government announced that the 10% starting rate of income tax would
be withdrawn in 2008 and that the basic rate of tax would be cut from 22% to 20%.
2. Reforms to the benefits system: The emphasis here has changed away from the rather
crude idea of cutting the real and relative value of welfare benefits towards encourage
people into searching for work, towards a reliance on tax credits (for example the Working
Families Tax Credit) to give parents with children a greater financial incentives to work. The
aim is to reduce the disincentive problems created by the unemployment and poverty trap.
3. Increased investment in education and training: This is designed to boost the human
capital of the labour force and improve the occupational mobility of the labour force to
meet the changing demands of employers across different industries.
4. A more relaxed approach to labour immigration: Particularly where there are shortages
of workers with skills such as consultants and fully trained nurses in the NHS, or shortages
of teachers in certain subjects. The effect of net inward migration on the labour supply is
shown in the diagram below.

Real Labour Supply

Wage Strong inflows of labour into the economy can
Rate Labour have the effect of increasing the labour supply
Supply
with This puts downward pressure on real wages
migration (for a given level of labour demand) e.g.
through helping to relieve labour shortages in
particular industries and occupations

W1
If migration provides a boost to the labour
supply and to labour productivity, there is the
W2 prospect of an outward shift in a country‘s long
run aggregate supply

Labour
Demand

E1 E2 Employment

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 110 -

UK Employment
All aged 16 and over, seasonally adjusted, source: Labour Force Survey
30.0 30.0

29.5 29.5

29.0 29.0

28.5 28.5

28.0 28.0
Person (millions)

millions
27.5 27.5

27.0 27.0

26.5 26.5

26.0 26.0

25.5 25.5

25.0 25.0
90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

Source: Reuters EcoWin

The importance of incentives

Incentives are important in affecting the labour supply. Most of us rely on income from our work to
pay for the things we need and higher pay and better conditions should be an incentive perhaps to
work some extra hours or search for work in the first place. But for many workers there are
disincentives to supply their labour – and these problems often affect people in lowly paid jobs.
This is known as the problem of the poverty trap and there is a good example in the mini case
study below.

The Poverty Trap worsens in Scotland

The soaring cost of child care is worsening the poverty trap according to a new report
commissioned for the save the Children Fund in Scotland. More than one quarter of Scots parents
on low incomes cannot work full time because of the cost of registered childcare which has risen
by more than 10 per cent this year across most of the country. Joanne Brady, a single mother of
two children from Glasgow, is unable to work because she loses more in means-tested child tax
credits than she gains in income. ―They take 20 per cent off for each child when you go to work.
You still have to pay your housing, travel and lunches and it's just not adequate.‖ Ms Brady, 27, is
among the 28 per cent of parents with children under 18 and an income of less than £15,000.

Source: The Times, July 2008

Suggestions for further reading on labour demand and labour supply

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 111 -

Each of these articles has been selected because it is relevant to the ideas discussed in this
chapter on the demand for and supply of labour in different labour markets and how this can affect
wages and employment.
Labour Demand
Airline Qantas to cut 1,500 jobs (BBC news, July 2008)
US bosses shed thousands of jobs (BBC news, July 2008)
New biomass power station will create 500 jobs (BBC news, July 2008)
Rising oil price creating new dive jobs (BBC news, July 2008)
Labour Supply
The factors pulling migrant workers home (BBC news, July 2008)
Farmers fear strawberry shortage (BBC news, May 2008)
Carers need help to get to work (BBC news, July 2008)
Wages and Wage Differentials
Migrant worker paid £8.80 a week (BBC news, June 2008)
Hard Rock wages below the minimum (BBC news, July 2008)
Record Premier League wage bill (BBC news, May 2008)
Government Policies toward Work Incentives
Back to Beveridge (The Times, July 2008)
Claimants to work for benefits (BBC news, July 2008)
Migrant workers leave the UK (BBC Politics Show, June 2008)
UK growth boosted by immigration (BBC news, December 2007)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 112 -

Markets in Action: Economics of Health Care

Who should pay for health care?

In 2008 the British National Health Service celebrated its 60th birthday but the future of the NHS as
it exists at present always seems to be under question and in the headlines. How much longer can
most NHS treatments and other services be provided free at the point of treatment and based on
clinical need rather than ability to pay?

On average across the leading rich developed countries, the government accounts for nearly
three-quarters of health care expenditure. The lowest share is in the United States where state
funding represents less than fifty per cent of total health spending. In Canada, Britain and
Sweden, the health service is funded mainly through general taxation.

In Germany and France the system is funded largely from compulsory contributions made by
employers and workers and from voluntary private insurance. In most countries, health care is
provided by the mixed economy. Doctors are usually self employed or in private practice. The
government sector is most heavily involved in operating hospitals. Although in Britain, the
government is now committed to giving hospitals much greater autonomy in running their own
affairs and in contracting out some health care to the private sector through its foundation hospital
system

Four of the possible funding options for health care are

1. Co-payments - Ask patients to contribute towards the cost of non-emergency surgery,

such as hernias and varicose veins.
2. Ration care - To some extent, this is already done by the National Institute for Clinical
Excellence watchdog,
3. NHS tax - A specific tax could be levied to help pay for treatment
4. Social insurance - Public could be asked to pay into an insurance scheme

Equity and Efficiency in Health Care

(1) Economic Efficiency

Consider first the two main types of efficiency – allocative and productive:
Does the health care provided in Britain meet people‘s changing needs and wants (i.e.
do we achieve allocative efficiency?)
Is health care provided at the lowest possible cost per treatment (i.e. do we achieve
productive efficiency?) or could improvements be made in the efficiency with which
health services are provided for millions of people?

(2) Equity

Are people‘s health needs met by health treatments on the basis mainly of clinical need or
alternatively based on an ability to pay for health services? Are health outcomes in the UK
reasonably equal across localities, regions, ethnic groups, age groups and by gender? Or are there

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 113 -

unacceptable inequalities in the provision of health care across different sections of the
population? The issue of equitable provision of health is an important ongoing issue.

Market Failure in Health Care

What might cause market failure in the provision of health services?

1. Imperfect information among health care providers and consumers - Consumers may
under-value the longer term private benefits of consuming health care – due to information
failure (or ‗patient ignorance‘). Health providers such as doctors and consultants have more
specialised information than consumers – an example here of asymmetric information.
2. Lack of adequate health insurance: A second cause of information failure is that it is
virtually impossible for people to predict their future health needs. Sudden illness or injury
may require extensive and expensive medical care for which most people are unlikely to
have adequate health care insurance. Indeed the private health insurance market will not
provide cover for all groups of people. High-risk individuals may find it impossible or
extremely expensive to get appropriate medical insurance if the market was the only
provider of health care. The ‗failure‘ of health insurance companies to provide cover for high
risk groups is an example of „missing markets‟ – another cause of market failure
3. Externalities arising from health care provision: Health services are normally assumed
to be merit goods providing a private benefit for people who consume them and additional
external benefits for society as a whole.
4. Inequalities in access to basic health care: There are regional and local differences in
the quality and quantity of health care available (media stories are fond of discussing so-
called ―postcode prescribing‖). Millions of people are wholly dependent on the NHS for
health care– they have no hope of being able to fund private health insurance. If people
were required to pay for more treatments they would often be unable to afford them
5. Monopoly power among health care suppliers: if there was a wholly free market in
providing health care, it is likely that in the long run, several dominant health care providers
would emerge raising concerns about increasing market concentration and the
opportunities for these firms to exploit their monopoly power.

The fundamental policy question regarding health care in the UK is this: Should it remain
essentially funded by the tax system and provided mainly free at the point of need?

In the United States, which remains the world‘s largest spender on health care, state provided and
state-financed health care goes mainly to the old and families on low incomes. Most American
workers are insured privately through the health insurance schemes run by their employers. But
this does not stop many millions of Americans being unable to afford their own health care
insurance – this has become a huge political issue in the United States. There are also huge
worries among US companies about the soaring cost of employer-funded health benefit schemes.

In rich developed countries, health care spending on average takes up nearly ten per cent of
national income (GDP) and the projections for the years ahead see that figure continuing to rise.

The NHS will always face the problem of resource scarcity because our ever-growing demand for
different types of health care exceeds the available supply. The Labour government is committed
to significant increases in real spending on health + share of health in total GDP.

Fundamental Principles of the National Health Service

The Fundamental building blocks of the NHS are as follows:

Providing a national universal (comprehensive) service

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 114 -

Health care free at the point of use

Medical care is not based on ability to pay but rather on the basis of clinical need

Who should pay for the drugs dispensed by the National Health Service?

The Economic and Social Importance of Health Care

Quality of Life and Poverty: Health and well-being in childhood affect educational
attainment with consequences for people throughout their lives. Ill health in adulthood is
associated with poverty and long periods out of work. There is now solid evidence that
improvements in medical care pay off in the long term in terms of healthier and longer
lives.
Employment: The NHS is the largest employer in UK with over 1.3 million people
employed in the NHS in England alone. After social security payments, health is the
biggest single component of government expenditure. 15 per cent of tax and National
Insurance Contributions go to pay for the health service.
Productivity: Ill health imposes a restriction on the productive potential of the
economy. Around 2 per cent of working days each year are lost due to short-term
sickness, while more than 7 per cent of the working age population is unable to work
due to long-term sickness or disability costing over £12 billion a year in welfare benefits.
Higher GDP/Economic Growth and Standard of Living: If average life expectancy
could be increased by five years (i.e. to Japanese levels) then UK real GDP could be
between £3 billion and £5 billion a year higher.

Fundamental Problems Facing the NHS

Rarely a day goes by without a health story featuring in the newspapers. The NHS faces many
challenges – these are four of the main ones:
(1) Persistent resource crises: Resource problems are the inevitable consequence of under-
funding and under-investment in the health service over many years – affecting the quality
and quantity of the capital stock available to health providers
(2) Hospital waiting lists: There are persistent delays in people receiving appointments to
see consultants and delays in receiving emergency treatment
(3) Problems in recruiting sufficient well qualified staff which leads to long hours for NHS
staff and contributes to wide disparities in the quality of care and range of care from region
to region and between local health authorities.
(4) Meeting the growing demand for health care: There are growing doubts as to whether
the NHS is meeting changing consumer preferences and growing health needs

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 115 -

Asymmetric information in the health care market

In the private healthcare market, doctors know more than patients about healthcare and treatments
(asymmetric information). There is an incentive, therefore, for doctors to prescribe more expensive
treatment than is necessary in order to increase their profits. This is an inefficient use of resources.
Many consumers in the healthcare market take out insurance to help pay for treatment; this,
however, leads to a problem of moral hazard, where they take more risks and therefore require
more treatment because they are insured. Again, this is a consequence of asymmetric information
in the market where consumers know more than insurers about their intended future actions

Health Care Rationing – An Inevitable Process

Health rationing occurs because demand for health care always outweighs supply. In a free
market, markets match supply and demand by altering price. This form of rationing relies on the
simply fact that post-tax incomes are unequal and that those households on relatively low incomes
will be the first to be priced out of the market. Rationing in the NHS is inevitable - no amount of
resources from the Government funded by taxation could possibly meet all of our demands for
health care when the NHS system remains based on the fundamental principle of most health
services being free at the point of need.

In the diagram below, even if the government invests higher levels of money into the NHS system
permitting an outward shift in the PPF for health care services, there is still an issue of scarcity to
resolve even though the total ―output‖ of the NHS can rise as a result.

Quantity of
all Other
Operations

An increase in resources available

for the NHS or an increase in health
A service productivity increases the
potential to provide health services.
But opportunity cost is still relevant
B and scarcity still exists

Quantity of Heart Operations

The NHS currently rations health resources in a variety of ways

(1) Government rationing: Ministers and Parliament decide on the overall size of the NHS
budget thus dictating the type and volume of care the NHS can provide

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 116 -

(2) The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) contributes to rationing decisions
by advising the NHS on clinical and economic benefits and costs of certain health care
interventions
(3) Health authorities and primary care groups allocate money to particular
disease/treatment areas. Treatment decisions for individuals are made at the clinical level
by health care professionals

Key Factors Putting Increased Financial Pressures on the NHS

(1) Developments in medical technology and new treatments: The fruits of research and
development in health sciences has brought us many new medical procedures (such as
transplants); new treatments and new products (e.g. magnetic-resonance imaging
scanners)
(2) New drugs including drugs that reduce the ―risk‖ of disease rather than the symptoms of
illness – e.g. statins to lower cholesterol or anti-hypertensives to reduce the likelihood of
strokes.

(3) The increased costs of staffing in the NHS -the NHS is a highly labour intensive industry.
The costs of pay and other employment costs can take up to sixty per cent of the operating
expenses of a hospital.
(4) Growing health problems including increased incidence of diseases associated with
affluence and the health issues following an increase in relative poverty – for example the
costs of treating smoking related diseases and the costs of treating illness associated with
rising levels of obesity
(5) Long term change in age structure of the population - The cost of health care rises
dramatically for older patients and the UK population along with that of many other
countries is becoming older as average life expectancy continues to grow
(6) Increasing expectations of patients and their families – in part the result of politicians
promising to achieve improved health outcomes from extra funding

Demographic Change and the NHS

The UK population is ageing. The medical conditions that account for the majority of the burden of
disease in the UK are primarily related to old age – e.g. cancer and coronary heart disease.
Spending on health varies significantly with age. The beginning and end of life are the most
expensive. On average, around a quarter of all the health care someone consumes in their lifetime
is consumed in the last year of their life. Just over a third of all spending on hospital and
community health services is for people who are over the age of 65. Over the next 20 years, the
UK population is projected to increase by around 5 million.

The Case for Maintaining a Tax Funded Health Care System

The Government is committed to maintaining a National Health Service funded mainly through
general taxation. In the March 2002 Budget, Chancellor Brown announced huge increases in real
spending on health financed in part by a rise in National Insurance Contributions from 10% to 11%
(effectively an increase in direct taxation).

Justifications for having a state funded National health Service

The NHS can exploit huge economies of scale and therefore provide health services
for millions of people at an efficient cost – these scale economies include the benefits of
specialization and significant buying power in the purchasing of drugs from
pharmaceutical companies

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 117 -

Revenue to fund the NHS is drawn from a millions of taxpayers who pay mainly through
a progressive system of direct taxation- satisfying the principle of vertical equity.
Higher income taxpayers are therefore paying more towards the general provision of
health care – the NHS is a means towards greater equality of opportunity within society
Basing health care treatments on being able to pay might discourage people from
seeking important treatments

Case for using the market mechanism / charging for some forms of health care

What are the arguments for extending the market mechanism to providing health care in the UK?
With user charges, households would freely choose their own pattern of consumption
and the supply of health care would then adjust to the pattern of preferences and level
of demand for different treatments
Some economists believe that the price mechanism is a better way of rationing health
care than the current arbitrary system of queuing / waiting lists
The demand for health treatments would be linked to the private benefit to the patient –
so a wider system of charging / private sector provision would lead to a lower demand
for non-essential treatments and free up resources for more urgent treatments
Some user charges already exist within the NHS such as those for dental treatment,
eye examinations and prescriptions – the principle of user charges could be extended
without challenging the fundamental principles upon which the NHS is based

Mini Case Study: The Rise of Health Tourism

Fed up with lengthy waiting lists, rising prices and the fear of acquiring infections such as MRSA
during a stay in hospital, record numbers of British patients are travelling abroad for medical and
dental treatment and often taking in a package holiday at the same time! An estimated 100,000
people travelled abroad for treatment in 2007 to places as far as South Africa and South East Asia
up from 70,000 in 2006. Hungary is the most popular destination for dental treatment and Cyprus is
popular for cosmetic surgery whilst India is a favoured location for general surgery and scans. In
most cases, the danger of experiencing health care of a lower quality than that available at home
has not materialised - although health professionals in the UK warn that patients must also
consider the costs of after-care and possible complications.

The European Commission is considering plans to open its borders to medical tourists, allowing
citizens of any of the 27 states to seek treatment in a neighbouring country with their home
country, in certain circumstances, picking up the bill. The EU claims that this move will encourage
countries to specialise in certain health treatments and benefit from economies of scale. Member
nations of the EU spend in total €1,000bn (£796bn) annually on healthcare, and at present just 1
per cent is ―across border‖. According to polls, 4 per cent of Europeans had treatment in another
country last year - most of whom were people on their holidays.

If the proposals are approved, the expansion of choice will focus attention on the performance of
the NHS against other health systems on the Continent. The British Government says it will not
finance 'health tourism' and will instead prioritize in providing high quality treatments for NHS
patients close to home.

Source: Adapted from news reports, March-July 2008

Suggestions for further reading on the economics of health care

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 118 -

Does the NHS have a future? (BBC news, July 2008)

A 4 way split on the NHS (BBC news, July 2008)
The National Health Service at 60 (BBC news special)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 119 -

Background to Supply: Production and Costs

In this chapter we consider the background to the theory of supply by considering the concepts of
production and productivity and how they relate to the costs that all businesses must face.

Production

Production refers to the output of goods and services produced by businesses. Production
creates the supply that allows our changing needs and wants to be satisfied. To simplify the idea of
the production function, economists create a number of time periods for analysis.

1. Short run production

The short run is a period of time when there is at least one fixed factor input. This is usually
capital such as machinery and technology. In the short run, the output of a business expands when
more variable factors of production (e.g. labour, raw materials and components) are brought into
use.

2. Long run production

In the long run, all of the factors of production can change allowing a business to increase the
scale of its operations.

The long run for a retail business such as Pret a Manger will be different from the long run for the power
generation industry. The long run is when all factors of production are variable – there are no fixed
factors!

The length of time between the short and the long run will vary from industry to industry. For
example, how long would it take a newly created business delivering sandwiches around a local
town to move from the short to the long run? Let us assume that the business starts off with leased
premises to make the sandwiches; two leased vehicles for deliveries and five full-time and part-
time staff. In the short run, they can increase production by using more raw materials and by
bringing in extra staff as required. But if demand grows, it wont take the business long to perhaps
lease another larger building, buy in some more capital equipment and also lease some extra
delivery vans – by the time it has done this, it has already moved into the long run!

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 120 -

The point is that for some businesses the long run can be a matter of weeks! Whereas for
industries that requires expensive capital equipment which may take months or perhaps years to
become available, then the long run can be a sizeable period of time.

Measuring Productivity

When economists and government ministers talk about productivity they are referring to how
productive labour is. But productivity is also about other inputs. So, for example, a company could
increase productivity by investing in new machinery which embodies the latest technological
progress. The government‘s objective is to improve labour and capital productivity in order to
improve the supply-side potential of the country.

Productivity and the law of diminishing returns

In the example of productivity given below, the labour input is assumed to be the only variable
factor by a firm. Other factor inputs such as capital are assumed to be fixed in supply. The ―returns‖
to adding more labour to the production process are measured in two ways:

Marginal product (MP) = Change in total output from adding one extra unit of labour

Average product (AP) = Total output divided by the total units of labour employed

In the example below, a business hires extra units of labour to produce a higher quantity of wheat.
The table below tracks the output that results from each level of employment.

Units of Total Physical Product (tonnes Marginal Product (tonnes of Average

Labour of wheat) wheat) Product (tonnes
Employed of wheat)
0 0
1 3 3 3
2 10 7 5
3 24 14 8
4 36 12 9
5 40 4 8
6 42 2 7
7 42 0 6

Diminishing returns occurs when the marginal product of labour starts to fall. In the example
above, extra labour is added to a fixed supply of land when a farming business is harvesting
wheat. The marginal product is maximized when the 4th worker is employed. Thereafter the output
from new workers is falling although output continues to rise until the seventh worker is employed.

Notice that once marginal product falls below average product we have reached the point where
average product is maximized – i.e. we have reached the point of productive efficiency.

Explaining the law of diminishing returns

The law of diminishing returns occurs because factors of production such as labour and capital
inputs are not perfect substitutes for each other. This means that resources used in producing
one type of product are not as efficient when switched to the production of another good. For

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 121 -

example, workers employed in producing glass for use in the construction industry may not be as
efficient if they have to be re-employed in producing cement or kitchen units. We say that factors of
production such as labour and capital can be ―occupationally immobile” i.e. they can be
switched from one use to another, but with a loss of productivity.

There is normally an inverse relationship between the productivity of the factors of production
and the unit costs of production for a business. When productivity is low, the unit costs will be
higher. It follows that if a business can achieve higher levels of efficiency, there may well be a
benefit from lower costs and higher profits.

Costs of production

Costs are expenses faced by a business when producing

a good or service. Every business faces costs and these
must be recouped if a business is to make a profit. In the
short run a firm will have fixed and variable costs of
production.

(1) Fixed Costs

These costs do not vary directly with the level of output.

Examples of fixed costs include:

Rent paid on buildings and business rates charged by local authorities.

The depreciation in the value of capital equipment due to age.
Insurance charges.
The costs of staff salaries e.g. for people employed on permanent contracts.
Interest charges on borrowed money.
The costs of purchasing new capital equipment.
Marketing and advertising costs.

(2) Variable Costs

Variable costs vary directly with output. Examples of variable costs for a business include the
costs of raw materials, labour costs and other components used directly in the production process.

A Cheesy Example

Cheese makers in the UK are struggling to keep prices down as a shortage of milk affects the dairy
industry. Farmers are warning the cost of milk could go up as food prices generally are affected by
the bad weather. Many diary farmers are converting their milk to powder and selling it overseas -
which is also driving up prices. According to the Milk Development Council, mild cheddar increased
by £350 per tonne compared to June last year, unsalted butter prices were up £600 per tonne and
bulk cream prices rose £390 per tonne.

Source: Adapted from BBC news online, July 2007

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 122 -

The greater the total volume of units produced, the lower will be the fixed cost per unit as the fixed
costs are spread over a higher number of units. This is one reason why mass-production can
bring down significantly the unit costs for consumers – because the fixed costs are being reduced
continuously as output expands.

In our example below, a business is assumed to have fixed costs of £30,000 per month regardless
of the level of output produced. The table shows total fixed costs and average fixed costs
(calculated by dividing total fixed costs by output).

Output (000s) Total Fixed Costs (£000s) Average Fixed Cost (AFC)
0 30
1 30 30
2 30 15
3 30 10
4 30 7.5
5 30 6
6 30 5
7 30 4.3

When we add variable costs into the equation we can see the total costs of a business. The table
below gives an example of the short run costs of a firm

Output Total Fixed Cost Total Variable Cost Total Cost Average Total Cost Marginal Cost
Units TFC (£s) TVC (£s) TC (£s) ATC (£ per unit) MC (£)
0 100 0 100
20 100 40 140 7.0 2.0
40 100 60 160 4.0 1.0
60 100 74 174 2.9 0.7
80 100 84 184 2.3 0.5
100 100 90 190 1.9 0.3
120 100 104 204 1.7 0.7
140 100 138 238 1.7 1.7
160 100 188 288 1.8 2.5
180 100 260 360 2.0 3.6
200 100 360 460 2.3 5.0

Average Total Cost (ATC) is the cost per unit of output produced. ATC = TC divided by output

Marginal cost (MC) is the change in total costs from the production of one extra unit of output.

Long run costs of production

The long run is a period of time in which all factor inputs can be changed. The firm can therefore
alter the scale of production. If the firm experiences a fall in long run average total cost, it is
experiencing economies of scale. Conversely, if average cost rises as the firm expands,
diseconomies of scale are happening.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 123 -

Suggestions for further reading on productivity and cost

London cabbies seek fair deal on fares (BBC news, July 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 124 -

Economies and Diseconomies of Scale

This chapter focuses on long run costs, the effect of economies of scale on unit costs and the
effects of economies of scale on prices and competition in markets.

What are economies of scale?

Economies of scale are the cost advantages

that a business can exploit by expanding their
scale of production in the long run.

The effect is to reduce the long run average

(unit) costs of production.

These lower costs are an improvement in

productive efficiency and can benefit
consumers in the form of lower prices. But they
can also give a business a competitive
advantage too!

Long Run Output (units per month) Total Costs (£s) Long Run Average Cost (£s per unit)
1,000 8,500 8.5
2,000 15,000 7.5
5,000 36,000 7.2
10,000 65,000 6.5
20,000 120,000 6.0
50,000 280,000 5.6
100,000 490,000 4.9
500,000 2,300,000 4.6

There are many different types of economy of scale and depending on the particular
characteristics of an industry, some are more important than others.

Why can you now buy high-performance personal computers for just a few hundred pounds
when a similar computer might have cost you over £2000 just a few years ago?
Why is it that the average price of digital cameras is falling all the time?

The answer is that scale economies have brought down the unit costs of production and feeding
through to lower prices for consumers.

Internal economies of scale (IEoS)

Internal economies of scale arise from the growth of the business itself. Examples include:
1. Technical economies of scale:

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 125 -

a. Large-scale businesses can afford to invest in expensive and specialist capital

machinery. For example, a supermarket chain such as Tesco or Sainsbury can
invest in technology that improves stock control. It might not, however, be viable or
cost-efficient for a small corner shop to buy this technology.
b. Specialization of the workforce: Larger businesses split complex production
processes into separate tasks to boost productivity. The division of labour in mass
production of motor vehicles and in manufacturing electronic products is an
example.
c. The law of increased dimensions. This is linked to the cubic law where doubling
the height and width of a tanker or building leads to a more than proportionate
increase in the cubic capacity – this is an important scale economy in distribution
and transport industries and also in travel and leisure sectors.
2. Marketing economies of scale and monopsony power: A large firm can spread its
advertising and marketing budget over a large output and it can purchase its inputs in bulk
at negotiated discounted prices if it has monopsony (buying) power in the market. A good
example would be the ability of the electricity generators to negotiate lower prices when
negotiating coal and gas supply contracts. The major food retailers also have monopsony
power when purchasing supplies from farmers and wine growers.
3. Managerial economies of scale: This is a form of division of labour. Large-scale
manufacturers employ specialists to supervise production systems and oversee human
resources.
4. Financial economies of scale: Larger firms are usually rated by the financial markets to
be more ‗credit worthy‘ and have access to credit facilities, with favourable rates of
borrowing. In contrast, smaller firms often face higher rates of interest on overdrafts and
loans. Businesses quoted on the stock market can normally raise fresh money (i.e. extra
financial capital) more cheaply through the issue of equities. They are also likely to pay a
lower rate of interest on new company bonds issued through the capital markets.

5. Network economies of scale: This is a demand-side economy of scale. Some networks

and services have huge potential for economies of scale. That is, as they are more widely
used they become more valuable to the business that provides them. The classic examples
are the expansion of a common
language and a common currency. We
can identify networks economies in areas
such as online auctions, air transport
networks. Network economies are best
explained by saying that the marginal
cost of adding one more user to the
network is close to zero, but the resulting
benefits may be huge because each new
user to the network can then interact,
trade with all of the existing members or
parts of the network. The expansion of e-
commerce is a great example of network
economies of scale – how many of you
are devotees of the EBay web site or
Facebook?

Illustrating economies of scale – the long run average cost curve

The diagram below shows what might happen to the average costs as a business expands from
one scale of production to another. Each short run average cost curve assumes a given quantity of

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 126 -

capital inputs. As we move from SRAC1 to SRAC2 to SRAC3, the scale of production is
increasing. The long run average cost curve (drawn as the dotted line below) is derived from the
path of these short run average cost curves.

Economies of scale are the advantages of large scale production that result in
lower unit (average) costs (cost per unit)
Costs

SRAC1

SRAC3
SRAC2
AC1

LRAC
AC2

AC3

Q1 Q2 Q3 Output (Q)

Exploiting economies of scale – TNT

In January 2006, the market for postal services was opened up to competition thus ending the
monopoly of the Royal Mail in the delivery of letters to households and businesses. Attention is
now focusing on some of the likely rivals to the Royal Mail in the newly competitive market. One
such business is TNT logistics. TNT Express Services was established in the UK in 1978, the
company has developed its dominant position in the time-sensitive express delivery market
through organic growth and, with an annual turnover in excess of £750 million. TNT employs
10,600 people in the UK & Ireland and operates more than 3,500 vehicles from over 70 locations.
TNT Express Services delivers hundreds of thousands of consignments every week - in excess of
50 million items per year.

Source: TNT investor relations web site

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 127 -

Why are economies of scale important for a business such as TNT?

What types of economies of scale might the business be able to exploit in the long run?

External economies of scale

External economies of scale occur within an industry. Examples of external economies of scale
include the development of research and development facilities in local universities that
several businesses in an area can benefit from and spending by a local authority on improving the
transport network for a local town or city. Likewise, the relocation of component suppliers and
other support businesses close to the main centre of manufacturing are also an external cost
saving.

Diseconomies of scale

A firm may eventually experience a rise in average costs caused by diseconomies of scale.
Diseconomies of scale a firm may experience relate to:
1. Control – monitoring the productivity and the quality of output from thousands of
employees in big corporations is imperfect and costly – this links to the concept of the
principal-agent problem – how best can managers assess the performance of their
workforce when each of the stakeholders may have a different objective or motivation?
2. Co-operation - workers in large firms may feel a sense of alienation and subsequent loss
of morale. If they do not consider themselves to be an integral part of the business, their
productivity may fall leading to wastage of factor inputs and higher costs

Do economies of scale always improve the welfare of consumers?

There are some disadvantages and limitations of economies of scale.

 Standardization of products: Mass production might lead to a standardization of
products – limiting the amount of consumer choice.
 Lack of market demand: Market demand may be insufficient for economies of scale to be
fully exploited leaving businesses with a lot of spare capacity.
 Developing monopoly power: Businesses may use economies of scale to build up
monopoly power and this might lead to higher prices, a reduction in consumer welfare and
a loss of allocative efficiency.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 128 -

 Protecting monopoly power: Economies of scale might be used as a barrier to entry –

whereby existing firms can drive prices down if there is a threat of the entry of new
suppliers

Suggestions for further reading on economies of scale

Consoles look to hit their stride (BBC news, July 2008)

Cost headache for games developers (BBC news, December 2007)
Economies of scale in printing (Tutor2u economics blog, March 2008)
GM installs world's biggest rooftop solar panels (Guardian, July 2008)
How world's biggest ship is delivering our Christmas - all the way from China (Guardian)
Mobile web reaches critical mass (BBC news, July 2008)
Salad production on a massive scale (BBC news, June 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 129 -

Productivity

Productivity is a measure of the efficiency of the labour force measured by output per worker or
output per worker hour.

The advantages of higher productivity

Productivity is the main determinant of national living standards – it quantifies how an economy
uses the resources it has available, by relating the quantity of inputs to output. As the adage goes,
productivity isn't everything, but in the long run it‘s almost everything.

Higher productivity can lead to:

(1) Lower average costs: These cost savings might be passed onto consumers in lower
prices, encouraging higher demand, more output and an increase in employment.
(2) Improved competitiveness and trade performance: Productivity growth and lower unit
costs are key determinants of the competitiveness of British firms in global markets.
(3) Higher profits: Efficiency gains are a source of larger profits for companies which might be
re-invested to support the long term growth of the business.
(4) Higher wages: Businesses are better able to afford higher wages when their labour force is
more efficient.
(5) Economic growth: If the British economy can raise the rate of growth of productivity then
the trend growth of national output can pick up.

The productivity gap

The level of GDP per worker and GDP per hour worked in the UK is well below that of the United
States, France and Germany. This is known as the productivity gap. Some progress has been
made in closing the gap but there is still much work to do. Despite these recent improvements,
research from the London School of Economics has found that output per hour worked in the UK is
still about 13% lower than Germany‘s, 18% below the US level and 20% below France.

No one factor on its own is sufficient to explain the differences in efficiency.

(1) Relatively low rates of capital investment – i.e. the failure of the economy to invest and
thereby to raise the stock of physical capital available to the workforce
(2) Low rates of spending on research and development – The UK now devotes much less
of GDP to research spending than other nations and this impacts on the pace of innovation
and the speed with which new technology is incorporated into production
(3) Skills of the labour force – there are long-standing concerns about the educational skills
of the UK labour force including basic literacy and the quality of job specific training. Britain
has one of the highest rates of functional illiteracy among adults, together with fewer
workers with higher skills (at degree level or above) compared to the United States and
fewer workers with intermediate and vocational skills compared to Germany and Japan.
(4) Over-regulation of industry and commerce and a lack of competition – the 1999
McKinsey Report highlighted a lack of competitive pressures in some industries (notably
retailing) as a source of inefficiency and low productivity growth.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 130 -

Skills gap and low profits contribute to poor productivity

A recent study from the Engineering Employers Federation finds that fewer firms in Britain take on
apprentices, investment projects are often ditched by managers and skilled workers are in short
supply. The EEF argues that UK firms need to invest in capital equipment and skills and
innovation, as well as making the best of modern working practices such as lean manufacturing
and high performance working. Part of the problem for manufacturers has been a lack of profits to
invest.

Adapted from research published by the Engineering Employers Federation www.eef.org.uk

‗Productivity in Britain continues to lag behind that of our main European competitors. One
important reason is the large number of workers in Britain who have low skills and, consequently,
low productivity and low pay. Many young people still fail to acquire any adequate level of skill.
Young people with low skills on the UK labour market are faced with restricted employment
opportunities, and the prospect of a poor quality job.‘

Adapted from research published by House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee, July 2007

Report into low UK productivity by economists at the London School of Economics

The persistent productivity gap between the UK and the two big continental European economies
can mainly be 'explained' by the fact that they have more capital invested per worker and their
workers are more skilled. Productivity growth is highest in industries with greater product market
competition - where less productive firms contract and close while new more productive ones open
and grow; and where competitive pressures force existing firms to improve.

If the UK could reach French productivity levels, we could award ourselves 20% higher wages or
take a day off and still earn the same. Or we could spend the extra resources on schools and
hospitals, greater benefits for the needy or lower taxes.

Capital investment plays an important role in productivity growth. But the UK has less physical
capital per worker than the United States and considerably less than France and Germany. Many
explanations have been offered for these shortfalls, including macroeconomic instability and
business uncertainty.

Those industries with the most up-to-date capital machinery, together with advanced
managerial skills and highly qualified and well-trained workforces tend to achieve much
higher levels of productivity. The availability of large-scale green-field, full-integrated
production plants and good industrial relations are also at the heart of achieving year on year
improvements in output per person employed.

The strength of demand also affects productivity. When demand is high and production plants
are running close to full capacity, then output per worker employed is likely to be rising because
factor resources including labour and capital are being used to their full extent. In contrast, during a
recession or a slowdown in demand, the utilisation of labour and capital falls. Productivity growth
often slows down in a recession.

Suggestions for further reading on productivity

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 131 -

Britain clocks up a dismal record on productivity (David Smith, Economics UK, 2004)
Britain narrows productivity gap (Guardian, June 2007)
Closing the UK's productivity gap (Management Issues, July 2006)
Our ill-trained youth will kick Britain out of the economic elite (Liam Halligan, Telegraph, July 2007)
The Office for National Statistics Guide to Productivity
UK productivity during the Blair era (LSE, June 2007)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 132 -

Economic Efficiency

Efficiency is really about a society making the best or optimal use of our scarce resources to satisfy
most wants & needs.

Confusingly, there are several meanings of the term economic efficiency but they generally relate
to how well a market allocates our scarce resources to satisfy consumers. Normally the market
mechanism is good at allocating these inputs, but there are occasions when the market can fail.
We will return to this when we study market failure in more detail.

Allocative efficiency

Allocative efficiency is concerned with whether the resources we have available are actually used
to produce the goods and services that we want and which we place the greatest value on.
Allocative efficiency is reached when no one can be made better off without making someone else
worse off. Have a look at the next diagram.

Costs
Supply
Revenues

Consumer
Surplus (CS)
P2

P1

Producer
Surplus (PS)

Consumer Demand
Surplus (CS)

Producer
Surplus (PS)

Q2 Q1 Output (Q)

Allocative efficiency occurs when the value that consumers place on a good or service (reflected
in the price they are willing and able to pay) equals the cost of the resources used up in production.
The condition required for allocative efficiency is that price = marginal cost.

In the diagram above, the market is in equilibrium at price P1 and output Q1. At this point, the total
area of consumer and producer surplus is maximised. If for example, suppliers were able to restrict
output to Q2 and hike the market price up to P2, sellers would gain extra producer surplus by
widening their profit margins, but there also would be an even greater loss of consumer surplus.
Thus P2 is not an allocative efficient allocation of resources for this market whereas P1, the market
equilibrium price is deemed to be allocative efficient.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 133 -

We will see when we study the economics of monopoly that when businesses have plenty of
‗pricing power‘ in their own markets, they may opt to increase their profit margins to squeeze some
extra profit from consumers (they are turning consumer surplus into producer surplus). This has an
effect on allocative efficiency for if a monopoly supplier can select a price well above the costs of
supply, consumers will suffer a reduction in their welfare. Have you ever felt ripped off buying
sandwiches from a motorway service station? The producer has become better off but someone
else (aka the consumer) has become worse off.

Using the production possibility frontier to show allocative efficiency

Pareto defined allocative efficiency as a position “where no one could be made better off without
making someone else at least as worth off.”

This can be illustrated using a production possibility frontier – all points that lie on the PPF are
allocatively efficient because we cannot produce more of one product without affecting the amount
of all other products available. In the diagram below, the combination of output shown by Point A is
allocatively efficient as is the combination shown at point B – but at the output combination X we
can increase production of both goods by making fuller use of existing resources or increasing
efficiency.

Output of
Capital Goods

B
C2

A
C1
X

X2 X1 Output of Consumer Goods

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 134 -

Innovation as a source of dynamic efficiency

Dynamic efficiency is improved when businesses bring to the market goods and services that are
innovative and high quality and which offer consumers greater choice.

If every market in the economy is a competitive free market, the resulting equilibrium throughout
the economy will be Pareto-efficient.

Productive Efficiency

Productive efficiency refers to a firm's costs of production. It is achieved when the output is
produced at minimum average total cost (ATC) i.e. when a firm is exploiting the available
economies of scale. Productive efficiency also exists when producers minimise the wastage of
resources in their production processes.

Dynamic Efficiency

Dynamic efficiency occurs over time and it focuses on changes in the amount of consumer choice
available in markets together with the quality of goods and services available.

Social Efficiency

The socially efficient level of output and or consumption occurs when marginal social benefit =
marginal social cost. At this point we maximise social welfare. The existence of negative and
positive externalities means that the private optimum level of consumption or production often
differs from the social optimum leading to some form of market failure and a loss of social welfare.

In the diagram below the socially optimum level of output occurs where the social cost of
production (i.e. the private cost of the producer plus the external costs arising from externality
effects) equals demand (a reflection of private benefit from consumption.

A private producer who opts to ignore the negative production externalities might choose to
maximise their own profits at point A. This divergence between private and social costs of
production can lead to market failure.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 135 -

Marginal Social Cost

Costs
Private Marginal
Revenues Cost (Supply)

P2
External Cost
P1

Demand = Private
Marginal Benefit =
Social Marginal Benefit

Q2 Q1 Output (Q)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 136 -

Introduction to Causes of Market Failure

Public and Merit Immobility of Lack of

Goods (Missing Factors of competition
Markets) Production

Root causes of market failure

Poverty and Information Externalities in

Inequality in an Failure production &
economy consumption

Market failure occurs whenever markets fail to deliver an efficient allocation of resources and
the result is a loss of welfare. Market failure exists when the competitive outcome of markets is not
satisfactory from the point of view of society.

Complete and partial market failure

One useful distinction is between complete market failure when the market simply does not
supply products at all (i.e. we see ―missing markets‖), and partial market failure, when the market
does actually function but it produces either the wrong quantity of a product or at the wrong price.

Markets can fail for lots of reasons and the main causes of market failure are summarized below:
(1) Negative externalities (e.g. the effects of environmental pollution) causing the social cost
of production to exceed the private cost
(2) Positive externalities (e.g. the provision of education and health care) causing the social
benefit of consumption to exceed the private benefit
(3) Imperfect information means merit goods are under-produced while demerit goods are
over-produced or over-consumed
(4) The private sector in a free-markets cannot profitably supply to consumers pure public
goods and quasi-public goods that are needed to meet people‘s needs and wants
(5) Market dominance by monopolies can lead to under-production and higher prices than
would exist under conditions of competition
(6) Factor immobility causes unemployment hence productive inefficiency
(7) Equity (fairness) issues. Markets can generate an ‗unacceptable‘ distribution of income
and consequent social exclusion which the government may choose to change

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 137 -

Competition and Monopoly in Markets

A market structure describes the characteristics of a market which can affect the behaviour of
businesses and also influence the outcome in terms of efficiency and the welfare of consumers.
Some of the main aspects of market structure are listed below:
The number of firms in the market and extent of overseas competition.
The market share of the largest firms.
The nature of production costs in the short and long run e.g. the ability of businesses to
exploit economies of scale.
The extent of product differentiation i.e. to what extent do the businesses try to make
their products different from those of competing firms?
The price and cross price elasticity of demand for different products.
The number and the power of buyers of the industry‘s main products.
The turnover of customers - this is a measure of the number of consumers who switch
suppliers each year and it is affected by the strength of brand loyalty and the effects of
marketing. For example, have you changed your bank account or your mobile phone
service provider in the last year? What might stop you doing this?

The market for gas and electricity supplies – an oligopoly

The market for gas supply in the UK was privatised in 1986 with the market for electricity
generation and distribution also transferred to the private sector of the economy a few years later.
Since then there have been changes in the market share of the leading electricity distribution
companies and domestic gas suppliers with the former state monopolies losing much of their
dominance over this time. There are 26 million domestic electricity and 21.5 million domestic gas
customers in Great Britain, supplied mainly by six suppliers.

Supplier Market Shares in Electricity Market Shares in Gas

Dec 2002 March 2007 Dec 2002 March 2007
British Gas 22 21 63 46
PowerGen 22 19 12 13
SSE 13 18 6 13
Npower 16 16 9 12
Scottish Power 10 12 5 9
EDF Energy 15 14 5 7
Source: OFGEM

The UK energy market is split into three elements.

1. Suppliers –who sell electricity and gas to commercial, industrial and household
consumers.
2. Distributors - responsible for getting energy to users e.g. by building and maintaining the
infrastructure of pipes and cables in the road and in installing meters.
3. Generators - responsible for generating the energy used in homes, offices and factories.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 138 -

The retail market for energy is competitive because all customers are now able to change their
gas or electricity supplier. In actual fact many people do not switch their suppliers even when they
might be able to make savings on their bills. One reason is that people do not find it easy to get
accurate information about what the differences are between these competing suppliers.

The industry regulator OFGEM believes that the opening up of the market to competition has
worked well over the last fifteen years.

The gas and electricity supply industry is an oligopoly since the lion‘s share of the market is taken
by the six leading businesses. But the market is competitive because consumers have a real
choice about who will sell them their energy. The market share of new entrants into the industry
since privatisation is now above 40 per cent for both gas and electricity.

The UK food retail sector is an oligopoly – shown by these market share figures for June 2008.

Market Share Cumulative market share

(%) (%)
Tesco 31.2 31.2
Asda (Wal-Mart) 16.8 48.0
Sainsburys 15.9 63.9
Morrisons (Safeways) 11.4 75.3
Co-operative (Somerfield) 8.1 83.4
Waitrose 3.9 87.3
Aldi 2.9 90.2
Lidl 2.3 92.5
Iceland 1.7 94.2

What is a monopoly?

There are several meanings of the term monopoly:

1. A pure monopolist in an industry is a single seller. It is quite rare for a firm to have a pure
monopoly – except when the industry is state-owned and has a legally protected monopoly.
The Royal Mail used to have a statutory monopoly on delivering household mail. But this
is now changing fast as the industry has been opened up to fresh competition.
2. A working monopoly: A working monopoly is any firm with greater than 25% of the
industries' total sales. In practice, there are many markets where businesses enjoy some
degree of monopoly power even if they do not have a twenty-five per cent market share.
3. An oligopolistic industry is characterised by the existence of a few dominant firms, each
has market power and which seeks to protect and improves its position over time.
4. In a duopoly, the majority of sales are taken by two dominant firms. A good example of
this is the market for razors in the UK – one dominated by Gillette and also is Schick (the
manufacturers of the Wilkinson Sword brand). Gillette has approximately 70% of the global
shaving market.

How monopolies can develop

Monopoly power can come from the successful organic (internal) growth of a business or
through mergers and acquisitions (also known as the integration of firms).

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 139 -

Horizontal Integration

This is where two firms join at the same stage of production in one industry. For example two car
manufacturers may decide to merge, or a leading bank successfully takes-over another bank. A
good recent example in the UK is the merger between the Co-Op and Somerfield to create the 5th
biggest food retailer. Another example came in July 2004 with the merger between Travel Inn and
Premier Lodges to form Premier Travel Inn. In August 2005, German sports goods firm Adidas
announced an agreement to buy US rival Reebok for £2.1bn.

Vertical Integration

This is where a firm integrates with different stages of production e.g. by buying its suppliers or
controlling the main retail outlets. A good example is the oil industry where many of the leading
companies are explorers, producers and refiners of crude oil and have their own retail networks for
the sale of petrol and diesel and other products.

Forward vertical integration occurs when a business merges with another business
further forward in the supply chain
Backward vertical integration occurs when a firm merges with another business at a
previous stage of the supply chain

The Internal Expansion of a Business

Firms can generate higher sales and increased market share and exploiting possible economies
of scale. This is internal rather than external growth and therefore tends to be a slower means of
expansion contrasted to mergers and acquisitions.

Barriers to Entry

Barriers to entry are the means by which potential competitors are blocked. Monopolies can then
enjoy higher profits in the long run. There are several different types of entry barrier – these are
summarised below:

 Patents: Patents are legal property rights to prevent the entry of rivals. They are
generally valid for 17-20 years and give the owner an exclusive right to prevent others from
using patented products, inventions, or processes. The owners of patents can sell licences
to other businesses to produce versions of their patented product – this can often prove to
be lucrative.
 Advertising and marketing: Developing consumer loyalty by establishing branded
products can make successful entry into the market by new firms much more expensive
and less successful. Advertising can also cause an outward shift of the demand curve and
also make demand less sensitive to price
 Brand proliferation: In many industries multi-product firms engaging in brand
proliferation can give a false appearance of competition. This is common in markets such
as detergents, confectionery and household goods – it is non-price competition.

Monopoly, market failure and government intervention

Should the government intervene to break up or control the monopoly power of firms in market?

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 140 -

The main case against a monopoly is that it can earn higher profits at the expense of allocative
efficiency. The monopolist will seek to extract a price from consumers that is above the cost of
resources used in making the product. And higher prices mean that consumers‘ needs and wants
are not being satisfied, as the product is being under-consumed. Under conditions of monopoly,
consumer sovereignty has been partially replaced by producer sovereignty.

Relatively Inelastic Demand Relatively Elastic Demand

Price Price

Higher
profit
P2
margin
Lower profit
margin

P2 AC

P1
AC
Demand
P1

Demand

Q2 Q1 Q2 Q1

In the diagrams above we contrast a market where demand is price inelastic (i.e. Ped <1) with one
where demand is more sensitive to price changes (i.e. Ped>1). The former is associated with a
monopoly where consumers have few close substitutes to choose from. When demand is inelastic,
the level of consumer surplus is high, raising the possibility that the monopolist can reduce output
and raise price above cost thereby operating with a higher profit margin (measured as the
difference between price and average cost per unit).

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 141 -

Price Supply

Consumer
Surplus (CS)
P2

P1

Producer
Surplus
(PS)

Demand
Loss of economic
welfare from price P2
raised above the
market equilibrium
price

Q2 Q1 Output (Q)

If a monopoly reduces output from the equilibrium at Q1 to Q2 then it can sell this at a price P2.
This results in a transfer of consumer surplus into extra producer surplus. But because price
is now about the cost of supplying extra units, there is a loss of allocative efficiency. This is
shown in the diagram by the shaded area which is not transferred to the producer, merely lost
completely because output is lower than it would otherwise be in a competitive market.

Higher costs – loss of productive efficiency:

Another possible cost of monopoly power is that businesses may allow the lack of real competition
to cause a rise in production costs and a loss of productive efficiency. When competition is
tough, businesses must keep firm control of their costs because otherwise, they risk losing market
share. Some economists go further and say that monopolists may be even less efficient because,
if they believe that they have a protected market, they may be less inclined to spend money on
research and improved management. These inefficiencies can lead to a waste of scarce
resources.

Potential Benefits of Monopoly

The possible economic benefits of monopoly power suggest that the government and the
competition authorities should be careful about intervening directly in markets and try to break up a
monopoly.
Market power can bring advantages both to the firms themselves and also to consumers and these
should be included in any evaluation of a particular market or industry.

1. Research and Development Spending: Huge corporations enjoying big profits are well
placed to fund capital investment and research and development projects. The positive
spill-over effects of research can be seen in more innovation. This is particularly the case
in industries such as telecommunications and pharmaceuticals. This can lead to gains in
dynamic efficiency and social benefits.
2. Exploitation of Economies of Scale: Because monopoly producers often supply on a
large scale, they may achieve economies of scale – leading to a fall in average costs.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 142 -

3. Monopolies and International Competitiveness: The British economy needs

multinational companies operating on a scale large enough to compete in global markets. A
firm may enjoy domestic monopoly power, but still face competition in overseas markets.

Government intervention in markets – an introduction to UK competition policy

Competition policy involves the regulation of markets to protect and improve consumer welfare:

The Competition Commission – its main concern is to investigate mergers and

takeovers to examine if these mergers will have a negative effect on competition. It also
engages in in-depth investigations of markets where there are competition worries. A
good example was the recent report into the UK supermarket industry.
The Office of Fair Trading reports on allegations of anti-competitive practices including
claims of collusive ―price-fixing‖ behaviour.
The European Competition Authority examines anti-competitive behaviour, mergers
and takeovers between European businesses and investigates state aid to struggling
businesses to make sure that subsidies do not reduce or distort competition.
Utility regulators monitor the industries that were privatised during the 1980s and
1990s. The regulators have used the power to introduce and review price capping and
they have also have sought to bring fresh competition into markets. Competition was
introduced into the telecommunications in 1984; in Gas from 1996-98 and in Electricity
from 1998.

Another key role for the regulators is to monitor the quality of service provision and improve
standards for consumers. Examples include the following:

OFGEM: www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem/index.jsp
OFWAT: www.ofwat.gov.uk/
OFCOM: www.ofcom.org.uk/

Many markets have firms with monopoly power but they seem to work perfectly well from the point
of view of the consumer. Although there is a consensus among many economists that competition
is a force for good in the long-run, we should be careful not simply to assume that monopoly power
is bad and competition is good. There are persuasive arguments on both sides.

In recent years many markets have become more competitive with the entry of new suppliers and
much greater choice for consumers. Many factors have contributed to this including:
1. Technological change
2. Globalisation – low-cost competition from emerging market economies
3. Deliberate government policies to open up markets and give new businesses the right to
compete e.g. in the markets for postal services, car retailing and telecommunications – this
is called deregulation or liberalisation.
Suggestions for further reading on competition and monopoly
There are many examples that you can follow in this area – this selection of web links provides a
window on some of them and is categorized into a number of areas linked to topics in this chapter:
Barriers to entry in markets
Barriers to entry – Playboy and the Bunnies (BBC news, October 2006)
Murdoch versus the Evening Standard – competition in free newspapers (BBC, September 2006)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 143 -

The chewing gum war (BBC Money Programme, May 2007)

China‘s big investment in Peru (BBC news, June 2008)

Price fixing – collusive behaviour

BA fined for price fixing (BBC news, July 2007)
Dutch brewers fined over cartel (BBC news, April 2007)
EU fines Microsoft record $1.4bn (BBC news, February 2008)
Europe burns rubber cartel with £350m fine (Guardian, November 2006)
Rubber firms fined over condoms (BBC news, December 2007)
Law broken on pricing by tobacco firms (Guardian, April 2008)

Monopoly and consumer welfare

Airlines fined $504m in US air-cargo price fixing probe (BBC news, June 2008)
Economics of hotel mini bars (Tim Harford, Slate, February 2007)
Gaviscon maker cheated the NHS (Newsnight, March 2008)
Have supermarkets become too powerful? (Independent, September 2007)
MEP demands city parking inquiry (BBC news, August 2007)
Open skies deal comes into effect (BBC news, March 2008)
Plane weird – the aircraft duopoly (Guardian, July 2007)
Power companies are ripping off consumers (Times, May 2008)
Product sabotage helps consumers (BBC online, Tim Harford, August 2007)
Transatlantic Price War (Money Programme, February 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 144 -

Negative Externalities

Externalities are common everywhere in everyday life but will the market – left to its own devices -
take these externalities into account? If not, then market failure can occur and there is a
justification for some form of government intervention.

Externalities are third party effects arising from production and consumption of goods and
services for which no appropriate compensation is paid.

Many types of activity give rise to externalities. And these externalities can be positive and
negative.

A really important point to emphasise is that externalities occur outside of the market i.e. they
affect people not directly involved in the production and/or consumption of a good or service. They
are also known as spill-over effects.

Externalities and the importance of property rights

Who owns the air we breathe? Who has ownership of the air waves that carry radio signals or
wireless networks that allow us to surf the internet? When we study the issue of externalities it
doesn‘t take long before we must consider the question of property rights.

Property rights confer legal control or ownership of a good. For markets to operate efficiently,
property rights must be clearly defined and protected – perhaps through government legislation
and regulation. Put another way, if an asset is un-owned, no one has an economic incentive to
protect it from abuse. The right to own property is an essential building block of a market-based
system and in China in March 2007, the communist government passed a law that protects the
property rights of private sector businesses, undoubtedly a landmark day for the Chinese
economy!

Failure to protect property rights may lead to what is known as the Tragedy of the Commons -
examples include the over use of common land and the long-term decline of fish stocks caused by
over-fishing which leads to long term permanent damage to the stock of natural resources.

Negative externalities occur when production and/or consumption impose external costs on third
parties outside of the market for which no appropriate compensation is paid.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 145 -

Smokers ignore the harmful impact of toxic ‗passive smoking‘ on non-smokers

Air pollution from road use and traffic congestion and the impact of road fumes on lungs
External costs of scraping the seabed for supplies of gravel
The external cost of food waste
The external costs of cleaning up from litter and the dropping of chewing gum
The external costs of the miles that food travels from producer to the final consumer
The externalities linked to the oil sands project in the Canadian wilderness

Private Costs and Social Costs

The existence of externalities creates a divergence between private and social costs of
production and the private and social benefits of consumption.

Social Cost = Private Cost + External Cost

Social Benefit = Private Benefit + External Benefit

When negative production externalities exist, social costs exceed private cost. This leads to an
over-production of the product if producers do not take into account the externalities.

External costs from production

Production externalities are generated and received in supplying goods and services - examples
include noise and atmospheric pollution from factories.

External costs from consumption

Consumption externalities are generated and

received in consumption - examples include
pollution from driving cars and motorbikes and
externalities created by smoking and alcohol
abuse and also the noise pollution created by
loud music being played in built-up areas.

Negative consumption externalities lead to a

situation where the social benefit of
consumption is less than the private benefit.

The External Costs of Drug Dependency

The latest estimate is that there are more than 327,000 problematic drug users in England. Heroin
and crack cocaine addicts are costing the country up to £19 billion a year, according to a study
from experts at York University. A hard core of problem drug abusers is running up a bill of £600 a
week each in crime, police and court time, health care and unemployment benefits. Last year, the
NHS spent about £235 million on GP services, accident and emergency admissions and treatment
linked to drug abuse.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 146 -

When social costs are added, the bill rises to between £10.9 billion and £18.8 billion. There are at
least 1.5 million recreational and regular users of Class A drugs. The average cost to society of all
Class A drug users is £2,030 each a year, says the study.

Externalities from Alcohol Use and Misuse

For most adults drinking alcohol is part of a pleasurable social experience, which causes no harm
to themselves or others. For some people though, alcohol misuse is causing serious damage to
themselves, their family and friends and to the community as a whole. Britons are paying the
penalty for the soaring rate of alcohol consumption. Ten million adults in England regularly
consume more than the government guidelines and the cost to the NHS of alcohol misuse is put at
£2.7 billion a year. Deaths from liver cirrhosis are rising faster in Britain than anywhere else in
Europe. The rise has been especially sharp in men and women aged fewer than 45, where death
rates now exceed the European average.

Sources: Adapted from government reports and newspaper reports, July 2008

Illustrating the market failure from negative externalities

Social Marginal Cost

Costs
Revenues Private Marginal Cost
(Supply)

P2
Negative externalities cause the social cost
P1 curve to lie above the private cost curve

Demand = Private Marginal

Benefit = Social Marginal
Benefit

External
Cost
We assume in this example that there are
no externalities arising from consumption

Q2 Q1 Output (Q)

The diagram above shows the effects of negative externalities arising from production on the
private and social costs and benefits to producers and consumers. The key is to understand the
difference between private and social costs.

In the absence of externalities, the private marginal costs of the supplier are the same as the
costs for society. But if there are negative externalities, we must add the external costs to the
firm‘s supply curve to find the social marginal cost curve.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 147 -

If the market fails to include these external costs, then the private equilibrium output will be Q1 and
the price P1 where private marginal cost = private marginal benefit.

From a social welfare viewpoint, we want less output from activities that create an ―economic-bad‖
such as pollution and other types of environmental damage. A socially-efficient output would be
Q2 with a higher price P2. At this price level, the external costs have been taken into account. We
have not eliminated the pollution (we cannot do this) – but at least the market has recognised them
and priced them into the price of the product.

Negative externalities and government intervention

To many economists interested in environmental problems the key is to internalise some or all of
the external costs and benefits to ensure that the businesses and consumers who create the
externalities include them when making decisions.

Pollution Taxes

One common approach to adjust for externalities is to tax those who create negative externalities.
This is sometimes known as “making the polluter pay”. Introducing a tax increases the private
cost of consumption or production and ought to reduce demand and output for the good that is
creating the externality. According to the Department of the Environment, ―Taxes send a signal to
polluters that our environment is valuable and is worth protecting.‖

Some economists argue that the revenue from pollution taxes should be ‗ring-fenced‟ and
allocated to projects that protect or enhance our environment. For example, the money raised from
a congestion charge on vehicles entering busy urban roads, might be allocated towards
improving mass transport services; or the revenue from higher taxes on cigarettes might be used
to fund better health care programmes.

Examples of Environmental Taxes

1. The Landfill Tax - this tax aims to encourage producers to produce less waste and to
recover more value from waste, for example through recycling or composting and to use
environmentally friendly methods of waste disposal.
2. The Congestion Charge: -this is a high profile environmental charge introduced in
February 2003. It is designed to cut traffic congestion in inner-London by charging motorists
£8 per day to enter the central charging zone.
3. Plastic Bag Tax: In Ireland a pioneering new 15 cent levy on plastic shopping bags was
launched in 2002. Belgium introduced a similar tax in June 2007. Proceeds from the tax go
to the Environment Fund and are used to fund various waste management and other
environmental initiatives. The tax rose to 22 cents per bag in July 2007.
4. Vehicle excise duty (VED): Also known as ‗road tax‘ – VED starts from a theoretical 'nil'
rate and accelerating up depending on the carbon emissions of the vehicle

Report calls for a tax on waste disposal

Britain is the dustbin of Europe. Every year over four billion cartons made of layers of cardboard,
plastic and metal foil are produced for use in the UK but less than ten per cent are recycled. The
vast majority of these cartons end up in landfill sites as part of a 300 million ton rubbish mountain.
A report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) argues for a new tax on these cartons
as a way of improving incentives for manufacturers to create less waste and cut the tonnage of
waste finding its way into landfill sites. Only two per cent of disposable batteries are recycled – the

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 148 -

rest end up in landfill sites. The report recommends that a new tax would be the right approach to
the external costs created by the waste from throw-away cameras, disposable razors and non-
rechargeable batteries. The IPPR claims that similar taxes introduced in Sweden, Denmark and
Belgium have all reduced consumption of disposable products. In 1996 Belgium introduced a £5 on
disposable cameras that were not recycled or reused - as a result, 80 per cent of all disposable
cameras are now recycled or reused.

Problems with Environmental Taxes

Would a tax on aviation fuel be an effective
and appropriate way to reduce carbon
Many economists argue that pollution taxes can emissions from the airline industry?
create problems which lead to government
failure. The main problems are as follows:

1. Assigning the right level of taxation:

There are problems in setting tax so that
private cost will exactly equate with the
social cost. The government cannot
accurately put a monetary value on
externalities such as the cost to natural
habitat, the long-term effects if resource
depletion and the value of human life.
2. Consumer welfare effects: Taxes
reduce output and raise prices, and this might have an adverse effect on consumer
welfare. Producers may pass on the tax to the consumers if the demand for the good is
inelastic and, as result, the tax may only have a small effect in reducing demand. Taxes on
some de-merit goods (for example cigarettes) may have a regressive effect on lower-
income consumers and leader to a widening of inequalities in the distribution of income.
3. Employment and investment consequences: If pollution taxes are raised in one country,
producers may shift to countries with lower taxes. This will not reduce global pollution, and
may create problems such as structural unemployment and a loss of international
competitiveness.

Externalities and Regulation

Instead of trying to change market prices and therefore affect the behaviour of consumers and
producers, the government may choose to intervene directly in a market through the use of
regulations and laws.

For example, the Health and Safety at Work Act covers all public and private sector businesses.
Local Councils can take action against noisy, unruly neighbours and can pass by-laws preventing
the public consumption of alcohol. Cigarette smoking can be banned in public places – such as the
ban on smoking in workplaces and bars and restaurants introduced in Ireland in 2004. The British
government introduced a ban on smoking in public places from 1 July 2007.

The European Union has introduced directives on how consumer durables such as cars, batteries,
fridges freezers and other products should be disposed of. The onus is now on producers to
provide facilities for consumers to bring back their unwanted products.

Carbon Emissions Trading

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 149 -

Some countries have moved toward market-based incentives to achieve pollution reduction. This
new approach involves the creation of a limited volume of pollution rights, distributed among
firms that pollute, and allows them to be traded in a secondary market. The intent is to encourage
lowest-cost pollution reduction measures to be utilized, in exchange for revenues from selling
surplus pollution rights. Companies that are efficient at cutting pollution will have spare permits that
they can then sell to other businesses. As long as the total bank (or stock) of permits is reduced
year by year by the government or an agency, cuts in total pollution can be achieved most
efficiently.

Quite simply, limiting emissions makes polluting a scarce resource, and scarcity brings economic
value. Emissions‘ trading is a central feature of the Kyoto Protocol and the European Carbon
Emissions Trading Scheme started in full in January 2005.

In short, carbon trading is designed to reduce the cost of achieving cuts in greenhouse gas
emissions and secondly to extend property rights as a means of meeting environmental objectives.

Subsidising positive externalities

An alternative to taxing activities that create negative externalities is to subsidise activities that lead
to positive externalities. This reduces the costs of production for suppliers and encourages a higher
output. For example the Government may subsidise state health care; public transport or
investment in new technology for schools and colleges to help spread knowledge and
understanding. There is also a case for subsidies to encourage higher levels of training as a
means to raise labour productivity and improve our international competitiveness.

Suggestions for further reading on negative externalities

Recent articles on external costs

Britain's seaside rubbish woes (BBC news, April 2008)
China 'now top carbon polluter' (BBC news, April 2008)
Cost of crime '£275 per person' (BBC news, July 2008)
Life in Peru‘s most polluted town (BBC news, November 2007)
Pneumonia 'linked' to pollution (BBC news, April 2008)
Pollution 'alters brain function' (BBC news, March 2008)
Pollution 'ups blood clot risk' (BBC news, May 2008)
Warning on plastic's toxic threat (BBC news, March 2008)

Examples of government intervention and externalities

At-a-glance: The Stern Review (BBC news, October 2006)

Bin charges 'to boost recycling' (BBC news, May 2007)
California passes emissions law (BBC news, September 2006)
Carbon market's value hits $64bn (BBC news, May 2008)
Carbon trade scheme 'is failing' (BBC Radio 4 File on 4, June 2007)
Clean Development Mechanism is working (BBC news, May 2008)
Do smoke and drink tax rises work? (BBC news, March 2008)
Gag guzzlers to face £950 tax (BBC news, March 2008)
Hit the young with alco-pop tax – minister (Guardian, October 2006)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 150 -

MPs back personal carbon credits (BBC news, May 2008)

Paying for environmental damage (BBC news, June 2007)
Petrol taxes - Pigou or NoPigou? (Economist, November 2006)
Scrutinising climate economics (BBC, January 2007)
Taxing time to stabilise the climate (BBC news, June 2008)
UK‘s first emissions zone begins (BBC news, February 2008)
US city to start charging polluting firms (BBC news, May 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 151 -

Positive Externalities

There are many occasions when the production and/or consumption of a good or a service creates
external benefits which boost social welfare.

Examples of positive externalities

External benefits from development of renewable energy sources such as wind power
External benefits from other new production technologies
External benefits from vaccination / immunisation programmes
Social benefits from providing milk to young schoolchildren
Social benefits from the maintenance of a post-office network

Positive externalities and market failure

Where positive externalities exist, the good or service may be under consumed or under
provided since the free market may fail to value them correctly or take them into account when
pricing the product. In the diagram above, the normal market equilibrium is at P1 and Q1 – but if
there are external benefits, the Q1 is an output below the level that maximises social welfare.

Costs With positive externalities, the social

Benefits benefit of consumption is greater than
the private benefit. To maximise
A welfare we need to encourage
increased provision and consumption

Supply = Private
Marginal Cost

External Benefit

Demand + External
Benefits = Social
Private Marginal Benefit
Demand
Qp Qs Quantity of the Good

There is a case for some form of government intervention in the market designed to increase
consumption towards output level Q2 so as to increase economic welfare.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 152 -

The economics of vaccination

What good is a vaccination? Obviously there are benefits for the person receiving the vaccine, they
are less susceptible to disease and children in particular are more likely to attend school and earn
more income over their lifetime. A study from the World Bank finds that comprehensive vaccination
programmes have a positive effect on savings and wealth and encourage families to have fewer
children which lead to less demographic pressures on scarce resources. More subtly, it can be
good for an entire population since, if enough of its members are vaccinated, even those who are
not will receive a measure of protection. That is because, with only a few susceptible individuals,
the transmission of the infection cannot be maintained and the disease spread.

The dispassionate economic case for vaccination, therefore, looks at least as strong as the
compassionate medical one. Spending on vaccination programmes appears to be a sound social
investment for the future.
Source: Adapted from the Economist, October 2005

Suggestions for further reading on positive externalities

These articles have been selected for being relevant to the concepts of positive externalities and
the associated social benefits. When reading through them try to identify some of the external
benefits and how they might be measured and valued. It is worth remembering that in nearly all
cases we have to make a judgement on both benefits and costs to evaluate whether social welfare
will improve as a result.

Brussels offers NHS patients Europe-wide treatment (The Times, July 2008)
Cross-Rail splits fans and foes (BBC news, October 2007)
Economy needs trains not planes (BBC news, June 2008)
EU urged to cut 'green' goods tax (BBC news, March 2008)
Lakes restoration plan for Broads (BBC news, July 2008)
No jab no school says Labour MP (BBC news, May 2008)
Pupils to get free toothbrushes (BBC news, March 2008)
Super bug vaccines 'within decade' (BBC news, July 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 153 -

Public Goods and Private Goods

Public goods provide an example of market failure resulting from missing markets. To understand
this, it is helpful first to discuss what is meant by a private good or service.

Private Goods

A private good or service has three main characteristics:

1. Excludability: A ticket to the theatre or a meal in a restaurant or pay-per-view sporting
events are private goods are both examples of private goods because buyers can be
excluded from enjoying the product if they are not willing and able to pay for it. Excludability
gives the service provider (the seller) the chance to make a profit. When goods are
excludable, the owners can exercise property rights.
2. Rivalry: If you order and then enjoy a pizza from Pizza Hut, that pizza is no longer
available to someone else. Likewise driving your car on a road uses up road space that is
no longer available at that time to another motorist. With a private good, one person's
consumption of a product reduces the amount left for others to consume and benefit from -
because scarce resources are used up in producing and supplying the good or service.
3. Rejectable: If you don't like the soup on the school menu, you can use your money to buy
something else! You can choose not to travel on Virgin Rail on a journey to the North West
and go instead by coach, or you can choose not to buy a season ticket for your local soccer
club and instead use the money to finance a subscription to a local fitness club. All private
goods and services can be rejected by the final consumer if their tastes and preferences
of if their budget changes.

Private and Public Goods – a question of exclusion

Le Shuttle is a private good – the service is excludable, rival in consumption and rejectable. But
not all providers of public goods make a profit.

Characteristics of Public Goods

As one might expect, the characteristics of pure public goods are the opposite of private goods:

1. Non-excludability: The benefits derived from pure public goods cannot be confined solely
to those who have paid for it. Indeed non-payers can enjoy the benefits of consumption at

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 154 -

no financial cost – economists call this the „free-rider‟ problem - and it means that people
have a temptation to consume without paying!
2. Non-rival consumption: Consumption of a public good by one person does not reduce the
availability of a good to everyone else – the marginal cost of supplying a public good to an
extra person is basically zero.

Examples of Public Goods

There are relatively few examples of pure public goods. Examples include flood control systems,
some of the broadcasting services provided by the BBC, public water supplies, street lighting
for roads and motorways, lighthouse protection for ships and also national defence services.

Policing – a public good?

Is policing an example of a public good? The general protection that the police services provide in
deterring crime and investigating criminal acts serves as a public good. But resources used up in
providing policing means that fewer resources are available elsewhere. Private protection services
such as private security guards, privately bought security systems and detectives are private goods
because the service is excludable and rival in consumption and people and businesses are often
prepared to pay a high price.

Public goods and market failure

Pure public goods are not normally provided at all by the private sector because they would be
unable to supply them for a profit. Thus the free market may fail totally to provide public goods and
under-provide quasi public goods (see below).

It is up to the Government to decide what output of public goods is appropriate for society. To do
this, it must estimate the social benefits from making public goods available. Putting a monetary
value on the benefit derived from street lighting and defence systems is problematic partly because
elections are rarely won and lost purely on the grounds of government spending plans and the
turnout at elections continues to fall.

Quasi-Public Goods

A quasi-public good is a near-public good i.e. it has

many but not all the characteristics of a public good.
Quasi public goods are:
1. Semi-non-rival: up to a point, extra
consumers using a park, beach or road do
not reduce the space available for others.
Eventually beaches become crowded as do
parks and other leisure facilities.
2. Semi-non-excludable: it is possible but
often difficult or expensive to exclude non-
paying consumers. E.g. fencing a park or
beach and charging an entrance fee; building toll booths to charge for road usage on
congested routes

The air waves – a public good or quasi public good?

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 155 -

The airwaves used by mobile phone companies, radio

stations and television companies are essentially
owned by the government.

Do they count as a pure public good? One person‘s

use of the airwaves rarely limits how other people can
benefit from utilising them. But when demand for
mobile phone services is high at peak times, the
airwaves become crowded and access to the
networks can become slow.

The government also controls the issue of licences needed to operate mobile phone services using
the airwaves in the UK. In 2000, they auctioned off five licences for 3rd generation mobile phone
services and raised £22 billion in doing so. The government was using the auction to ration the
airwaves through a licence system. Although the government has monopoly control in the sense
that it controls the issue of licences, it did not set the market price. This was determined by the
auction, and the fact that at the end of a bidding war, the major mobile phone companies were
prepared to pay such a high price for a licence is evidence of the private benefit (i.e. the
anticipated future profit) that the companies expected to make from selling 3rd generation
contracts to customers.

Typology of public goods

Public Goods, Quasi Public Goods and Private Goods

Totally non-rival
in consumption National
Encrypted Analogue defence
digital broadcasting
broadcasting Street
lighting
Fire Service

Forth Road
Bridge

Education
and Health Mass MMR
vaccination
Totally rival in
consumption
Totally Totally non-
excludable excludable

The case for government intervention in the case of public goods

The non-rival nature of consumption provides a strong case for the government rather
than the market to provide and pay for public goods.
Many public goods are provided more or less free at the point of use and then paid for out
of general taxation or another general form of charge such as a licence fee.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 156 -

State provision may help to prevent the under-provision and under-consumption of

public goods so that social welfare is improved.

Public Bads

A public bad is the opposite of a public good – it provides disutility or dis-satisfaction to people
when consumed and therefore reduces our economic welfare. A good example to look at would be
the disposal of household and commercial waste. People are normally prepared to pay a price for
their household waste to be collected and disposed of in a safe and non-polluting way. But if waste
was changed for according to how much had been generated, then some people would find an
incentive to dump their waste on other people‘s property and thereby avoid direct charges.

Suggestions for further reading on public and private goods

Overhaul of flood defences urged (BBC news, July 2007)
Companies win contracts for new aircraft carriers (BBC news, July 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 157 -

Merit Goods

Merit goods are those goods and services that the government feels that people will under-
consume, and which ought to be subsidised or perhaps provided free at the point of use so that
consumption does not depend primarily on the ability to pay for the good or service.

Who provides merit goods?

Both the state and private sector provide merit goods & services. We have an independent
education system and people can buy private health care insurance.

Externality issues:

Consumption of merit goods is believed to generate positive externalities- where the social
benefit from consumption exceeds the private benefit.

A merit good is a product that society values and judges that people should have regardless of
their ability to pay. In this sense, the government is acting paternally in providing these merit
goods and services. They believe that individuals may not act in their own best interest in part
because of imperfect information.

Good examples of merit goods include health services, education, work training programmes,
public libraries, Citizen's Advice Bureaux and inoculations for children and students.

Costs
Benefits
Welfare loss because merit
goods tend to be under-
A consumed by the free market

Supply
= Private
C
External Benefit Marginal Cost

Social
Marginal
Benefit

Private
Marginal
Benefit

Qp Qs Output (Q)

Education as a merit good

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 158 -

The argument concerning imperfect information is an important one here. Parents may be
unaware of the longer-term benefits that their children might derive from education. Children
themselves will tend to underestimate the long term gains from a proper education.

Education is a long-term investment decision. The private costs must be paid now but the
private benefits (including higher earnings potential over one‘s working life) take time to emerge.
Education should provide a number of external benefits including rising incomes and
productivity for current and future generations; an increase in the occupational mobility of the
labour force which should help to reduce unemployment.

Increased spending on education should also provide a stimulus for higher-level research which
can add to the long run trend rate of growth. Other external benefits might include the
encouragement of a more enlightened and cultured society. Providing that the education system
provides a sufficiently good education across all regions and sections of society, increased
education and training spending should also open up more equality of opportunity.

School milk – should it be subsidised?

Economists at London Economics have written a paper arguing that the Government should
consider ending the current milk subsidy scheme for 1.2 million primary school children in England
as they cost too much to administer and do little to improve health. But Milk for Schools, a
campaign funded by the dairy industry, says the subsidy should be extended, not dropped. A
spokesman said that "School milk schemes are essential to ensure access to nutrition for all and
that the scheme was important as a way of alleviating child poverty."

Source: Tutor2u Blog and Dairy UK, Milk for Schools

The debate over free entry into museums

Campaigners have hailed the success of free access to museums which have attracted an extra
30 million people to the nation's great artistic and cultural collections since admission charges were
scrapped six years ago. Entrance fees to national museums across the country were scrapped on
1 December 2001. A report last year by the LSE found that before free admissions the total
number of museum visits per year was approximately 27 million. By 2005 that had increased to 42
million, more than the number of people who visited Premiership matches that year and 50 per
cent more than West End and Broadway theatre shows combined. Those museums that
abandoned entry charges saw their annual attendance figures did particularly well, recording, on
average, an 83 per cent increase in visits since 2001.

But despite the government grants that have enabled museums to cut their entry fees many
national museums are still finding it hard to make ends meet, particularly as their income has not
been rising as fast as staff costs and inflation. The LSE's report found that national museums show
a falling total of capital expenditure and an increased reliance on government support.

Victoria and Albert Museum, London: 2001 1.1 million; 2006 2.5 million
Science Museum, London: 2001 1.3 million; 2006 2.4 million
National Museums, Liverpool: 2001 0.7 million; 2006 1.7 million
National Maritime Museum, London: 2001 0.9 million; 2006 1.6 million
Natural History Museum, London: 2001 1.7 million; 2006 3.5 million
Source: Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Adapted from news reports, June 2007

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 159 -

Notice here that we are talking about the sorts of goods and services that society judges to be in
our best welfare. Judgements involve subjective opinions – and we cannot escape from making
value judgements when we are discussing merit goods.

Do you believe that most National Health Services and dental services should be made
available free at the point of need?
Should the state continue to provide free and compulsory education up to the age of 16?
Should people be forced to make compulsory savings for their retirement?
How much should the government spend on subsidising school meals?

So why does the government provide merit goods and services?

To encourage consumption so that positive externalities of merit goods can be achieved
To overcome the information failures linked to merit goods
On grounds of equity – because the government believes that consumption should not be
based solely on the grounds of ability to pay for a good or service

Suggestions for further reading on merit goods

These articles have been selected because they are relevant to the issue of merit goods and
services and the question of who should provide merit goods – the private sector or the
government. In many cases both private and public sector provision occurs – which is more
efficient and equitable?

NHS dental work put out to tender (BBC news, April 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 160 -

Demerit goods

Obesity – is it a case of market failure?

Healthcare costs related to obesity-linked illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease and high
cholesterol are soaring. Should the government intervene in the market in order to combat the
growing costs of obesity?

The City of Detroit in the USA has considered a fast-food tax to combat some of the external
costs of obesity

De-merit goods are thought to be ‗bad‘ for you. Examples include the costs arising from
consumption of alcohol, cigarettes and drugs together with the social effects of addiction to
gambling. The consumption of de-merit goods can lead to negative externalities.

Consumers may be unaware of the negative externalities that these goods create – they have
imperfect information about long-term damage to their own health.

The government may decide to intervene in the market for de-merit goods and impose taxes on
producers or consumers. Higher taxes cause prices to rise and should lead to a fall in demand. But
many economists argue that taxation is an ineffective and inequitable way of curbing the
consumption of drugs and gambling particularly for those affected by addiction. Banning
consumption through regulation may reduce demand, but risks creating secondary (illegal) or
underground markets in the product.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 161 -

Costs
Benefits
Social Marginal Cost

External costs (negative

externalities)
Private Marginal Cost

Demand (Limited Information)

Demand (Full Information)

Q3 Q2 Q1 Quantity

The social optimal level of consumption would be Q3 – an output that takes into
account the information failure of consumers and also the negative externalities.

Market failure with demerit goods

The free market may fail to take into account the negative externalities of consumption (because
the social cost > private cost). Consumers too may experience imperfect information about the
long term costs to themselves of consuming products deemed to be de-merit goods

Obesity – a time bomb

There is a huge debate at the moment about the root causes of obesity and the social costs that
arise from increasing levels of obesity. A report published in June 2007 said that obesity could be a
factor that bankrupted the National Health Service in the years to come. Obesity is also an
international problem.

What of harder drugs?

Should hard drugs be prohibited at all costs by the government in a bid to control demand by
restricting supply? Regulation has been the route chosen by most governments in developed
countries over recent years – but economists are once again divided on the issue. Some believe
that legalisation and taxation of harder class drugs is a more appropriate policy to pursue, arguing
that regulation is both ineffective and also costly. Another approach would be to divert resources
away from regulation towards giving better information to drug users about the longer term health
implications of their consumption decisions.

The case for a complete ban

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 162 -

Costs
Benefits Social Marginal Cost

External costs
(negative
externalities) Private Marginal Cost

Social Marginal
Benefit

Q1 Quantity

The case for a complete ban on de-merit goods such as class A narcotics could be justified on the
ground that the social marginal cost of consumption is always higher than the social marginal
benefit. In the diagram above there is no output where the social benefit equals the social cost and
welfare would be best protected by trying to enforce a total ban on the product.

Food additives – a de-merit good?

The use of food additives has long been a subject of

controversy. Examples include the preservatives
used in products from soft drinks to barbecue sauce –
designed mainly to lengthen the shelf life of products
available for sale in supermarkets.

Research published in 2007 by the Food Standards

Agency (FSA) claimed a link between food additives
and hyperactive behaviour in children leading to
losses of concentration and a worsening in classroom behaviour ands they want a number of food
colourings to be banned.

Gambling – economic and social effects

From betting on the results of general elections, the Grand National, the number of corners that
England win in one of their World Cup matches or the temperature in London on Christmas Day,
we seem to have an almost insatiable desire for gambling on the outcomes of virtually every
sporting, political, meteorological event.

Inevitably the rapid expansion of this industry raises important questions about the external costs
and benefits of gambling. Some researchers point to the employment and tourism benefits that
flow from the growth in demand for gambling services especially if businesses are established in
some of the UK's poorest towns and cities. There is also a fiscal dividend from this booming
industry with a predicted £3bn per year of extra tax revenues flowing into the Treasury's coffers.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 163 -

But gambling also creates external costs. Over 350,000 people in the UK are thought to be
addicted to betting and their problem gambling can contribute to crises including personal debt or
bankruptcy, loss of employment and the breakdown of families. The dangers of addiction are
greatest for the young and the vulnerable susceptible to advertising and marketing strategies.

The usual approach to de-merit goods is to tax consumption, so that the private cost of
consumption is increased and demand contracts. But the government has actually got rid of betting
& gaming duty (it was abolished in 2001) to be replaced with a tax on the profits of gaming
companies. The Gambling Act of 2005 deregulates the industry and allows the creation of more
casinos in the UK.

Suggestions for further reading on de-merit goods and market failure

These articles have been selected because they are relevant to the ideas in this chapter on de-
merit goods and – in some cases – the related question of government intervention to influence
behaviour.
Alcohol sales under scrutiny (BBC news, July 2008)
Australia in thrall of gambling mania (BBC news, January 2007)
Bid to remove food additives (BBC news, April 2008)
Call for better NHS gambling help (BBC news, January 2007)
'Casino social costs outweigh benefits' (BBC news, September 2006)
Doctors attack gambling policies (BBC news, April 2007)
Estonia to raise tax on alcohol (BBC news, August 2007)
Minimum age for buying cigarettes to be raised to 18 (BBC news, July 2007)
Smokers kick habit after ban (BBC news, January 2008)
Surge in alcohol related hospital admissions (Telegraph, July 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 164 -

Factor Immobility

Immobility of labour – a cause of unemployment and market failure

One of the main causes of unemployment is that workers lack the skills required by expanding
industries in the economy.

One cause of market failure is the immobility of factors of production. There are two main types
of factor immobility, occupational and geographical immobility.

Occupational Immobility

Occupational immobility occurs when there are barriers to the mobility of factors of production
between different sectors of the economy which leads to these factors remaining unemployed,
or being used in ways that are not efficient.

Some capital inputs are occupationally mobile – a computer can be put to use in many different
industries. And commercial buildings such as shops and offices can be altered to provide a base
for many businesses. However some units of capital are specific to the industry they have been
designed for – a printing press or a nuclear power station for example!

People often experience occupational immobility. For example, workers made redundant in the
sheet metal industry or in heavy engineering may find it difficult to find a new job. They may have
specific skills that are not necessarily needed in growing industries which causes a mismatch
between the skills on offer from the unemployed and those required by employers looking for
workers. This problem is called structural unemployment. Clearly this leads to a waste of scarce
resources and represents market failure.

There is a major problem of youth unemployment in the UK. An estimated 206,000 teenagers,
meanwhile, are languishing as so-called Neets - not in education, employment or training and their
job prospects are getting worse by the year.

Geographical Immobility

Geographical immobility refers to barriers people moving from one area to another to find work.
There are good reasons why geographical immobility might exist:
 Family and social ties.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 165 -

 The financial costs involved in moving home including the costs of selling a house, removal
expenses and other associated expenditure.
 Huge regional variations in house prices.
 Differences in the general cost of living between regions and also between countries.

UK Unemployment, By Duration
Millions, seasonally adjusted, using Labour Force Survey data
1.3 1.3

1.2 1.2

1.1 Unemployed for up to six months 1.1

1.0 1.0

0.9 0.9

0.8 0.8
Persons (millions)

0.7 0.7

millions
Unemployed for over 12 months
0.6 0.6

0.5 0.5
Unemployed for over 24 months
0.4 0.4

0.3 0.3

0.2 0.2

0.1 0.1

0.0 0.0
92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

Source: Reuters EcoWin

Policies to Improve the Mobility of Labour

To reduce occupational immobility:

 Invest in training schemes for the unemployed to boost their human capital to equip them
with new skills and skills that can be transferred from one occupation to another.
 Subsidise the provision of vocational training by private sector firms to raise the skills level

To reduce geographical immobility:

 Reforms to the housing market designed to improve the supply and reduce the cost of
rented properties and to increase the supply of affordable properties.
 Encourage part-ownership / part-rented housing
 Specific subsidies for people moving into areas where there are shortages of labour – for
example teachers and workers in the National Health Services.

Suggestions for further reading on immobility of factors of production

Job shortage for unskilled youths (BBC news, July 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 166 -

Record numbers of young people in education or work (The Guardian, June 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 167 -

Imperfect Information

A question of missing information

Information failure occurs when people have inaccurate, incomplete, uncertain or misunderstood
data and so make potentially ‗wrong‘ choices. From pensions to computer games consoles, from
investing in the stock market to ignorance about the consequences of borrowing and debt, all of us
suffer from one or more information failures. The issue is whether the information failure is trivial or
whether it has a huge effect on individuals, their families and the community as a whole.

The classic case of this is the demand for health or education services– where consumers may
well underestimate the long term private benefits from investing time and money into extra
education or buying a specific form of health treatment. There may well be a case for the
government to intervene in the market in some way if information failures become serious.

Examples of information failure

Imperfect information can be caused by

 Misunderstanding the true costs or benefits of a product: E.g. the social costs and
benefits of different classes of drugs and the private and social benefits from higher
education when there are so many universities and courses to choose from.
 Uncertainty about costs and benefits e.g. should younger workers be buying into
pension schemes when we can only guess at economic conditions in 40 years time?
 Complex information e.g. choosing between makes of computers requires specialist
knowledge of hardware. Do I buy an Apple or PC computer? The problems of choosing a
quality second hand car or when deciding whether or not to buy a property.
 Inaccurate or misleading information e.g. persuasive advertising may ‗oversell‘ the
benefits of a product leading to a higher demand and consumption than is optimal. Spam
mail can be a cause of misinformation for consumers. Read this Tim Harford article on
spam!
 Addiction e.g. drug addicts may be unable to stop consumption of harmful substances

Health warnings for snacks in bid to improve consumer information

The food industry has made its first move towards issuing health warnings for snack foods. The
decision comes as food companies come under in-creasing pressure to provide more information
about the nutritional value of their products amid concern about rising levels of obesity. It marks a
shift in the food industry‘s attitude towards consumers. Food companies have argued that
consumer education is not their job but soft drink producers have agreed to a voluntary ban on
advertising to children in Europe. They also said they would provide better nutritional information
on beverages.

Food and drink manufacturers have already made efforts to cut down on fats, salts and sugars,
and provide more nutritional information.
Source: Adapted from news reports, February 2006

Asymmetric Information

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 168 -

For markets to work, there needs to be symmetric information i.e. consumers and producers have
the same level of knowledge about the products, and they know everything there is to know about
them.
Asymmetric information occurs when somebody knows more than somebody else in the market.
This can make it difficult for the two people to do business together

Examples include the following:

 Warranties: The miss-selling of extended warranties by
high street retailers on domestic electrical goods such as
televisions and dishwashers
 Sub-prime mortgages: A lender does not know how likely
a borrower is to repay their loan.
 A car insurance company cannot tell the risks associated
with each single driver
 A motorist approaching a toll-road may not know how
busy it is compared to substitute roads that do not charge a motorist for use.
 A used-car seller knows more about the quality of the car being sold than do buyers. The
mini case study below covers this example!

The Market for Lemons

Assume that used cars come in two types: those that are in good repair, and duds (or ―lemons‖ as
Americans call them). Suppose further that used-car shoppers would be prepared to pay $20,000
for a good one and $10,000 for a lemon. As for the sellers, lemon-owners require $8,000 to part
with their old banger, while the one-owner, careful-driver old lady with the well-maintained estate
won't part with hers for less than $17,000. If buyers had full information they could strike fair trades
with the sellers, the old lady getting a high price and the lemon-owner rather less.

If buyers cannot spot the quality difference, though, there will be only one market for all used cars,
and buyers will be ready to pay only the average price of a good car and a lemon, or $15,000. This
is below the $17,000 that good-car owners require; so they will exit the market, leaving only bad
cars. This result, when bad quality pushes good quality from the market because of an information
gap, is known as ―adverse selection‖. A great many markets, including those for shares, labour and
insurance, often resemble a used-car sale more closely than a McDonald's restaurant.

Source: Adapted from the Economist, October 2001

Suggestions for wider reading on information failure

These articles have been selected because they are relevant to the ideas on possible information
failures and the impact such imperfect knowledge might have on consumer choices and outcomes.
Is there sufficient justification for the government to intervene in these examples?
Britain‘s favourite fakes (Money Programme, February 2008)
Confusion Pricing - Why cell-phone plans are so hard to understand (Tim Harford, Slate, April
2007)
Consumers in danger of being misled by price comparison sites (Independent, October 2007)
Drinkers ignorant about alcohol (BBC news, May 2008)
EBay hit with £30m fine for sales of fake luxuries (Guardian, July 2008)
Government information campaign on the dangers of passive smoking (BBC news, March 2007)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 169 -

Morning coffee is meal in a cup (BBC news, January 2008)

Sun bed use puts lives at risk (BBC news, April 2008)
The big cost of avoiding little risk – Tim Harford (BBC online, August 2006)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 170 -

Poverty and Inequality in Resource Allocation

Going without

―In the UK people can become poor as a result of social and economic processes, such as
unemployment and changing family structures. Poverty is not simply about being on a low income
and going without – it is also to do with being denied hood health, education, good housing and
social activities, as well as basic self-esteem‖
Source: Child Poverty Action Group

In a market economy an individual‘s ability to consume goods & services depends upon his/her
income. An unequal distribution of income and wealth may result in an unsatisfactory allocation
of resources and can also lead to alienation and encourage crime with negative consequences for
all. The free-market system will not necessarily respond to the needs and wants of those with
insufficient economic votes to have any impact on market demand because what matters in a
market based system is your effective demand for goods and services.

When we are discussing inequality and poverty, we cannot escape making value judgements.

Absolute poverty

Absolute poverty measures the number of people living below a certain income threshold or the
number of households unable to afford certain basic goods and services. What we choose to
include in a basic acceptable standard of living is naturally open to discussion.

Relative poverty

Relative poverty measures the extent to which a household‘s financial resources falls below an
average income level. Although living standards and real incomes have grown because of higher
employment and sustained economic growth, there is little doubt that Britain has become a more
unequal society over the last 20-25 years.

Poorer families have a lower life expectancy

People from poorer backgrounds are unhealthier and die earlier than the rich, according a study
measuring the link between health and wealth. Poorer people in their fifties were 10 times more
likely to die earlier than those who are richer, according to a report from the Institute of Fiscal
Studies (IFS). The poor often have to stop work early due to ill health, the group added and this
increases the risk of these groups suffering income poverty during their retirement years.
Source: BBC news and Institute for Fiscal Studies

The most commonly used threshold of low income in Britain is 60% of median household income
after deducting housing costs.

The Poverty Trap

The poverty trap affects people living in households on low incomes. It creates a disincentive to
look for work or work longer hours because of the effects of the income tax and welfare benefits
system.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 171 -

For example, a worker might be given the opportunity to earn an extra £60 a week by working ten
additional hours. This boost to his/her gross income is reduced by an increase in income tax and
national insurance contributions. The individual may also lose some income-related welfare
benefits and the combined effects of this might be to take away over 70% of a rise in income,
leaving little in the way of extra net or disposable income.

When one adds in the possible extra costs of more expensive transport charges and the costs of
arranging child care, then the disincentive to work may be quite strong.

Government Policies to Reduce Poverty

Policies to reduce relative poverty normally focus on (a) changes to the tax and benefits system
and (b) policies designed to increase employment and reduce unemployment.

When evaluating different policies to reduce poverty consider some of these related issues:
Cost
Effectiveness
Impact on others in the economy

1. Changes to the tax and benefits system: For example, increases in higher rates of
income tax would make the British tax system more progressive and reduce the post-tax
incomes of people at the top of the income scale. The risk is that higher rates of taxation
may act as a disincentive for people to earn extra income and might damage enterprise and
productivity.
2. A switch towards greater means-tested benefits: Means testing allows welfare benefits
to go to those people and families in greatest need. A means-test involves a check on the
financial circumstances of the benefit claimant before paying any benefit out. This would
help the welfare system to target help for those households on the lowest incomes.
However means tested benefits are often unpopular with the recipients.
3. Linking the state retirement pension to average earnings rather than prices: This
policy would help to relieve relative poverty among low-income pensioner households.
Their pension would rise in line with the growth of average earnings each year
4. Special employment measures (including New Deal): Government employment
schemes seek to raise employment levels and improve the employment prospects of the
long-term unemployed.
5. Increased spending on education and training: Unemployment is a cause of poverty
and structural unemployment makes the problem worse. There are millions of
households in the UK where no one in the family is in any kind of work and this increases
the risk of poverty.
6. The National Minimum Wage: The National Minimum Wage (NMW) was introduced in
April 1999. It is a statutory pay floor - employers cannot legally undercut the NMW. Since
1999, the beneficial impact of the minimum wage has been concentrated on the lowest paid
workers in service sector jobs where there is little or no trade union protection.

Further background reading on poverty and inequality in the UK

At last, a sensible way to measure poverty (Tim Harford, Financial Times, July 2008)
Breadline Britain (BBC)
How the super rich just got richer (Money Programme, November 2007)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 172 -

It's a rich city but it has 650,000 poor children. It's London (The Times, April 2008)
Mind the Gap (Guardian, January 2008)
The changing face of poverty (BBC)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 173 -

Government Intervention in the Market

Laissez faire economics

In a free market economic system, governments take the view that markets are best suited to
allocating scarce resources and allow the forces of supply and demand to set prices. The role of
the government in a laissez faire system is to protect property rights, uphold the rule of law and
maintain the value of the currency. Competitive markets often do deliver improvements in
allocative, productive and dynamic efficiency – but there are occasions when they fail – providing a
rationale for intervention of different forms.

Intervention in the market

Government intervention in the price mechanism is usually justified largely on the grounds of
wanting to achieve an improvement in economic and social welfare. All governments intervene in
the economy to influence the allocation of scarce resources among competing uses

What are the main reasons for government intervention?

The main reasons for policy intervention are:

(1) To correct for market failure
(2) To achieve a more equitable distribution of income and wealth
(3) To improve the performance of the economy

Options for government intervention in markets

There are many ways in which intervention can take place – some examples are given below

Government Legislation and Regulation

Examples include:

Laws on minimum ages for buying cigarettes and alcohol

The Competition Act which penalizes businesses found guilty of price fixing cartels
Statutory national minimum wage
A new law in Scotland banning under-18s from using sun-beds
Equal Pay Act and acts preventing other forms of discrimination
Changes in the law on cannabis
Maximum CO2 emissions for new vehicles, laws which restrict flight times at night
Government appointed utility regulators who may impose price controls on privatised
monopolists e.g. telecommunications, the water industry

The economy operates with a huge and growing amount of regulation. The government appointed
regulators who can impose price controls in most of the main utilities such as
telecommunications, electricity, gas and rail transport. Free market economists criticise the scale
of regulation in the economy arguing that it creates an unnecessary burden of costs for businesses
– with a huge amount of ―red tape‖ damaging the competitiveness of businesses.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 174 -

Regulation may be used to introduce fresh competition into a market – for example breaking up
the existing monopoly power of a service provider. A good example of this is the attempt to
introduce more competition for British Telecom. This is known as market liberalisation.

Direct State Provision of Goods and Services

Because of privatization, the state-owned sector of the economy is much smaller than it was
twenty years ago. The main state-owned businesses in the UK are the Royal Mail and Network
Rail.

State funding can also be used to provide merit goods and services and public goods directly to
the population e.g. the government pays private sector firms to carry out operations for NHS
patients to reduce waiting lists or it pays private businesses to operate prisons and maintain our
road network.

Fiscal Policy Intervention

Fiscal policy can be used to alter the level of demand for different products and also the pattern
of demand within the economy.
(a) Indirect taxes can be used to raise the price of de-merit goods and products with negative
externalities designed to increase the opportunity cost of consumption and thereby reduce
consumer demand towards a socially optimal level
(b) Subsidies to consumers will lower the price of merit goods. They are designed to boost
consumption and output of products with positive externalities – remember that a subsidy causes
an increase in market supply and leads to a lower equilibrium price
(c) Tax relief: The government may offer financial assistance such as tax credits for business
investment in research and development. Or a reduction in corporation tax (a tax on company
profits) designed to promote new capital investment and extra employment
(d) Changes to taxation and welfare payments can be used to influence the overall distribution
of income and wealth – for example higher direct tax rates on rich households or an increase in the
value of welfare benefits for the poor to make the tax and benefit system more progressive

Intervention designed to close the information gap

Often market failure results from consumers suffering from a lack of information about the costs
and benefits of the products available in the market place. Government action can have a role in
improving information to help consumers and producers value the ‗true‘ cost and/or benefit of a
good or service. Examples might include:
(1) Compulsory labelling on cigarette packages with health warnings to reduce smoking
(2) Improved nutritional information on foods to counter the risks of growing obesity
(3) Anti-speeding television advertising to reduce road accidents and advertising campaigns to
raise awareness of the risks of drink-driving
(4) Information campaigns on the dangers of addiction and binge-drinking
(5) Home Information Packs for home-buyers

These programmes are really designed to change the “perceived” costs and benefits of
consumption for the consumer. They don‘t have any direct effect on market prices, but they seek to
influence ―demand‖ and therefore output and consumption in the long run. Increasingly adverts are
becoming more hard-hitting in a bid to have an effect on consumers.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 175 -

Intervention and Stakeholders

As an economist, whenever you are required to discuss the costs and benefits of an example of
government intervention it is worth asking yourself ―who are the major stakeholders in this issue?‖

A stakeholder is any person or organization that has a legitimate interest in a specific project or
policy decision.

The decisions of government, businesses and other non-governmental organisations inevitably

affect different groups within society. Increasingly, many businesses are taking into account the
effects of their actions not just on the value that such decisions create for shareholders – but also
to a broader range of stakeholder groups.

Typically stakeholder issues come into play on major infrastructural projects where a cost benefit
analysis might be undertaken to assess the likely social costs and benefits – it is important to bring
as many stakeholders into the picture as possible – many people might be affected,

Examples of stakeholders you might think of bringing into a discussion

1. Employees of a business / organisation (who may / may not be members of a union)

2. Communities where a business is located or affected directly by a decision
3. Suppliers to a particular business (e.g. back down the supply chain)
4. Shareholders and other investors / financiers
5. Creditors (people owed money)
6. Government (and through them – taxpayers)
7. Trade unions (and the workers they represent)
8. Professional associations
9. NGOs and other advocacy groups (i.e. World Bank, IMF, Pressure Groups)
10. Prospective employees
11. Prospective customers
12. Local communities
13. National communities
14. International community
15. Competitors within a market

Topical issues where the stakeholder concept might be considered important

Stakeholders affected by all kinds of issues including the following:

1. Increasing the national minimum wage

2. Rise in the London Congestion charge and expansion of the congestion charge zone
3. The building and opening of Heathrow Terminal 5
4. Government investment in wind farm technology
5. Reforms to the EU‘s common agricultural policy
6. Possible introduction of a tax on aviation fuel for flights inside the EU
7. Key decisions on developing new towns to help meet the demand for housing
8. Food export bans and export taxes (e.g. India increasing the tax on exported rice)
9. Decisions to lower import tariffs on goods and services coming into the UK
10. Changes to rules on mortgage lending as a result of the credit crunch

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 176 -

11. Removing the 10% starting rate of income tax

12. Higher tuition fees for UK students at English universities

Intervention in Action – The UK Housing Shortage

Government Intervention to reduce the shortage of housing

The elasticity of housing supply in the UK is low – one of the lowest in Europe – current policy is
focused on improving the elasticity of supply so that house building is more responsive to changes
in market demand.

1. A loosening of planning restrictions: Relaxation of planning constraints for new housing

– including relaxation of the greenbelt restrictions. There is no shortage of land in the UK,
merely a shortage of land on which it is possible to build new homes.
2. Building homes on brown-field sites: Financial incentives for construction companies to
build on brown-field sites (e.g. previously developed land).
3. Encouraging self-build schemes: Self-build homes work out cheaper in the long run and
they give people the satisfaction of building a home to their own specification and design.
4. Build more social housing: Allowing each local authority (council) greater freedom to
borrow money to fund the construction and supply of social housing may help to reverse
the collapse in the building of council properties over the last ten to twenty years. Increased
funding for the 1,400 housing associations responsible for building and maintaining nearly 3
million homes in the UK is also an option.
5. Increased innovation and productivity in house-building industry: Encouraging more
innovation in the building industry – for example innovations that make it possible to build
new homes attractively at higher densities (i.e. more properties per square acre).
6. Reducing the number of empty homes – There are several options for this including
compulsory purchase orders if owners of properties allow their properties to remain empty
and unused for 6 months or more – these properties could then be made available to
people on housing waiting lists at sub-market rents.
7. Tax breaks for investors willing to make rented properties available at affordable rents.

Evaluation on the effects of government intervention

a) Value judgements: Be aware of the use of ‗value judgements‘ in discussions about

government intervention – many people want a particular intervention because of their own
vested interests.
b) Changing prices to change incentives and behaviour: Many interventions work though
the price mechanism by changing the relative prices / relative costs of day-to-day decisions
a. E.g. raising the price of fuel to curb consumption
b. Offering a subsidy to bio-fuel producers
c. Using tariffs to change the relative prices of imports in a domestic economy
c) Social science: Economics is a social science and the effects of intervention cannot be
calibrated / forecast with great accuracy – people‘s behaviour is subject to change –
remember the ‗law of unintended consequences‘!
d) Combinations of policies: One single intervention is unlikely to produce a solution to
deep-rooted economic and social problems – try to build a variety of policy options into your
discussion e.g. policies that work on market demand and market supply

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 177 -

e) The power of markets: Is government intervention always necessary? Market forces can
be really powerful in finding profitable solutions to problems – don‘t underestimate the
importance of innovation and invention – government‘s rarely have all of the answers and
the new economics of mass collaboration offers powerful insights into the impact that
collusive behaviour can have e.g. in fast-tracking ideas linked to reducing carbon emissions
f) Costs and benefits: You cannot go far wrong in an evaluation question by trying to identify
and then discuss the costs and benefits of government intervention – some of which only
become apparent over long time periods
g) The „law of unintended consequences‟: Government intervention does not always work
in the way in which it was intended or the way in which economic theory predicts it should.
Part of the fascination of studying Economics is that the ―law of unintended consequences‖
often comes into play – events can affect a particular policy, and consumers and
businesses rarely behave precisely in the way in which the government might want!

Judging the effects of intervention – a useful check list

To help your evaluation of government intervention – it may be helpful to consider these questions:

1. Efficiency of a policy: i.e. does a particular intervention lead to a better use of scarce
resources? E.g. does it improve allocative, productive and dynamic efficiency? For example
- would introducing indirect taxes on high fat foods be an efficient way of reducing some of
the external costs linked to the growing problem of obesity?
2. Effectiveness of a policy: i.e. which policy is most likely to meet a specific economic or
social objective? For example which policies are likely to be effective in reducing road
congestion?
3. Equity effects of intervention: i.e. is a policy thought of as fair or does one group in
society gain more than another? For example, would it be equitable for the government to
increase the top rate of income tax to 50 per cent in to make the distribution of income
more equal?
4. Sustainability of a policy: i.e. does a policy reduce the ability of future generations to
engage in economic activity? Inter-generational equity is an important issue in many current
policy topics for example decisions on which sources of energy we rely on in future years.

Winners and losers from intervention – the ban on smoking in public places

On July 1st 2007 a ban on smoking in public places was

introduced into England following similar decisions for
Scotland and Wales.

The intervention was justified on the grounds of

supporting the long term aim of reducing cigarette
consumption and improving the nation‘s health.

As with any form of government intervention in the

market, some businesses have gained whilst others
have lost out.

Losers from the decision Winners from the decision

Dry-cleaners (smoke-free pubs mean less need Packaging companies – the demand for beer
for people to launder suits and other clothes) cans has increased as more people drink at

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 178 -

home
Specialised tobacconists Pizza delivery companies – more people
ordering take-away instead of pub meals
Bingo halls Manufacturers of outdoor patio heaters,
awnings and decking
Pubs – pub closures in the UK have run at a net Cigarette companies – domestic demand for
rate of 27 per week during 2008 cigarettes has fallen but they have offset this by
growing sales to Eastern Europe – helped by
the falling exchange rate

Do you agree with the smoking ban? If the government wants to reduce demand for cigarettes
what are the other options available to it beyond a ban on smoking in public places?

Suggestions for further reading on government intervention

As we have seen in this chapter there are many ways and many reasons why the government and
its appointed agencies may choose to intervene in markets. Each of the articles below has been
selected because it is relevant to some of the concepts and issues covered in this chapter.

In each case consider whether you feel that government intervention in the market is justified? And
what alternative policies might be considered at the same time?

Australia proposes a carbon trading scheme (BBC news, July 2008)

Binge-drinking adverts launched (BBC news, June 2008)
Cannabis laws to be strengthened (BBC news, May 2008)
Carbon emissions trading – special reports (Guardian)
Cigarette sales overhaul plan (BBC news, May 2008)
Divided Britain needs new ladder of opportunity (The Times, April 2008)
Drinks industry facing tough laws (BBC news, July 2008)
Government may intervene on pre-payment meters (BBC news, July 2008)
Law bans under-18s in Scotland from using sun-beds (BBC news, June 2008)
MPs back personal carbon credits (BBC news, May 2008)
Road pricing 'should be assessed' (BBC news, June 2008)
School-gate fast food ban urged (BBC news, March 2008)
Smoking ban saves lives (BBC news, June 2008)
UK airport ownership review (BBC news, April 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 179 -

Indirect Taxation

An indirect tax is imposed on producers (suppliers) by the government. Examples include duties
on cigarettes, alcohol and fuel and also VAT.

A tax increases the costs of a business causing an inward shift in the supply curve. The vertical
distance between the pre-tax and the post-tax supply curve shows the tax per unit. With an indirect
tax, the supplier may be able to pass on some or all of this tax onto the consumer through a higher
price. This is known as shifting the burden of the tax and the ability of businesses to do this
depends on the price elasticity of demand and supply.
A Tax When Demand is Price Elastic A Tax when Demand is Price Inelastic
Price Price
S + Tax

S1 S + Tax
S1

P2 P2
P1

D1
P1

D1

Q2 Q1 Quantity Q2 Q1 Quantity

In the left hand diagram, demand is elastic so the producer must absorb most of the tax
and accept a lower profit margin on each unit sold. When demand is elastic, the effect of a
tax is to raise the price – but we see a bigger fall in quantity. Output has fallen from Q to
Q1.
In the right hand diagram demand for the product is inelastic and therefore the producer is
able to pass on most of the tax to the consumer by raising price without losing much in the
way of sales.

The table below shows the demand and supply schedules for a good

Price (£) Quantity Demanded Quantity Supplied Quantity supplied

(Pre-tax) (Post-tax)
10 20 1280 600
9 60 1000 400
8 150 850 150
7 260 600 50
6 400 400
5 600 150
4 900 50

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 180 -

1 What is the initial equilibrium price and quantity? Price = £6

Quantity = 400
2 The government imposes a tax of £3 per unit. The new supply schedule is shown in the right
hand column of the table – less is now supplied at each and every market price
3 Find the new equilibrium price after the tax has been imposed New price =£8
4 Calculate the total tax revenue going to the government Tax revenue = £450
5 How have consumers been affected by this tax?
There has been a fall in quantity traded and a rise in the price paid by consumers – this leads
to a fall in economic welfare as measured by consumer surplus

Who pays the tax? The burden of taxation

When demand is inelastic, the producer is able to pass on most or perhaps all of an indirect
tax to the consumer by raising the market price. Conversely when demand is price elastic,
the producer cannot pass on much of the tax to the consumer, they must absorb the majority
of the tax themselves

A Tax When Demand is Price Elastic A Tax when Demand is Price Inelastic

Price Price
S + Tax S + Tax

S1
S1

P2
P2
P1

P3 D1 P1
P3

D1

Q2 Q1 Quantity Q2 Q1 Quantity

The burden of an indirect The burden of an indirect

tax paid by the consumer tax paid by the producer

The Government would rather place indirect taxes on commodities where demand is inelastic
because the tax causes only a small fall in the quantity consumed and as a result the total revenue
from taxes will be greater. An example of this is the high level of duty on cigarettes and petrol.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 181 -

Specific taxes

A specific tax is where the tax per unit is a fixed amount – for example the duty on a pint of beer or
the tax per packet of twenty cigarettes. Another example is air passenger duty

Ad valorem taxes

Where the tax is a percentage of the cost of supply – e.g. value added tax currently levied at
the standard rate of 17.5%. In the diagram below, an ad valorem tax has been imposed on
producers. The equilibrium price rises from P1 to P2 whilst quantity traded falls from Q1 to Q2.

Price
An ad valorem tax causes Supply + Ad
a pivotal shift in the valorem tax
producer’s supply curve
S1

P1
P2

Demand

Q1 Q2 Quantity

Note that the effect of an ad valorem tax is to cause a pivotal shift in the supply curve. This is
because the tax is a percentage of the unit cost of supplying the product. So a good that could be
supplied for a cost of £50 will now cost £58.75 when VAT of 17.5% is applied whereas a different
good that costs £400 to supply will now cost £470 when the same rate of VAT is applied. The
absolute amount of the tax will go up as the market price increases.

Tobacco tax is an example of a product on which both specific and ad valorem taxes are applied.

Suggestions for further reading on indirect taxes

Brown cuts VAT on contraceptives (BBC news, March 2007)

Call for cut in indirect taxes on garden plants (BBC news, May 2008)
Call for review of motoring taxes (BBC news, July 2008)
EU plans cut in VAT for local businesses (BBC news, July 2008)
EU urged to cut 'green' goods tax (BBC news, March 2008)
Potatoes are not potato crisps in VAT ruling (BBC news, July 2008)
The toxic issue of green taxes (BBC news, March 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 182 -

Producer Subsidies

A subsidy is a payment by the government to suppliers that reduce their costs of production and
encourages them to increase output. The effect of a subsidy is to increase supply and (ceteris
paribus) reduce the market equilibrium price. The subsidy causes the firm's supply curve to shift to
the right. The amount spent on the subsidy is equal to the subsidy per unit multiplied by total
output. Occasionally the government can offer a direct subsidy to the consumer – which has the
effect of boosting demand in a market

Different Types of Producer Subsidy

(1) A guaranteed payment on the factor cost of a product – e.g. a guaranteed minimum
price offered to farmers such as under the old Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
(2) An input subsidy which subsidises the cost of inputs used in production – e.g. an
employment subsidy for taking on more workers.
(3) Government grants to cover losses made by a business – e.g. a grant given to
cover losses in the railway industry or a loss-making airline.
(4) Financial assistance (loans and grants) for businesses setting up in areas of high
unemployment – e.g. as part of a regional policy designed to boost employment.

Price
S pre
subsidy

P1 S post
subsidy

P2

Demand

Q1 Q2 Quantity

To what extent will a subsidy feed through to lower prices for consumers? This depends on the
price elasticity of demand for the product. The more inelastic the demand curve the greater the
consumer's gain from a subsidy. Indeed when demand is perfectly inelastic the consumer gains
most of the benefit from the subsidy since all the subsidy is passed onto the consumer through a
lower price. When demand is relatively elastic, the main effect of the subsidy is to increase the
equilibrium quantity traded rather than lead to a much lower market price.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 183 -

The effect of a subsidy on the market price is greatest when demand is inelastic
When demand is price elastic, a subsidy will have more of an effect on quantity
traded
Price
Price S pre
S pre subsidy
subsidy
S post
P1
subsidy

P1
S post P2
subsidy D2

P2

Demand

Q1 Quantity Q1 Quantity

Economic and Social Justifications for Subsidies

Why might the government be justified in providing financial assistance to producers in certain
markets and industries? How valid are the arguments for government subsidies?
(1) To keep prices down and control inflation – in the last couple of years several countries
have been offering fuel subsidies to consumers and businesses in the wake of the steep
increase in world crude oil prices.
(2) To encourage consumption of merit goods and services which are said to generate
positive externalities (increased social benefits).
(3) Increase the revenues of producers during times of special difficulties in markets.
(4) Reduce the cost of capital investment projects – which might help to stimulate
economic growth by increasing long-run aggregate supply.
(5) Subsidies to slow-down the process of long term decline in an industry

Economic Arguments against Subsidies

The economic and social case for a subsidy should be judged carefully on the grounds of
efficiency and fairness. Might the money used up in subsidy payments be better spent
elsewhere? Government subsidies inevitably carry an opportunity cost and in the long run there
might be better ways of providing financial support to producers and workers in specific industries.

Free market economists argue that subsidies distort the working of the free market mechanism
and can lead to government failure where intervention leads to a worse distribution of resources.

(i) Distortion of the Market: Subsidies distort market prices – for example, export
subsidies distort the trade in goods and services and can curtail the ability of ELDCs to
compete in the markets of rich nations.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 184 -

(ii) Arbitrary Assistance: Decisions about who receives a subsidy can be arbitrary
(iii) Financial Cost: Subsidies can become expensive – note the opportunity cost!
(iv) Who pays and who benefits? The final cost of a subsidy usually falls on consumers
(or tax-payers) who themselves may have derived no benefit from the subsidy.
(v) Encouraging inefficiency: Subsidy can artificially protect inefficient firms who need to
restructure – i.e. it delays much needed reforms.
(vi) Risk of Fraud: Ever-present risk of fraud when allocating subsidy payments.
(vii) There are alternatives: It may be possible to achieve the objectives of subsidies by
alternative means which have less distorting effects.

Suggestions for further reading on subsidies

Subsidies often create controversy – the best recent

example is probably the subsidy offered to
producers of bio fuels – each of these articles has
been selected because it is relevant to some of the
arguments relating to the costs and benefits of
subsidies mentioned in this chapter.

Corn Dog: The ethanol subsidy is worse than you can imagine (Slate Magazine, July 2007)
Dearing calls for tuition fee cap to be lifted (Guardian, June 2007)
EU extends state help for movies (BBC news online, June 2007)
From subsidy drunk to subsidy comatose (The Times, July 2007)
Reforming wine subsidies in the EU (BBC news online, June 2006)
Should the British pub get a government subsidy? (BBC news, July 2008)
The rise, fall and rise of Brazil's bio-fuel (BBC news online, January 2006)
Trade war brewing over US bio-fuel subsidies (Guardian, April 2008)
USA and EU urged to cut bio-fuels (BBC news, July 2008)
What price a post office? (BBC news online, April 2007)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 185 -

Maximum Prices

The Government can set a maximum price in an attempt to prevent the market price from rising
above a certain level. To be effective a maximum price has to be set below the free market
price.

One example of a maximum price might be when shortage of foodstuffs threatens large rises in the
free market price. Other examples include rent controls on properties – for example the system of
rent controls still in place in Manhattan in the United States.

A maximum price seeks to control the price – but also involves a normative judgement on behalf of
the government about what that price should be. An example of a maximum price is shown in the
next diagram. The normal equilibrium price is shown at Pe – but the government imposes a
maximum price of Pmax. This price ceiling creates excess demand equal to quantity Q2-Q2
because the price has been held below the equilibrium.

Rent Supply
£s Free Market
Equilibrium

Pe

P max Price (Rent) Ceiling

Excess
Demand

Demand

Q2 Q1 Quantity of Rented Property

It is worth noting that a price ceiling set above the free market equilibrium price would have no
effect whatsoever on the market – because for a price floor to be effective, it must be set below the
normal market-clearing price.

Maximum prices and consumer and producer welfare

How does the introduction of a price ceiling affect consumer and producer surplus. This is shown in
the next diagram. At the original equilibrium price consumer surplus = triangle ABPe and producer
surplus equals the triangle PeBC.

Because of the maximum price ceiling, the quantity supplied contracts to output Q2. Consumers
gain from the price being set artificially lower than the equilibrium, but there is a loss of consumer
welfare because of the reduction in the quantity traded. At P max the new level of consumer

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 186 -

surplus = the trapezium ADEPmax. Producer surplus is reduced to a lower level Pmax EC. There
has been a net reduction in economic welfare shown by the triangle DBE.

Price

A Supply

D Consumer surplus at
the equilibrium market
price
B Producer surplus at the
Pe equilibrium market price

P max Price Ceiling

E

Demand

Q2 Q1 Quantity

Black Markets

Ticket touting is nothing new, but the rise of online ticket-exchanges has expanded the market by
making it much easier for sellers and buyers to find each other. Last year Britons purchased
£100m worth of resold tickets; this year the market will top £250m.
Source: econoMax, January 2008

A black market (or shadow market) is an illegal market in which the market price is higher than a
legally imposed price ceiling. Black markets develop where there is excess demand for a
commodity. Some consumers are prepared to pay higher prices in black markets in order to get the
goods or services they want.

When there is a shortage, higher prices act as a rationing device.

Good examples of black markets include tickets for major sporting events, rock concerts
and black markets for children‘s toys and designer products that are in scarce supply.
There is also evidence of black markets in the illegal distribution and sale of computer
software products where pirated copies can often dwarf sales of legally produced software.

Rationing when there is a market shortage

Rationing when there is a maximum price might also be achieved by allocating the good on a „first
come, first served‟ basis – e.g. queues of consumers. Suppliers might also allocate the scarce
goods by distributing only to preferred customers. Both of these ways of rationing goods might be

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 187 -

considered as inequitable (unfair) – because it is likely that eventually those who might have the
greatest need for a commodity are unlikely to have their needs met.

Another problem arising from the maintenance of a maximum price is that in the long run, suppliers
might respond to a maximum price by reducing their supply – the supply curve becomes more
elastic in the long term. This is illustrated in the next diagram which looks at the effect of a
maximum price for rented properties.

Rent Supply
(short run)
£s Free Market
Supply
Equilibrium
(long run)

Pe

P max Price (Rent) Ceiling

Excess
Demand
(short run)

Excess
Demand
(long run)

Demand

Q3 Q2 Q1 Quantity of Rented Property

If landlords decide that they cannot make a satisfactory rate of return by selling rented properties in
the market because of the maximum price, they might decide to withdraw some properties from the
market. At the maximum rent, the long run supply curve shows a smaller quantity of rented
properties available for tenants – which with a given level of market demand cause the excess
demand (shortage) in the market to increase.

The quality of rented properties might deteriorate over time because landlords decide to cut
spending on maintenance and improvements. The end result would be a loss of allocative
efficiency because there are fewer properties on the market and the quality is getting worse –
fewer people‘s needs and wants are being met at the prevailing market price.

Although maximum prices such as rent controls are still in place in many countries, in the UK, rent
controls were essentially abolished in the late 1980s. And, over the last fifteen years the
government has actively sought to encourage an expansion in the total supply of rented properties
provided by both private sector landlords and also registered social landlords such as housing
associations. The rapid growth in the buy-to-let property market has also contributed to a huge
increase in the supply of properties available for letting in the majority of towns and cities in the UK.

Suggestions for further reading on maximum prices

Cup Final tickets sell for £2,000 (BBC news online, May 2007)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 188 -

Mexican president announces fixed food prices for six months (Guardian, June 2008)
Should ticket touting be illegal? (BBC news online, April 2007)
Ticket touts face the music (BBC news online, April 2007)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 189 -

Minimum Prices

A minimum price is a legally imposed price floor below which the market price cannot fall. To be
effective the minimum price has to be set above the equilibrium price. Perhaps the best example of
a minimum price is the minimum wage which was introduced into the UK in 1999.

Adult Rate
(for workers aged 22+)
1 Apr 1999 £3.60
1 Oct 2000 £3.70
1 Oct 2001 £4.10
1 Oct 2002 £4.20
1 Oct 2003 £4.50
1 Oct 2004 £4.85
1 Oct 2005 £5.05
1 Oct 2006 £5.35
1 Oct 2007 £5.52
1 Oct 2008 £5.73

How does a minimum wage work?

The minimum wage is a price floor – employers cannot legally undercut the current minimum
wage rate per hour. This applies both to full-time and part-time workers. Labour supply and
demand curve analysis can be used to show the effects.

A diagram showing the possible effects of a minimum wage is shown below. The market
equilibrium wage for this particular labour market is at W1 (where demand = supply). If the
minimum wage is set at Wmin, there will be an excess supply of labour equal to E3 – E2 because
the supply of labour will expand (more workers will be willing and able to offer themselves for work
at the higher wage than before) but there is a risk that the demand for workers from employers
(businesses) will contract if the minimum wage is introduced.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 190 -

Wage Labour
Rate Supply
(W)

W min Minimum Wage (Wage Floor)

W1
Free-market equilibrium wage

Demand for
Labour

E3 E2 E1 Employment of Labour (E)

Number of people employed

The main aims of the minimum wage

1. The equity justification: That every job should offer a fair rate of pay commensurate with
the skills and experience of an employee.
2. Labour market incentives: The NMW is designed to improve incentives for people to start
looking for work – thereby boosting the economy‘s labour supply.
3. Labour market discrimination: The NMW is a tool designed to offset some of the effects
of persistent discrimination of many low-paid female workers and younger employees.

Possible disadvantages of a minimum wage

Although all political parties are now committed to keeping the minimum wage, there are still plenty
of economists who believe that setting a pay floor represents a distortion to the way the labour
market works because it reduces the flexibility of the labour market

1. Competitiveness and Jobs: Firstly a minimum wage may cost jobs because a rise in
labour costs makes it more expensive to employ people and higher labour costs.

2. Effect on relative poverty: Is the minimum wage the most effective policy to reduce
relative poverty? There is evidence that it tends to boost the incomes of middle-income
households where more than one household member is already in work whereas the
greatest risk of relative poverty is among the unemployed, elderly and single parent families
where the parent is not employed.

Can a minimum wage actually increase employment?

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 191 -

The answer is yes – depending on the circumstances in the labour market when a pay floor is
introduced and also on what happens to the productivity of labour when a high (statutory) rate of
pay is introduced. There are two main explanations for the possibility of higher employment
1. The Keynesian argument that higher wage rates will increase the disposable incomes of
lower-paid workers many of whom have a high propensity to consume. Thus they will
increase their spending and this will feed through the circular flow of income and
spending
2. The efficiency wage argument that raising pay levels for low-paid employees may have a
positive effect on their productivity. In addition to the psychological benefits of being paid
more, businesses may take steps to improve production processes, workplace training etc
if they know that they must pay at least the statutory pay floor.

The importance of elasticity of demand and supply of labour

The impact of a minimum wage on employment levels depends in part on the elasticity of demand
and elasticity of supply of labour in different industries. If labour demand is inelastic then the
contraction in employment is likely to be less severe than if employers‘ demand for labour is elastic
with respect to changes in the wage level.

In the next diagram we see the possible effects of a minimum wage when both labour demand and
labour supply are elastic in response to a change in the market wage rate. The excess supply
created is much higher than in the previous diagram.

Wage
Rate
(W) Labour
Supply
W min
Minimum Wage (Wage Floor)

W1

Demand for Labour

Q3 Q2 Q1 Employment of Labour (E)

Evidence on the minimum wage – has it worked?

1. Employment: Since the minimum wage was introduced, unemployment in Britain has
fallen and the level of employment in the British economy is now at a record high although
the economy has avoided a recession throughout this period.
2. Inflation: In many sectors firms find it hard to pass on higher wage costs to final
consumers – limiting the inflationary effect of the minimum wage

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 192 -

3. Wage costs: The minimum wage affects only a small proportion of workers and the effects
on the wage bills of most businesses is not a significant factor in their employment
decisions. In the short term, the demand for labour tends to be inelastic with respect to
changes in wages
4. Discrimination: The minimum wage has had an impact on the earnings of part-time female
workers.
5. Productivity: It is hard to identify any strong positive effect on labour productivity - but
efficiency gains have been made in most low-paying industries, a trend which started
before the minimum wage was introduced.

Suggestions for further reading on minimum prices

You can find out more about the minimum wage in Britain by visiting the Department for Trade and
Industry, The Trades Union Congress, the Confederation of British Industry, the Federation of
Small Businesses and the Low Pay Commission.

Butcher guilty of low staff wages (BBC news, July 2008)

Deluge of complaints on minimum wage abuse (Times, April 2007)
Hard Rock wages below the minimum (BBC news, July 2008)
Japan sets up minimum wage raise (BBC news, April 2007)
Living on the minimum wage (BBC news audio-visual, 2006)
Minimum wage rise of 3.8% stokes union anger (The Times, March 2008)
UK gets a minimum wage (BBC news audio-visual, April 1999)
USA minimum wage rises for the first time in a decade (BBC news online, February 2007)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 193 -

Buffer Stock Schemes

World Cocoa Price

London/NY market, Average, US dollars per ton
3250 3250

3000 3000

2750 2750

2500 2500

2250 2250
USD/Ton

2000 2000

1750 1750

1500 1500

1250 1250

1000 1000

750 750
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

Source: Reuters EcoWin

The prices of agricultural products such as wheat, tea and coffee tend to fluctuate more than the
prices of manufactured products and services. This is largely due to the volatility in the market
supply of agricultural products coupled with the fact that demand and supply are price inelastic.
One way to smooth out the fluctuations in prices is for the government to operate price support
schemes through the use of buffer stocks. But many of them have had a chequered history.

Buffer stock schemes seek to stabilize the market price of agricultural products by buying up
supplies of the product when harvests are plentiful and selling stocks of the product onto the
market when supplies are low.

The diagram below illustrates the operation of a buffer stock scheme. The government offers a
guaranteed minimum price (P min) to farmers of wheat. The price floor is set above the normal free
market equilibrium price. Notice that the price elasticity of supply for wheat in the short term is very
low because of the length of time it takes for producers to supply new quantities of wheat to the
market. (Indeed in the momentary period, we would draw the supply curve as vertical indicating a
fixed supply).

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 194 -

Supply S2

Price

P min Price Floor (Guaranteed)

Pe

Demand

Q3 Q1 Q4 Quantity

If the government is to maintain the guaranteed price at P min, then it must buy up the excess
supply (Q3-Q1) and put these purchases into intervention storage. Should there be a large rise in
supply due to better than expected yields of wheat at harvest time, the market supply of wheat will
shift out (see the diagram on the next page) – putting downward pressure on the free market
equilibrium price. In this situation, the government will have to intervene once more in the market
and buy up the surplus stock of wheat to prevent the price from falling. It is easy to see how if the
market supply rises faster than demand then the amount of wheat bought into storage will grow.

The problems with buffer stock schemes

In theory buffer stock schemes should be profit making, since they buy up stocks of the product
when the price is low and sell them onto the market when the price is high. However, they do not
often work well in practice. Clearly, perishable items cannot be stored for long periods of time and
can therefore be immediately ruled out of buffer stock schemes.

Setting up a buffer stock scheme also requires a significant amount of start up capital, since money
is needed to buy up the product when prices are low. There are also high administrative and
storage costs to be considered.

The success of a buffer stock scheme however ultimately depends on the ability of those
managing a scheme to correctly estimate the average price of the product over a period of time.
This estimate is the scheme‘s target price and obviously determines the maximum and minimum
price boundaries.
But if the target price is significantly above the correct average price then the organization will find
itself buying more produce than it is selling and it will eventually run out of money. The price of the
product will then crash as the excess stocks built up by the organization are dumped onto the
market.
Conversely if the target price is too low then the organization will often find the price rising above
the boundary, it will end up selling more than it is buying and will eventually run out of stocks

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 195 -

Government Failure

A failure of the free market and the price mechanism to deliver an allocatively efficient allocation of
scarce resources is normally regarded as justification for some form of government intervention in
the economy. This intervention is designed to correct for instances of market failure and achieve
an improvement in economic and social welfare. But what if intervention leads to further
inefficiencies? What if government policies prove to be costly to implement but ineffective in
achieving their desired outcomes? What happens if intervention distorts markets still further
leading to a further loss of allocative efficiency?

What is Government Failure?

Even with good intentions governments seldom get their policy application correct. They can tax,
control and regulate but the eventual outcome may be a deepening of the market failure or even
worse a new failure may arise. Government failure may range from the trivial, when intervention is
merely ineffective, but where harm is restricted to the cost of resources used up and wasted by the
intervention, to cases where intervention produces new and more serious problems that did not
exist before. The consequences of this can take many years to reverse.

Government failure in a non-market economy

The collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s marked the failure of command or state-run
economies as a means of allocating resources among competing uses. The essence of a
command economy was that the state planning mechanism would decide what to produce and
how to produce it and for whom to produce.

Government failure occurred when the central planners produced products that were not wanted
by consumers – a loss of allocative efficiency, since there was no price mechanism to signal
changes in consumer preferences and demand. Another fundamental failing of the pure command
economy was that there was little incentive for workers to raise productivity; poor quality control;
and little innovation by firms as no profit motive existed. Command economies also suffered
massive environmental de-gradation because they did not posses structures for valuing the
environment and giving consumers and producers the right incentives to protect their
environmental heritage.

All of these economies are now moving towards the western mixed economy, though at varying
speeds and with varying success. Ten countries became new members of the European Union in
May 2004, some of them former state-run economies in the Eastern Block. Countries such as
Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland are all moving towards a market based system for the
allocation of resources through privatisation and market liberalisation.

Causes of Government Failure

Government intervention can prove to be ineffective, inequitable and misplaced.

(a) Political self-interest

The pursuit of self-interest amongst politicians and civil servants can often lead to a misallocation
of resources. For example decisions about where to build new roads, by-passes, schools and
hospitals may be decided with at least one eye to the political consequences.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 196 -

The pressures of a looming election or the influence exerted by special interest groups can
foster an environment in which inappropriate spending and tax decisions are made. - e.g. boosting
welfare spending in the run up to an election, or bringing forward major items of capital spending
on infrastructural projects without the projects being subjected to a full and proper cost-benefit
analysis to determine the likely social costs and benefits. Critics of current government policy
towards tobacco taxation and advertising, and the controversial issue of genetically modified foods
argue that government departments are too sensitive to political lobbying from the major
corporations.

(b) Policy myopia

Critics of government intervention in the economy argue that politicians have a tendency to look for
short term solutions or “quick fixes” to difficult economic problems rather than making
considered analysis of long term considerations.

For example, a decision to build more roads and by-passes might simply add to the problems of
traffic congestion in the long run encouraging an increase in the total number of cars on the roads.
The Commission for Integrated Transport has criticised the Government for a failure to develop a
properly integrated transport policy. They clearly believe that government failure is endemic in our
transport industry – although we should remember that their view is normative, based on value
judgements!

Secondly criticisms of the huge increases in state spending on the National Health Service.
Government critics argue that much of the extra spending is being ―lost‖ in higher pay and
administration rather than finding its way into improving front-line health services.

The risk is that myopic decision-making will only provide short term relief to particular problems but
does little to address structural economic problems.

Critics of government subsidies to particular industries also claim that

they distort the proper functioning of markets and lead to inefficiencies
in the economy. For example short term financial support to coal
producers to keep open loss-making coal pits might prove to be a waste
of scarce resources if the industry concerned has little realistic prospect
of achieving a viable rate of return in the long run given the strength of
global competition.

(c) Regulatory capture.

This is when the industries under the control of a regulatory body (i.e. a
government agency) appear to operate in favour of the vested interest of
producers rather can consumers. Some economists argue that regulators can prevent the ability of
the market to operate freely. We might find examples of this in agriculture, telecommunications, the
main household utilities and in transport regulation.

For example, to what extent has the system of agricultural support known as the Common
Agricultural Policy operated too much in the interests of farmers and the farming industry in
general? And as a result, has the CAP worked against the long-term interest of consumers, the
environment and developing countries who claim that they are being unfairly treated in world
markets by the effects of import tariffs on food and export subsidies to loss-making European
farmers?

(d) Government intervention and disincentive effects

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 197 -

Free market economists who fear government failure at every turn argue that attempts to reduce
income and wealth inequalities can worsen incentives and productivity. They would argue
against the National Minimum Wage because they believe that it artificially raises wages above
their true free-market level and can lead to real-wage unemployment. They would argue against
raising the higher rates of income tax because it is deemed to have a negative effect on the
incentives of wealth-creators in the economy and generally acts as a disincentive to work longer
hours or take a better paid job.

(e) Government intervention and evasion

A decision by the government to raise taxes on de-merit goods such as cigarettes might lead to an
increase in attempted tax avoidance, tax evasion, smuggling and the development of grey
markets where trade takes place between consumers and suppliers without paying tax. Equally a
decision to legalize and then tax some drugs might lead to a rapid expansion of the supply of drugs
and a substantial loss of social welfare arising from over consumption.

(f) Policy decisions based on imperfect information

How does the government establish what citizens want it to do in their name? Can the government
ever really know the true revealed preferences of so many people? Our current electoral system
is not an ideal way to discover this! Turnout in every type of election, (local, national, European etc)
is falling, there is general disinterest in the political process. Furthermore, people rarely vote purely
out of their own self-interest or on the basis of a well informed and rational assessment of the costs
and benefits of different government policies.

Proponents of government failure argue that the free market mechanism is, in the long-run, the
best way of finding out
(a) What consumer preferences are and
(b) Aggregating these preferences based on the number of people that are willing and able
to pay for particular goods and services.

Often a government will choose to go ahead with a project or policy without having the full amount
of information required for a proper cost-benefit analysis. The result can be misguided policies
and damaging long-term consequences.

How does the government know how many extra houses need to be built in the UK over the next
twenty years? Is building thousands of extra homes in an already congested South-east the right
option? Are there better solutions? There have been plenty of instances of government housing
policy having failed in previous decades!

(g) The Law of Unintended Consequences

The law of unintended consequences is that actions of consumer and producers — and
especially of government—always have effects that are unanticipated or "unintended."
Particularly when people do not always act in the way that the economics textbooks would predict
– this is of course the essence of a social, behaviour science – we do not live our lives in sanitised
laboratories where all of the conditions can be controlled.

The law of unintended consequences is often used to criticise the effects of government legislation,
taxation and regulation. People find ways to circumvent laws; shadow markets develop to
undermine an official policy; people act in unexpected ways because or ignorance and / or error.

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 198 -

Unintended consequences can add hugely to the financial costs of some government programmes
so that they make them extremely expensive when set against their original goals and objectives.

(h) Costs of administration and enforcement

Government intervention can prove costly to administer and enforce. The estimated social benefits
of a particular policy might be largely swamped by the administrative costs of introducing it.

Carbon trading and government failure

Coal production is on the increase in the UK and around Europe. But this is the sort of thing that
isn't supposed to be happening! Even with the potential for clean coal technology, it is widely
regarded as a dirty source of energy and a major contributor to C02 emissions. Why are the power
stations turning back to coal? Because the price of carbon emissions is low and coal has become
price competitive against oil and gas.

The carbon trading scheme started in January 2005 with carbon allowances being bought and
sold. The largest C02 emitters were brought into the cap and trade system. The cap places a limit
on the total pot of emissions that can be released by industry - the aim is to progressively reduce
this cap over time and therefore mitigate climate change. The original caps set by the EU are now
seen as being set way too high and some people believe that this was not an accident, companies
and businesses may have been deliberately given more allowances than they needed, creating
surplus permits that could be profitably sold onto to other businesses.

Carbon Trade Watch believe that the EU has been captured by strong corporate lobbying who
themselves knowingly over-estimated their "business as usual" C02 emissions when they
submitted them to national governments ahead of the launch of the carbon trading scheme.

The surplus of C02 emission allowances has meant that scarcity in the market has disappeared
leading to a collapse in the price of carbon - prices now are 20-30 Euro cents, effectively the price
of polluting is close to zero. The market thus provides little incentive for businesses to invest
money in reducing their emissions.

For firms with plenty of surplus C02 emissions (given away free of charge in the first place!) there
has been a huge windfall gain. "Polluter pays" seems to have been replaced with "polluter earns"!
The major power generators have been given a free block of pollution rights which they can then
sell onto the market and make a profit. DEFRA, the UK environment agency has estimated that the
windfall profits for the electricity generators in the UK might have been as high as £1.5bn.

One criticism of the EU carbon trading scheme is that the EU allocated initial allowances free
rather than using a market-based auction system.

As coal production expands, so C02 emissions are rising, and the power stations have to buy extra
emissions credits, but the price of credits is low so the consequences for the power generators are
not significant. Emissions from coal fired power stations in the UK in 2006 alone increased by 8%!
Consumers are paying the price of higher energy bills but they are not getting the environmental
pay off in terms of reducing carbon production as a contribution to controlling climate change.

Source: Tutor2u Blog, June 2007

Key points about government failure

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 199 -

1. Free market economists are naturally distrustful of government intervention in the

economy. They believe that the signalling, incentive and rationing functions of the
price mechanism should be given more freedom to operate
2. When government failure exists, the result can be a deepening of an existing market
failure. The result is a further loss of allocative and productive efficiency because of the
waste of scarce resources – leading to a reduction in consumer and producer welfare
3. Often we can accuse the government of policy failure only with the benefit of hindsight
4. Limited information - no government has the resources and information available to it to
make fully-informed, objective judgements. That is the nature of politics.
5. Government failure is most likely to occur when decisions are made in the vested interest
of special interest groups, at the expense of other groups (the result is a loss of equity)

Using the cost-benefit principle in AS micro economics

The cost-benefit principle is one of those core ideas that can be brought into so many discussions
both in micro and macroeconomics – you should be using it in your papers tomorrow.

The cost-benefit principle says that you should take an action if, and only if, the extra
benefit from taking it is greater than the extra cost

Here are some examples where the principle might be built into your analysis and evaluation

1. Costs and benefits of subsidies e.g. the bio-fuel debate or subsidies for industries affected
by globalisation
2. Costs and benefits of indirect taxes e.g. environmental taxes or taxes designed to curb
demand for / consumption of de-merit goods
3. Costs and benefits of the introduction of competition into a market e.g. postal market
liberalisation
4. Costs and benefits of an increase in government spending on public goods and merit goods
such as flood defence schemes, free entry to museums and galleries
5. Costs and benefits of different strategies designed to reduce income and wealth inequality
e.g. the national minimum wage or a rise in the top rate of income tax
6. Costs and benefits of the introduction of carbon trading as a way of reducing CO2
emissions
7. Costs and benefits of different policies designed to reduce unemployment e.g. comparing
the effectiveness of investment in training with an employment subsidy for the long term
unemployed
8. Costs and benefits of major infrastructural projects such as new motorways, London 2012
9. Costs and benefits of a decision to relax planning controls on new house-building
Suggestions for further reading on government failure
All of the following web links have been chosen because they link to to the topic of government
failure. Failure happens when policies do not work as intended – as you read through the articles
that take your interest, consider where (if at all) the government failure may lie in these examples.
Appetite for bio fuel starves the poor (Guardian, July 2008)
Canadians ponder the cost of the rush for dirty oil (Guardian, July 2008)
Inside one of Britain‘s cannabis factories (BBC news, June 2008)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 200 -

NHS dentistry reforms are failing (BBC news, July 2008)

Regulatory failure over Equitable Life (BBC news, July 2008)
Run on the Bank – Northern Crock (Money Programme, November 2007)
The great carbon bazaar (BBC news, June 2008)
The Great Green Fuel Gamble (Money Programme, March 2008)
Watchdog admits failure over Northern Rock (BBC news, March 2008)
Will the smoking ban kill bingo halls? (BBC news, May 2007)

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 201 -

Exam Technique

The AQA Unit 1 Exam Paper – Markets and Market Failure

The exam consists of
Written Paper: 1 hour 15 minutes – carrying 25% of total A Level marks = 75 raw marks (100UMS)
Section A: 25 compulsory objective test (multiple choice) items (25 marks)
Section B: Two optional data response questions are set; candidates answer one
Each question will have four sub-questions, carrying 5, 8, 12 and 25 marks (50 marks in total)

Assessment objectives for the exam

The economics exam tests four types of assessment objectives, knowledge, and application
of knowledge, analysis and evaluation:
Knowledge: Level 1 tests your knowledge of the syllabus and your ability to express that
knowledge e.g. there are two main methods of measuring unemployment and different
ways of measuring the rate of inflation using the Retail Price Index
Application: Level 2 test your ability to apply your economics knowledge and
understanding to particular problems and issues. The skill of application requires you to
select relevant information from the data source that is used in a question and then to use
the selected information as a stimulus or as evidence in the answer
Analysis: Level 3 tests your ability to use economic theories and concepts to analyse
microeconomic and macroeconomic problems e.g. use aggregate demand & aggregate
supply to show rising unemployment caused by a negative output gap. Analysis is an
important skill both at AS level and even more so at A2 level. The command word explain
usually requires that some analysis is provided in the answer – usually in the form of a
specific problem or policy. Explanation may require explaining the causes or the
consequences of a problem or policy
Evaluation: Level 4 tests your ability to evaluate problems and government policies and
make informed judgements based on theory and evidence e.g. short term and long term
implications. Evaluation must be based on appropriate analysis for L4 marks to be
awarded. We will say much more about evaluation further on in this revision guide!

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net

 - 202 -

Key Command Words in Questions

The table below helps to give you an idea of the different command words that can be used in a
question.
Knowledge & Application of Knowledge Analyse Economic Problems and Issues
Calculate Work out using the Analyse Set out the main points
information provided
Explain a theoretical relationship
(calculators can and
should be used in the Diagrams are nearly always
exam e.g. when required for analysis
manipulating the data
provided in charts and
tables)
Define Give the exact and precise Apply Use the data provided in a
meaning specific way
Describe Give a description of Compare Give similarities and differences
Give (an As `describe' Consider Give your thoughts about
account of)
Give (an Give a particular example Explain (why) Give clear reasons or make
example of) (drawn from real world clear
Explain (using
markets. Industries and
the concept of) In this question you must use
economies)
the concept in the question
How (explain In what way or in what Justify/account Give reasons for
how) ways for
Identify Point out
Illustrate Give examples/diagram Evaluate Economic Arguments and Evidence

Outline Describe without detail Assess Show how important something

is
State Make clear Criticise Give an opinion or set of
opinions - but support it (them)
with relevant evidence
Summarise Give main points, without Discuss Give the arguments, for and
detail against
Which Give a clear example/state Evaluate Discuss the importance of,
what making some attempt to weight
your opinions
To what extent Make a judgement, come to a
reasoned conclusion at the end

© Tutor2u Limited www.tutor2u.net