What do you mean by an ‘inferior good’? Give some examples
Inferior good: Those goods that share an inverse relationship with their prices and with the income of a consumer are called inferior goods. That is, If the price of a good (Px ) increases, then the demand for the good (Dx) decreases. If a consumer’s income (M) increases, then the demand for good Dx increases. Examples: Coarse cereals, birds, etc.
A consumer wants to consume two goods. The prices of the two goods are Rs 4
and Rs 5 respectively. The consumer’s income is Rs 20.
(i) Write down the equation of the budget line.
(ii) How much of good 1 can the consumer consume if she spends her entire
income on that good?
(iii) How much of good 2 can she consume if she spends her entire income on
that good?
(iv) What is the slope of the budget line?
Questions 5, 6 and 7 are related to question 4.
Suppose your friend is indifferent to the bundles (5, 6) and (6, 6). Are the preferences of your friend monotonic?
What is budget line?
Suppose there are 20 consumers for a good and they have identical demand functions:
d(p)=10–3pd(p)=10–3p for any price less than or equal to 103103 and d1(p)=0d1(p)=0 at any price greater than 103.
Consider the demand curve D (p) = 10 – 3p. What is the elasticity at price 53?
Suppose a consumer wants to consume two goods which are available only in
integer units. The two goods are equally priced at Rs 10 and the consumer’s
income is Rs 40.
(i) Write down all the bundles that are available to the consumer.
(ii) Among the bundles that are available to the consumer, identify those which cost her exactly Rs 40.
Explain why the budget line is downward sloping.
What do you mean by substitutes? Give examples of two goods which are substitutes of each other.
Suppose a consumer’s preferences are monotonic. What can you say about her preference ranking over the bundles (10, 10), (10, 9) and (9, 9)?
Suppose a consumer can afford to buy 6 units of good 1 and 8 units of good 2
if she spends her entire income. The prices of the two goods are Rs 6 and Rs 8
respectively. How much is the consumer’s income?
Explain the concept of a production function
What would be the shape of the demand curve so that the total revenue curve is?
(a) A positively sloped straight line passing through the origin?
(b) A horizontal line?
Explain market equilibrium.
Discuss the central problems of an economy.
What are the characteristics of a perfectly competitive market?
What is the total product of input?
From the schedule provided below calculate the total revenue, demand curve and the price elasticity of demand:
Quantity |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
Marginal Revenue |
10 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
- |
When do we say that there is an excess demand for a commodity in the market?
What do you mean by the production possibilities of an economy?
How are the total revenue of a firm, market price, and the quantity sold by the firm related to each other?
Will a profit-maximising firm in a competitive market produce a positive level of output in the long run if the market price is less than the minimum of AC? Give an explanation.
Consider a market with two firms. In the following table, columns labelled as SS1 and SS2 give the supply schedules of firm 1 and firm 2 respectively. Compute the market supply schedule.
Price (Rs.) | SS1 (kg) | SS2 (kg) |
---|---|---|
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 |
0 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 |
0 0 0 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 |
A firm earns a revenue of Rs 50 when the market price of a good is Rs 10. The market price increases to Rs 15 and the firm now earns a revenue of Rs 150. What is the price elasticity of the firm’s supply curve?
Suppose the demand and supply curves of salt are given by:
(a) Find the equilibrium price and quantity.
(b) Now, suppose that the price of an input that used to produce salt has increased so, that the new supply curve is qs = 400 + 3p
How does the equilibrium price and quantity change? Does the change conform to your expectation?
(a) Suppose the government has imposed at ax of Rs 3 per unit of sale on salt. How does it affect the equilibrium rice quantity?
When do we say that there is an excess supply for a commodity in the market?
The market price of a good changes from Rs 5 to Rs 20. As a result, the quantity supplied by a firm increases by 15 units. The price elasticity of the firm’s supply curve is 0.5. Find the initial and final output levels of the firm.
Suppose the market determined rent for apartments is too high for common people to afford. If the government comes forward to help those seeking apartments on rent by imposing control on rent, what impact will it have on the market for apartments?
How is the wage rate determined in a perfectly competitive labor market?
Why is the total revenue curve of a price-taking firm an upward-sloping straight line? Why does the curve pass through the origin?
Using supply and demand curves show how an increase in the price of shoes affects the price of a pair of socks and the number of pairs of socks bought and sold.