ECONOMIC BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

ECONOMIC &

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

Chapter

1 Basics of Demand and

Supply and Forms of

Market Competition

1

2 National Income

Accounting and Related

Concepts

22

3 Indian Union Budget

39

4 Indian Financial Markets

51

5 Indian Economy

88

6 Entrepreneurship Scenario 108

7 Business Environment

120

8 Key Government

Institutions

136

Lesson 1

BASICS OF DEMAND AND

SUPPLY AND FORMS

OF MARKET COMPETITION

1

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Economic & Business Environment

THEORY OF DEMAND AND SUPPLY

Meaning of Demand

Demand is an economic principle referring to a consumer's desire to purchase goods and services and willingness to pay a price for a specific good or service.

Law of Demand

According to the law of demand, other things being equal, if price of a commodity falls, the quantity demanded of it will rise, and if price of the commodity rises, its quantity demanded will decline. It implies that there is an inverse relationship between the price and quantity demanded of a commodity,. In other words, other things being equal, quantity demanded will be more at a lower price than at higher price.

The law of demand describes the functional relationship between price and quantity demanded. Among various factors affecting demand, price of a commodity is the most critical factor. Thus, demand of a commodity is mainly determined by the price of commodity.

Dx = f(Px).

The law of demand may be understood from the following example:

PRICE PER CAN (INR) 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

QUANTITY DEMANDED 0

200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600

Economic & Business Environment

3

Source: Economics Online Thus, it may be observed that with the rise in price per can, the demand for the cans is reducing. Assumptions of the law of demand The above stated law of demand is conditional. It is based on certain conditions as given. It is therefore, always stated with the `other things being equal'. It relates to the change in price variable only, assuming other determinants of demand to be constant. The law of demand is thus, based on the following ceteris paribus assumptions:

1. No Change in Consumer's Income

2. No Change in Consumer's Preferences

3. No Change in the Fashion

4. No Change in the Price of Related Goods

5. No Expectation of Future Price Changes or Shortages

6. No Change in Size, Age Composition and Sex Ratio of the Population 7. No Change in the Range of Goods Available to the Consumers 8. No Change in the Distribution of Income and Wealth of the Community 9. No Change in Government Policy 10. No Change in Weather Conditions

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Economic & Business Environment

EXCEPTIONS TO THE LAW OF DEMAND

There are few exceptional cases where the law of demand is not applicable, which may be categorised as follows:

Giffen Goods : In the case of certain inferior goods called Giffen goods (named after Sir Robert Giffen), when the prices fall, quite often less quantity will be purchased than before because of the negative income effect and people's increasing preference for a superior commodity with the rise in their real income. Examples of Giffen goods can include bread, rice, and wheat.

Articles of Snob Appeal : Sometimes, certain commodities are demanded just because they happen to be expensive or prestige goods, and have a `snob appeal'. They satisfy the aristocratic desire to preserve exclusiveness for unique goods.

Speculation : When people speculate about changes in the price of a commodity in the future, they may not act according to the law of demand at the present price, say, when people are convinced that the price of a particular commodity will rise still further, they will not contract their demand with the given price rise: on the contrary, they may purchase more for the purpose of hoarding.

Consumer's Psychological Bias or Illusion : When the consumer is wrongly biased against the quality of the commodity with the price change, he may contract this demand with a fall in price.

Law of Supply

Supply represents how much the market can offer. The quantity supplied refers to the amount of a good producers are willing to supply when receiving a certain price. The supply of a good or service refers to the quantities of that good or service that producers are prepared to offer for sale at a set of prices over a period of time. Supply means a schedule of possible prices and amounts that would be sold at each price. The supply is not the same concept as the stock of something in existence, for example, the stock of commodity X in Delhi means the total quantity of Commodity X in existence at a point of time; whereas, the supply of commodity X in Delhi means the quantity actually being offered for sale, in the market, over a specified period of time.

The law of supply states that a firm will produce and offer to sell greater quantities of a product or service as the price of that product or service rises, other things being equal. There is direct relationship between price and quantity supplied. In this statement, change in price is the cause and change in supply is the effect. Thus, the price rise leads to increase in supply and not otherwise. It may be noted that at higher prices, there is greater incentive to the producers or firms to produce and sell more. Other things include cost of production, change of technology, prices of inputs, level of competition, size of industry, government policy and non-economic factors.

Thus `Ceteris Paribus'

(a) With an increase in the price of a good, the producer is willing to offer more quantity in the market for sale.

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