Supply and Demand and Elasticity Paper
Katrice Biggins
University of Phoenix
Supply and Demand and Elasticity
During severe weather storm necessities such as water, bread, and milk are essential.
Milk unlike the other two come in different forms fresh, can, and powder. Fresh milk becomes scarce in areas affected by hurricanes and tornadoes due to transportation issues. Roads and highways are shutdown with debris and power outages.
Price elasticity is affected by supply and demand. Demand is high in areas where children and families are affected by storms. Stores have been found to increase the price of goods during national disasters. On the other hand stores have also seen a decrease in demand due to price increases.
Families are more inclined to purchase powder and can milk during these types of disasters. Fresh milk will not last during power outages, such as can milk. Due to cost which is an average of .79 per 10oz can. The less supply available causes a change in the price of the goods or price elasticity. By comparing markets using elasticities it does not matter how we measure the price or the quantity in the two markets. Elasticities allow economists to quantify the differences among markets without standardizing the units of measure. When an elasticity is small (between zero and one in absolute value), we call the relation that it describes inelastic. According to Abowd (1999), Economists want to compare apples and oranges all the time.
Reference Page Citation
Abowd, J. (1999). The Concept of Elasticity.
Retrieved September 30, 2009, from http://www.courses.cit.cornell.edu/econ101-dl/lecture-elasticity.html