Elasticity is a term that was initially developed by known economic scholar called Alfred Marshall, and has been since used in measuring the relationship that exists between product price and its quantity demanded. It typically followed the law of demand that states that the lower the price of goods and services, the higher the quantity that will be demanded of such goods and services i.e. it primarily explains only the actual directions of changes in the demand for the commodity, but not really explaining the extent of that change. A further development on these lapses led to the concept of elasticity of demands. In practical term, elasticity means the act of responsiveness. Meanwhile, elasticity of demand has been theoretically defined as the responsiveness of the actual quantity demanded of a product to the change in its actual price. Elasticity of demand could be defined as the measure of the degree Continue reading
Managerial Economics
Managerial Economics generally refers to the integration of economic theory with business practice. It deals with the use of economic concepts and principles of business decision making. Managerial Economics is thus constituted of that part of economic knowledge or economic theories which is used as a tool of analyzing business problems for rational business decisions. Managerial economics can be viewed by most modern economists as a practical application of economics theory in using effectively the firms scarce resources.
Effect of Agglomeration in Urban Economies
In order for the economy to grow, an urban area has to be positioned in an area where development exists and where there is economic growth is running. As long as economic energy is in an urban area, also the activity of urban force, it is necessary to gain a contribution to the appearance of the role of urban areas in economic growth and development. Economists are concerned about how the economic growth of their cities is increased. Mostly populated urban areas, chances of an economic opportunity exist in those areas. The majority of ideas analyze the importance of growth opportunities in an urban area. Internal economies make the production of firms produce goods that are more cost-effective than single members. Agglomeration economies cause firms to cluster in the cities and clustering causes economic power and development in that city. Talking about people’s growth, it is the first time in Continue reading
The Micro Economics and Macro Economics
Economic analysis is of two types (a) Micro economic analysis and (b) Macro economic analysis Definition and Meaning of Micro Economics: According to E. Boulding, “Micro economics is the study of particular firm, particular household, individual price, wage, income, industry, and particular commodity.” In the words of Leftwitch, “Micro economics is concerned with the economic activities of such economic units as consumers, resource owners and business firms.” ‘Micro’ is a Greek word means ‘small’. Micro economic theory studies the behavior of individual decision-making units such as consumers’ resource owners, business firms, individual households, wages of workers, etc. It studies the flow of economic resources or factors of production from the resource owners to business firms and the flow of goods and services from the business firms to households. It studies the composition of such flows and how the prices of goods and services in the flow are determined. In this Continue reading
Revenue Structure of a Firm under Monopoly
Monopoly is that market category in which a single seller dominates the market. There is only one producer (firm) and there are no substitutes for its product. Since under monopoly there is just one firm producing a particular product there is no element of competition. Besides in the absence of any other firm producing homogeneous product the firm itself constitutes the industry. Hence it is futile to make any effort to distinguish between a firm and an industry under monopoly. Under Monopoly, firm is itself an industry. The revenue structure under monopoly is bound to be different from that in case of a firm under perfect competition. Under perfect competition, the firm is a price-taker and not a price maker and its AR curve is horizontal denoted by perfectly elastic demand curve. But a monopolist is not a price-taker; he is price-maker. Continue reading
The Principle of Equity in Taxation
Taxation traces its origin to the ancient times as a major source of revenue needed for governance. Kingdoms, monarchies and even dynasties had an elaborate form of taxation imposed on their subjects to source funds that were used to run affairs of the government. These taxes were subjective and biased depending on those in power. Advancement in education led to important studies on the possible forms of taxation that reflected the aspirations and welfare of the people. Owing to this therefore, Adam Smith, accredited as the “Father of modern political Economy” carried out an extensive study in Public Finance seeking to give an in-depth analysis of taxation. Smith documented the findings in his book known as “Wealth of Nations” in 1776. It is in this book that Smith scripted the four maxims of taxation which were later globally adopted as the Canons of Taxation which are summarized as Equity, Certainty, Continue reading
Why Oligopoly is a More Common Type of Market Structure Compared to Perfect Competition
Perfect competition is an ideal model and so it is difficult to find markets that have all these characteristics. There are some markets in the real world that approximates perfect competition. Examples of such markets are farming, the stock exchange market and the foreign currency market. These markets possess some of the characteristics of perfect competition as explained in part (a). However, even in such markets, some of the characteristics are hard to fulfil. For instance, buyers and sellers may not be price takers. In the stock exchange market, there are some individuals or institutions that can influence the price of shares through their large holdings of a particular company’s shares. The product is also not homogenous if stock of different companies are considered., Thus, if they were to sell their shares, price will fall. Knowledge is not perfect either. Although buyers and sellers do have easy access to information Continue reading