Price elasticity of demand of a good is 1.when it's price per unit fal...
Calculation of Price before Change
Given, price elasticity of demand = 1, initial demand = 16 units, and final demand = 18 units.
Price elasticity of demand is the measure of the responsiveness of the quantity demanded of a good to a change in its price. A value of 1 for price elasticity of demand means that the quantity demanded of the good changes by the same percentage as the change in its price.
Let us assume that the initial price of the good is P. So, we can calculate the percentage change in price as:
Percentage change in price = (1 / P) * 1 = 1 / P
Similarly, we can calculate the percentage change in quantity demanded as:
Percentage change in quantity demanded = (18 - 16) / ((16 + 18) / 2) = 0.125 or 12.5%
Using the formula for price elasticity of demand, we know that:
Price elasticity of demand = (Percentage change in quantity demanded) / (Percentage change in price)
Substituting the values in the above formula, we get:
1 = 0.125 / (1 / P)
Solving for P, we get:
P = 10
Explanation
The above calculation shows that the initial price of the good was 10 rupees before the change. When the price of the good falls by 1 rupee, the demand for the good rises from 16 to 18 units. This means that the percentage change in quantity demanded is 12.5%, which is equal to the percentage change in price. Hence, the price elasticity of demand is 1.
The calculation of price elasticity of demand is important for businesses to determine the optimal price for their products. If the price elasticity of demand is greater than 1, then a decrease in price will lead to a more than proportionate increase in quantity demanded, which means that the business can increase its revenue by lowering the price. On the other hand, if the price elasticity of demand is less than 1, then a decrease in price will lead to a less than proportionate increase in quantity demanded, which means that the business should keep its price high to maximize revenue.