Modules 1-3 Flashcards
(57 cards)
What is Willingness to Pay (WTP)?
Willingness to pay is the maximum amount of money a customer is willing to pay for a product or service.
How does WTP differ from price?
WTP is not the same as price; a product may have a price of $0, but consumers may still be willing to pay a lot for it.
What happens if the price of a product is higher than a consumer’s WTP?
The consumer will not purchase the product.
What factors influence a consumer’s WTP?
Factors include observable elements like income, gender, and age, as well as non-observable elements like intrinsic preferences and substitutes.
What is a demand curve?
A demand curve summarizes a consumer’s willingness to pay for various quantities of a product.
How is a demand curve typically graphed?
Price is represented on the y-axis, and quantity demanded is on the x-axis.
Why are demand curves useful?
They allow easy visualization of how a firm’s revenues correspond to different prices.
What shape is an individual’s demand curve and why?
It is typically downward sloping due to diminishing marginal returns.
What does the market demand curve represent?
It reports the aggregate quantity demanded at any given price.
What causes shifts in the demand curve?
Changes in consumer willingness to pay result in shifts of the demand curve.
What is the difference between slopes and shifts in the demand curve?
Changes in price correspond to movements along the demand curve, while non-price factors that affect WTP correspond to shifts.
What does the slope of a market demand curve measure?
The slope measures how responsive buyers are to changes in price.
What characterizes an elastic demand curve?
An elastic demand curve is flat or near-flat, where a small dip in price leads to a large surge in quantity demanded.
What characterizes an inelastic demand curve?
An inelastic demand curve is steep or vertical, where changes in price have little impact on quantity demanded.
When is demand typically more elastic?
Demand is typically more elastic if a product is a luxury rather than a necessity, or if there are many substitutes available.
How is the price elasticity of demand calculated?
It is calculated as the percentage change in quantity demanded divided by the percentage change in price.
What is a key advantage of using elasticity over slope measures?
Elasticity is a unit-less measure, allowing for easier comparison of demand elasticities for different products.
How does elasticity vary on a demand curve?
Elasticity is different at each point on a demand curve with constant slope, but the curve can be called ‘elastic’ or ‘inelastic’ based on its overall slope.
What is income elasticity of demand?
Income elasticity of demand measures how sensitive quantity demanded is to a change in consumers’ income.
What are surveys and focus groups used for?
They are used by firms to directly ask consumers about their preferences.
What is a challenge of surveys and focus groups?
Challenges include designing them to encourage truthful responses and selecting the right target sample of consumers.
What is the advantage of auctions in assessing consumer WTP?
Auctions effectively elicit a consumer’s true WTP by tying preference revelation to the probability of obtaining the good.
What is an open outcry auction?
In an open outcry auction, buyers submit increasing bids, and the highest bidder wins, typically paying just above the second highest bid.
What is a sealed second-price auction?
In a sealed second-price auction, buyers submit sealed bids, the highest bidder wins, and pays the second highest bid.