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3 Demand and Supply
3 Demand and Supply
SUPPLY
UNDERSTANDING INDIVIDUAL
MARKETS
Thomas Masese
Africa University, Mutare
Zimbabwe
THE MARKET
The market for a product is not a
particular place but rather any situation
in which the buyer and seller of a
product communicate with each other
for the purpose of exchange.
The collective actions of the buyers in
the market determine the market
demand for a particular product while
the collective actions of the sellers
determine the market supply.
It is the interaction of these two forces
(known as market forces) which
determines the market price for the
product.
MEC101 Economic Principles 1, Africa
University 2018
DEMAND
You may want a particular product but not have the
money to pay for it or you may have the money to pay for
a product but not desire it.
Neither situation constitutes effective demand.
Effective demand means there has to be the willingness
and ability to buy a product.
Market demand- The total demand for a good or service
by all consumers at particular price over a particular
period of time.
Derived demand- demand for a factor of production not
for its own sake but the demand for the good or service
which uses it.
MEC101 Economic Principles 1, Africa
University 2018
DEMAND
Demand is a schedule which shows the various
amounts of a product consumers are willing and
able to purchase at each price in a series of
possible prices during a specific period of time.
It shows the quantities of a product that will be
demanded at various possible prices, ceteris
paribus.
It is simply a tabular statement of a buyer’s plans or
intentions with respect to a purchase of a product.
The demand curve pivots since if price were zero the consumption would not be
constrained by income such that if income were to increase there would not be
an increase/decrease in demand at a price of zero.