In: Economics
True or False?
If the price elasticity of demand for cigarettes is –0.50 and the price of cigarettes increases 10%, the quantity demanded of cigarettes decreases by 50%.
The price elasticity of demand is equal to percentage change in quantity demanded divided by the percentage change in price. In this case, price elasticity of demand is -0.5, therefore, when the price of cigarette increases by 10% it implies that the quantity demanded of cigarette will decrease by -0.5×10% which is equal to 5%, so we can say that the given statement is false.