In: Economics
The price of a fish dinner is $4. When Harry’s old income was $1,500 per month, his old monthly demand for fish dinners was Q = 18 – 0.5P. When Harry got a pay raise and began to earn a new income of $2,000 per month, his demand shifted to a new function of Q = 21 – 0.5P. Given this information, find Harry’s income elasticity (EI) for fish dinners. Harry’s income elasticity is for fish dinner is _____________.
Income elasticity of demand can be defined as the percentage change in quantity demanded in response to percentage change in income
IE = %change in quantity demanded/%change in income
It can be calculated using the following formula.
IE =
Where is change in quantity demanded and is change in income. Y is the initial income and Q is the initial Quantity demanded.
Inititial quantity demanded when income is 1500
Q = 18-0.5P
P= 4
Q = 18-(0.5*4) =
18-2 =16
Quantity demanded when income is 15000 =16
Quantity demanded when income is 2000
Q = 21-0.5P
Q = 21- 0.5*4=
21-2 =19
IE = (3/500) * (1500/16)
4500/8000= 0.5625
Harry's income elasticity for fish dinner = 0.5625