In: Finance
Please show all work to receive credit for the calculation question.
Godfrey is an artist that paints live portraits for people. If he changed the price of a portrait from $30 to $36 and quantity demanded by customers changed from 300/month to 270/month,
Existing price of a portrait (P0) = $30
New price of a portrait (P1) = $36
Existing demand (D0) = 300/month
New demand after price increase (D1) = 270/month
1. Price elasticity of demand = % change in quantity demanded / % change in price
Where,
% change in quantity demanded = [(D1 - D0) / D0] x 100 = [(270 - 300) / 300] x 100 = -10%
% change in price = [(P1 - P0) / P0] x 100 = [(36 - 30) / 30] x 100 = 20%
Putting values in the formula :
Price elasticity of demand = -10% / 20% = -0.5
2. The demand for Godfrey's product is relatively price inelastic because percentage decrease in quantity demanded (10%) is less than percentage increase in price (20%) and total revenues increased as price increased, as shown below:
Revenue before price increase = P0 x D0 = $30 x 300 =$9,000
Revenue after price increase = P1 x D1 = $36 x 270 =$9,720
3. Unitary Demand: occurs when the price elasticity of demand is equal to negative one (-1)
: -1 = % change in quantity demanded / % change in price
: -1 = -10% / {[(P1 - 30) / 30] x 100}
By solving above equation, we get P1 = $33
Hence, at $33, the price elasticity of the product will be unitary demand.
4. New price (P1) = 30 x 130% = $39 or 30% increase
Elasticity in (a) = -0.5
: -0.5 = % change in quantity demanded / % change in price
: -0.5 = {[(D1 - 300) / 300] x 100} / 30%
By solving above equation, we get D1 = 255
% change in quantity = [(255 - 300) / 300] x 100 = -15%
Hence, quantity demanded need to change by -15% from the original quantity of 300/month to retain the same price elasticity as in (a)