The most probable outcome of offering free tickets is that there will be a shortage of tickets for the more popular show A due to high demand, and a surplus of tickets for the less popular show B due to lower demand. This prediction is based on the principles of supply and demand and is akin to the scenario described in Figure 3.24 (b) regarding struggling movie theaters and the effect of a price floor on equilibrium.
If free tickets are offered for the taping of television show A and B, then the most likely outcome is that there will be a shortage of tickets for show A and a surplus of tickets for show B. This prediction is based on the principle of supply and demand. For show A, which is more popular, the demand for tickets will likely exceed the number of free tickets available, leading to a shortage. Conversely, for show B, which is less popular, the demand for tickets may be less than the number of free tickets available, leading to a surplus.
This reasoning can be related to the concepts of consumer surplus and producer surplus, as demonstrated in Figure 3.24 (b). In the context of struggling movie theaters mentioned in the example, a price floor was imposed which disturbed the equilibrium. The number of movie-goers decreased because of the higher prices, leading to a transfer from consumer surplus to producer surplus and causing a deadweight loss.
Similar to this, if the equilibrium prices were artificially disturbed (made free, in this case) for the television show tickets, the same sort of unbalanced supply and demand scenario could occur.
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