Question

Suppose that a local supermarket sells apples and oranges for 50 cents apiece, and at these prices is able to sell 100 apples and 200 oranges per week. One week, the supermarket lowered the price per apple to 40 cents and sold 120 apples. The next week, they lowered the price per orange to 40 cents (after raising the price per apple back to 50 cents) and sold 240 oranges. These results imply that the

a. price elasticity of apples is lower than the price elasticity of oranges
b. price elasticity of apples is higher than the price elasticity of oranges
c. demand for apples is more price sensitive than the demand for oranges
d. demand for oranges is more price sensitive than the demand for apples
e. price elasticities of demand for apples and oranges are the same over these price ranges

Answer 1

e. price elasticities of demand for apples and oranges are the same over these price ranges

Step-by-step explanation:

Price elasticity of demand measures the responsiveness of quantity demanded to changes in price.

Price elasticity = percentage change in quantity demanded / percentage change in price

Percentage change in price = (50-40) / 50 = 0.2 × 100 = 20%

Percentage change in quantity demanded of Apples = (120 - 100) / 100 = 0.2 × 100 =

20%

Percentage change in quantity demanded of oranges = (240 - 200) / 200 = 0.2 × 100 = 20%

Price elasticity of demand for oranges = 20% / 20% = 1

Price elasticity of demand for Apples = 20% / 20% = 1

When coefficient of elasticity is equal than one, elasticity of demand is unit elastic.

This implies that the elasticity of demand for Apples and oranges are the same. A change in the price of oranges and apples would lead to the same proportional change for each of the demand for Apples and oranges.

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