Question

MIT economist Jerry Housman has estimated the price elasticity of demand for Post Raisin Bran cereal to be -2.5 and the price elasticity of demand for all types of breakfast cereals to be -0.9. The demand for Post Raisin Brand cereal is:__________ 1. elastic 2. inelastic the demand for all types of breakfast cereals is:_____ 1. inelastic2. elastic

Answer 1

The demand for Post Raisin Brand cereal is: ELASTIC

the demand for all types of breakfast cereals is: INELASTIC

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the price elasticity of demand (PED) we can use the following formula:

PED = % change in quantity / % change in price

• If PED > 1, the demand is price elastic
• If PED = 1, the demand is price unitary
• If PED < 1, the demand is price inelastic

*The PED always results in a negative number, e.g. price deceases, quantity increases, but for practical reasons we convert the negative number into a positive (we use absolute values) when we are determining the elasticity.