Introductory Microeconomics Class 12 Textbook PDF

Introductor y Microeconomics Textbook in Economics for Class XII 2019-20  ISBN 81-7450-678-0 First Edition ALL RIGHTS RESERVED February 20...

Introductor y Microeconomics Textbook in Economics for Class XII 2019-20  ISBN 81-7450-678-0 First Edition ALL RIGHTS RESERVED February 2007 Phalguna 1928 q No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system Reprinted or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the December 2007 Agrahayana 1929 publisher. December 2008 Pausa 1930 q This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade, January 2010 Magha 1931 be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of without the publisher’s March 2013 Phalguna 1934 consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is November 2013 Kartik 1935 published. December 2014 Pausha 1936 q The correct price of this publication is the price printed on this page, Any revised price indicated by a rubber stamp or by a sticker or by any other December 2015 Pausa 1937 means is incorrect and should be unacceptable. February 2017 Magha 1938 January 2018 Magha 1939 December 2018 Agrahayana 1940 OFFICES OF THE PUBLICATION DIVISION, NCERT PD 300T BS NCERT Campus Sri Aurobindo Marg New Delhi 110 016 Phone : 011-26562708 © National Council of Educational 108, 100 Feet Road Hosdakere Halli Extension Research and Training, 2007 Banashankari III Stage Bengaluru 560 085 Phone : 080-26725740 Navjivan Trust Building P.O.Navjivan Ahmedabad 380 014 Phone : 079-27541446 CWC Campus Opp. Dhankal Bus Stop Panihati Kolkata 700 114 Phone : 033-25530454 CWC Complex Maligaon Guwahati 781 021 Phone : 0361-2674869 Publication Team ` 70.00 Head, Publication : M. Siraj Anwar Division Chief Editor : Shveta Uppal Chief Business : Gautam Ganguly Manager Chief Production : Arun Chitkara Officer Printed on 80 GSM paper with NCERT Assistant Editor : R. N. Bhardwaj watermark Production Assistant : Sunil Kumar Published at the Publication Division by the Secretary, National Council of Educational Research and Training, Sri Aurobindo Cover, Layout and Illustrations Marg, New Delhi 110 016 and printed at Karan Printers, F-29/2, Okhla Industrial Nidhi Wadhwa Area, Phase-II, New Delhi - 110 020 2019-20  Foreword THE National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005, recommends that children’s life at school must be linked to their life outside the school. This principle marks a departure from the legacy of bookish learning which continues to shape our system and causes a gap between the school, home and community. The syllabi and textbooks developed on the basis of NCF signify an attempt to implement this basic idea. They also attempt to discourage rote learning and the maintenance of sharp boundaries between different subject areas. We hope these measures will take us significantly further in the direction of a child- centred system of education outlined in the National Policy of Education (1986). The success of this effort depends on the steps that school principals and teachers will take to encourage children to reflect on their own learning and to pursue imaginative activities and questions. We must recognise that, given space, time and freedom, children generate new knowledge by engaging with the information passed on to them by adults. Treating the prescribed textbook as the sole basis of examination is one of the key reasons why other resources and sites of learning are ignored. Inculcating creativity and initiative is possible if we perceive and treat children as participants in learning, not as receivers of a fixed body of knowledge. These aims imply considerable change in school routines and mode of functioning. Flexibility in the daily time-table is as necessary as rigour in implementing the annual calendar so that the required number of teaching days are actually devoted to teaching. The methods used for teaching and evaluation will also determine how effective this textbook proves for making children’s life at school a happy experience, rather than a source of stress or boredom. Syllabus designers have tried to address the problem of curricular burden by restructuring and reorienting knowledge at different stages with greater consideration for child psychology and the time available for teaching. The textbook attempts to enhance this endeavour by giving higher priority and space to opportunities for contemplation and wondering, discussion in small groups, and activities requiring hands-on experience. The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) appreciates the hard work done by the textbook development committee responsible for this book. We wish to thank the Chairperson of the advisory group in Social Sciences, at the higher secondary level, Professor Hari Vasudevan and the Chief Advisor for this book, Professor Tapas Majumdar, for guiding the work of this 2019-20 committee. Several teachers contributed to the development of this textbook; we are grateful to their principals for making this possible. We are indebted to the institutions and organisations which have generously permitted us to draw upon their resources, materials and personnel. We are especially grateful to the members of the National Monitoring Committee, appointed by the Department of Secondary and Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, under the Chairpersonship of Professor Mrinal Miri and Professor G.P. Deshpande for their valuable time and contribution. As an organisation committed to systemic reform and continuous improvement in the quality of its products, NCERT welcomes comments and suggestions which will enable us to undertake further revision and refinements. Director New Delhi National Council of Educational 20 November 2006 Research and Training iv 2019-20 CHAIRPERSON, ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE TEXTBOOKS AT THE H IGHER SECONDARY LEVEL Hari Vasudevan, Professor, Department of History, University of Calcutta, Kolkata CHIEF ADVISOR Tapas Majumdar, Professor Emeritus of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi ADVISOR Satish Jain, Professor, Centre for Economics Studies and Planning, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi MEMBERS Harish Dhawan, Lecturer, Ramlal Anand College (Evening) New Delhi Papiya Ghosh, Research Associate, Delhi School of Economics, New Delhi Rajendra Prasad Kundu, Lecturer, Economics Department, Jadavpur University, Kolkata Sugato Das Gupta, Associate Professor, CESP, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Tapasik Bannerjee, Research Fellow, Centre for Economics Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi MEMBER-COORDINATOR Jaya Singh, Lecturer, Economics, Department of Education in Social Sciences and Humanities, NCERT, New Delhi 2019-20 The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) acknowledges the invaluable contribution of academicians and practising school teachers for bringing out this textbook. We are grateful to Anjan Mukherjee, Professor, JNU, for going through the manuscript and suggesting relevant changes. We thank Jhaljit Singh, Reader, Department of Economics, University of Manipur for his contribution. We also thank our colleagues Neeraja Rashmi, Reader, Curriculum Group; M.V. Srinivasan, Ashita Raveendran, Lecturers, Department of Education in Social Sciences and Humanities (DESSH), for their feedback and suggestions. We would like to place on record the precious advise of (Late) Dipak Banerjee, Professor (Retd.), Presidency College, Kolkata. We could have benefited much more of his expertise, had his health permitted. The practising school teachers have helped in many ways. The Council expresses its gratitude to A.K. Singh, PGT (Economics), Kendriya Vidyalaya, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh; Ambika Gulati, Head, Department of Economics, Sanskriti School; B.C. Thakur, PGT (Economics), Government Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya, Surajmal Vihar; Ritu Gupta, Principal, Sneh International School, Shoban Nair, PGT (Economics), Mother’s International School, Rashmi Sharma, PGT (Economics), Kendriya Vidalaya, JNU Campus, New Delhi. We thank Savita Sinha, Professor and Head, DESSH, for her support. Special thanks are due to Vandana R. Singh, Consultant Editor, NCERT for going through the manuscript. The council also gratefully acknowledges the contributions of Dinesh Kumar, In-charge, Computer Station; Amar Kumar Prusty and Neena Chandra, Copy Editors; in shaping this book. The contribution of the Publication Department in bringing out this book is duly acknowledged. This textbook has been reviewed with the support of experts like Meeta Kumar, Associate Professor, Miranda House, University of Delhi; Shalini Saksena, Associate Professor, DCAC; and Bharat Garg, Assistant Professor, Shyam Lal College, University of Delhi. Their contributions are duly acknowledged. The council is also thankful to Tampakmayum Alan Mustofa, JPF; Ayaz Ahmad Ansari, Farheen Fatima and Amjad Husain, DTP Operators, in shaping this textbook. 2019-20  Contents Foreword iii 1. INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 A Simple Economy 1 1.2 Central Problems of an Economy 2 1.3 Organisation of Economic Activities 4 1.3.1 The Centrally Planned Economy 4 1.3.2 The Market Economy 5 1.4 Positive and Normative Economics 6 1.5 Microeconomics and Macroeconomics 6 1.6 Plan of the Book 6 2. THEORY OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 8 2.1 Utility 8 2.1.1 Cardinal Utility Analysis 9 2.1.2 Ordinal Utility Analysis 11 2.2 The Consumer’s Budget 15 2.2.1 Budget Set and Budget Line 15 2.2.2 Changes in the Budget Set 17 2.3 Optimal Choice of the Consumer 19 2.4 Demand 21 2.4.1 Demand Curve and the Law of Demand 21 2.4.2 Deriving a Demand Curve from Indifference Curves and Budget Constraints 23 2.4.3 Normal and Inferior Goods 24 2.4.4 Substitutes and Complements 25 2.4.5 Shifts in the Demand Curve 25 2.4.6 Movements along the Demand Curve and Shifts 26 in the Demand Curve 2.5 Market Demand 26 2.6 Elasticity of Demand 27 2.6.1 Elasticity along a Linear Demand Curve 29 2.6.2 Factors Determining Price Elasticity of Demand for a Good 31 2.6.3 Elasticity and Expenditure 31 3. PRODUCTION AND COSTS 36 3.1 Production Function 36 3.2 The Short Run and the Long Run 38 3.3 Total Product, Average Product and Marginal Product 39 3.3.1 Total Product 39 3.3.2 Average Product 39 3.3.3 Marginal Product 39 2019-20  3.4 The Law of Diminishing Marginal Product and the Law of 40 Variable Proportions 3.5 Shapes of Total Product, Marginal Product and Average Product Curves 41 3.6 Returns to Scale 42 3.7 Costs 43 3.7.1 Short Run Costs 43 3.7.2 Long Run Costs 48 4. THE THEORY OF THE FIRM UNDER PERFECT COMPETITION 53 4.1 Perfect competition: Defining Features 53 4.2 Revenue 54 4.3 Profit Maximisation 56 4.3.1 Condition 1 56 4.3.2 Condition 2 56 4.3.3 Condition 3 57 4.3.4 The Profit Maximisation Problem: Graphical Representation 58 4.4 Supply Curve of a Firm 59 4.4.1 Short Run Supply Curve of a Firm 59 4.4.2 Long Run Supply Curve of a Firm 60 4.4.3 The Shut Down Point 61 4.4.4 The Normal Profit and Break-even Point 61 4.5 Determinants of a Firm’s Supply Curve 62 4.5.1 Technological Progress 62 4.5.2 Input Prices 62 4.6 Market Supply Curve 63 4.7 Price Elasticity of Supply 65 5. MARKET EQUILIBRIUM 71 5.1 Equilibrium, Excess Demand, Excess Supply 71 5.1.1 Market Equilibrium: Fixed Number of Firms 72 5.1.2 Market Equilibrium: Free Entry and Exit 80 5.2 Applications 84 5.2.1 Price Ceiling 84 5.2.2 Price Floor 85 6. NON-COMPETITIVE MARKETS 88 6.1 Simple Monopoly in the Commodity Market 88 6.1.1 Market Demand Curve is the Average Revenue Curve 89 6.1.2 Total, Average and Marginal Revenues 92 6.1.3 Marginal Revenue and Price Elasticity of Demand 93 6.1.4 Short Run Equilibrium of the Monopoly Firm 93 6.2 Other Non-perfectly Competitive Markets 98 6.2.1 Monopolistic Competition 98 6.2.2 How do Firms behave in Oligopoly? 99 Glossary 102 viii 2019-20  Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 A SIMPLE ECONOMY Think of any society. People in the society need many goods and services1 in their everyday life including food, clothing, shelter, transport facilities like roads and railways, postal services and various other services like that of teachers and doctors. In fact, the list of goods and services that any individual2 needs is so large that no individual in society, to begin with, has all the things she needs. Every individual has some amount of only a few of the goods and services that she would like to use. A family farm may own a plot of land, some grains, farming implements, maybe a pair of bullocks and also the labour services of the family members. A weaver may have some yarn, some cotton and other instruments required for weaving cloth. The teacher in the local school has the skills required to impart education to the students. Some others in society may not have any resource3 excepting their own labour services. Each of these decision making units can produce some goods or services by using the resources that it has and use part of the produce to obtain the many other goods and services which it needs. For example, the family farm can produce corn, use part of the produce for consumption purposes and procure clothing, housing and various services in exchange for the rest of the produce. Similarly, the weaver can get the goods and services that she wants in exchange for the cloth she produces in her yarn. The teacher can earn some money by teaching students in the school and use the money for obtaining the goods and services that she wants. The labourer also can try to fulfill her needs by using whatever money she can earn by working for someone else. Each individual can thus use her resources to fulfill her needs. It goes without saying that no individual has unlimited resources compared to her needs. The amount of corn that the family farm can produce is limited by the amount of resources it has, and hence, the amount of different goods 1 By goods we means physical, tangible objects used to satisfy people’s wants and needs. The term ‘goods’ should be contrasted with the term ‘services’, which captures the intangible satisfaction of wants and needs. As compared to food items and clothes, which are examples of goods, we can think of the tasks that doctors and teachers perform for us as examples of services. 2 By individual, we mean an individual decision making unit. A decision making unit can be a single person or a group like a household, a firm or any other organisation. 3 By resource, we mean those goods and services which are used to produce other goods and services, e.g. land, labour, tools and machinery, etc. 2019-20  and services that it can procure in exchange of corn is also limited. As a result, the family is forced to make a choice between the different goods and services that are available. It can have more of a good or service only by giving up some amounts of other goods or services. For example, if the family wants to have a bigger house, it may have to give up the idea of having a few more acres of arable land. If it wants more and better education for the children, it may have to give up some of the luxuries of life. The same is the case with all other individuals in society. Everyone faces scarcity of resources, and therefore, has to use the limited resources in the best possible way to fulfill her needs. In general, every individual in society is engaged in the production of some goods or services and she wants a combination of many goods and services not all of which are produced by her. Needless to say that there has to be some compatibility between what people in society collectively want to have and what they produce4. For example, the total amount of corn produced by family farm along with other farming units in a society must match the total amount of corn that people in the society collectively want to consume. If people in the society do not want as much corn as the farming units are capable of producing collectively, a part of the resources of these units could have been used in the production of some other good or services which is in high demand. On the other hand, if people in the society want more corn compared to what the farming units are producing collectively, the resources used in the production of some other goods and services may be reallocated to the production of corn. Similar is the case with all other goods or services. Just as the resources of an individual are scarce, the resources of the society are also scarce in comparison to what the people in the society might collectively want to have. The scarce resources of the society have to be allocated properly in the production of different goods and services in keeping with the likes and dislikes of the people of the society. Any allocation5 of resources of the society would result in the production of a particular combination of different goods and services. The goods and services thus produced will have to be distributed among the individuals of the society. 2 The allocation of the limited resources and the distribution of the final mix of goods Introductory Microeconomics and services are two of the basic economic problems faced by the society. In reality, any economy is much more complex compared to the society discussed above. In the light of what we have learnt about the society, let us now discuss the fundamental concerns of the discipline of economics some of which we shall study throughout this book. 1.2 CENTRAL PROBLEMS OF AN ECONOMY Production, exchange and consumption of goods and services are among the basic economic activities of life. In the course of these basic economic activities, every society has to face scarcity of resources and it is the scarcity of resources that gives rise to the problem of choice. The scarce resources of an economy have competing usages. In other words, every society has to decide on how to use its scarce resources. The problems of an economy are very often summarised as follows: 4 Here we assume that all the goods and services produced in a society are consumed by the people in the society and that there is no scope of getting anything from outside the society. In reality, this is not true. However, the general point that is being made here about the compatibility of production and consumption of goods and services holds for any country or even for the entire world. 5 By an allocation of the resources, we mean how much of which resource is devoted to the production of each of the goods and services. 2019-20 What is produced and in what quantities? Every society must decide on how much of each of the many possible goods and services it will produce. Whether to produce more of food, clothing, housing or to have more of luxury goods. Whether to have more agricultural goods or to have industrial products and services. Whether to use more resources in education and health or to use more resources in building military services. Whether to have more of basic education or more of higher education. Whether to have more of consumption goods or to have investment goods (like machine) which will boost production and consumption tomorrow. How are these goods produced? Every society has to decide on how much of which of the resources to use in the production of each of the different goods and services. Whether to use more labour or more machines. Which of the available technologies to adopt in the production of each of the goods? For whom are these goods produced? Who gets how much of the goods that are produced in the economy? How should the produce of the economy be distributed among the individuals in the economy? Who gets more and who gets less? Whether or not to ensure a minimum amount of consumption for everyone in the economy. Whether or not elementary education and basic health services should be available freely for everyone in the economy. Thus, every economy faces the problem of allocating the scarce resources to the production of different possible goods and services and of distributing the produced goods and services among the individuals within the economy. The allocation of scarce resources and the distribution of the final goods and services are the central problems of any economy. Production Possibility Frontier Just as individuals face scarcity of resources, the resources of an economy as a whole are always limited in comparison to what the people in the 3 economy collectively want to have. The scarce resources have alternative Introduction usages and every society has to decide on how much of each of the resources to use in the production of different goods and services. In other words, every society has to determine how to allocate its scarce resources to different goods and services. An allocation of the scarce resource of the economy gives rise to a particular combination of different goods and services. Given the total amount of resources, it is possible to allocate the resources in many different ways and, thereby achieving different mixes of all possible goods and services. The collection of all possible combinations of the goods and services that can be produced from a given amount of resources and a given stock of technological knowledge is called the production possibility set of the economy. EXAMPLE 1 Table1.1: Production Possibilities Consider an economy which can produce corn or cotton Possibilities Corn Cotton by using its resources. A 0 10 Table 1.1 gives some of the B 1 9 combinations of corn and C 2 7 cotton that the economy can produce. When its resources D 3 4 are fully utilised. E 4 0 2019-20  If all the resources are used in the production of corn, the maximum amount of corn that can be produced is 4 units and if all resources are used in the production of cotton, at the most, 10 units of cotton can be produced. The economy can also produce1 unit of corn and 9 units of cotton or 2 units of corn and 7 units of cotton or 3 units of corn and 4 units of cotton. There can be many other possibilities. The figure illustrates the production possibilities of the economy. Any point on or below the curve represents a combination of corn and cotton that can be produced with the economy’s resources. The curve gives the maximum amount of corn that can be produced in the economy for any given amount of cotton and vice-versa. This curve is called the production possibility frontier. Cotton The production possibility frontier gives the combinations of A corn and cotton that can be B produced when the resources of the C economy are fully utilised. Note D that a point lying strictly below the production possibility frontier represents a combination of corn E O Corn and cotton that will be produced when all or some of the resources are either underemployed or are utilised in a wasteful fashion. If more of the scarce resources are used in the production of corn, less resources are available for the production of cotton and vice versa. Therefore, if we want to have more of one of the goods, we will have less of the other good. Thus, there is always a cost of having a little more of one good in terms of the amount of the other good that has to be forgone. This is known as the opportunity costa of an additional unit of the 4 goods. Introductory Microeconomics Every economy has to choose one of the many possibilities that it has. In other words, one of the central problems of the economy is to choose from one of the many production possibilities. a Note that the concept of opportunity cost is applicable to the individual as well as the society. The concept is very important and is widely used in economics. Because of its importance in economics, sometimes, opportunity cost is also called the economic cost. 1.3 ORGANISATION OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES Basic problems can be solved either by the free interaction of the individuals pursuing their own objectives as is done in the market or in a planned manner by some central authority like the government. 1.3.1 The Centrally Planned Economy In a centrally planned economy, the government or the central authority plans all the important activities in the economy. All important decisions regarding production, exchange and consumption of goods and services are made by the government. The central authority may try to achieve a particular allocation of resources and a consequent distribution of the final combination of goods and services which is thought to be desirable for society as a whole. For example, if it is found that a good or service which is very important for the prosperity and 2019-20 well-being of the economy as a whole, e.g. education or health service, is not produced in adequate amount by the individuals on their own, the government might try to induce the individuals to produce adequate amount of such a good or service or, alternatively, the government may itself decide to produce the good or service in question. In a different context, if some people in the economy get so little a share of the final mix of goods and services produced in the economy that their survival is at stake, then the central authority may intervene and try to achieve an equitable distribution of the final mix of goods and services. 1.3.2 The Market Economy In contrast to a centrally planned economy, in a market economy, all economic activities are organised through the market. A market, as studied in economics, is an institution6 which organises the free interaction of individuals pursuing their respective economic activities. In other words, a market is a set of arrangements where economic agents can freely exchange their endowments or products with each other. It is important to note that the term ‘market’ as used in economics is quite different from the common sense understanding of a market. In particular, it has nothing as such to do with the marketplace as you might tend to think of. For buying and selling commodities, individuals may or may not meet each other in an actual physical location. Interaction between buyers and sellers can take place in a variety of situations such as a village- chowk or a super bazaar in a city, or alternatively, buyers and sellers can interact with each other through telephone or internet and conduct the exchange of commodities. The arrangements which allow people to buy and sell commodities freely are the defining features of a market. For the smooth functioning of any system, it is imperative that there is coordination in the activities of the different constituent parts of the system. Otherwise, there can be chaos. You may wonder as to what are the forces which bring the coordination between the activities of millions of isolated individuals in a market system. In a market system, all goods or services come with a price (which is mutually 5 Introduction agreed upon by the buyers and sellers) at which the exchanges take place. The price reflects, on an average, the society’s valuation of the good or service in question. If the buyers demand more of a certain good, the price of that good will rise. This signals to the producers of that good that the society as a whole wants more of that good than is currently being produced and the producers of the good, in their turn, are likely to increase their production. In this way, prices of goods and services send important information to all the individuals across the market and help achieve coordination in a market system. Thus, in a market system, the central problems regarding how much and what to produce are solved through the coordination of economic activities brought about by the price signals. In reality, all economies are mixed economies where some important decisions are taken by the government and the economic activities are by and large conducted through the market. The only difference is in terms of the extent of the role of the government in deciding the course of economic activities. In the United States of America, the role of the government is minimal. The closest example of a centrally planned economy is the China for the major part of the twentieth century. In India, since Independence, the government has played a major role in planning economic activities. However, the role of the 6 An institution is usually defined as an organisation with some purpose. 2019-20  government in the Indian economy has been reduced considerably in the last couple of decades. 1.4 POSITIVE AND NORMATIVE ECONOMICS It was mentioned earlier that in principle there are more than one ways of solving the central problems of an economy. These different mechanisms in general are likely to give rise to different solutions to those problems, thereby resulting in different allocations of the resources and also different distributions of the final mix of goods and services produced in the economy. Therefore, it is important to understand which of these alternative mechanisms is more desirable for the economy as a whole. In economics, we try to analyse the different mechanisms and figure out the outcomes which are likely to result under each of these mechanisms. We also try to evaluate the mechanisms by studying how desirable the outcomes resulting from them are. Often a distinction is made between positive economic analysis and normative economic analysis depending on whether we are trying to figure out how a particular mechanism functions or we are trying to evaluate it. In positive economic analysis, we study how the different mechanisms function, and in normative economics, we try to understand whether these mechanisms are desirable or not. However, this distinction between positive and normative economic analysis is not a very sharp one. The positive and the normative issues involved in the study of the central economic problems are very closely related to each other and a proper understanding of one is not possible in isolation to the other. 1.5 MICROECONOMICS AND MACROECONOMICS Traditionally, the subject matter of economics has been studied under two broad branches: Microeconomics and Macroeconomics. In microeconomics, we study 6 the behaviour of individual economic agents in the markets for different goods and services and try to figure out how prices and quantities of goods and services Introductory Microeconomics are determined through the interaction of individuals in these markets. In macroeconomics, on the other hand, we try to get an understanding of the economy as a whole by focusing our attention on aggregate measures such as total output, employment and aggregate price level. Here, we are interested in finding out how the levels of these aggregate measures are determined and how the levels of these aggregate measures change over time. Some of the important questions that are studied in macroeconomics are as follows: What is the level of total output in the economy? How is the total output determined? How does the total output grow over time? Are the resources of the economy (eg labour) fully employed? What are the reasons behind the unemployment of resources? Why do prices rise? Thus, instead of studying the different markets as is done in microeconomics, in macroeconomics, we try to study the behaviour of aggregate or macro measures of the performance of the economy. 1.6 PLAN OF THE BOOK This book is meant to introduce you to the basic ideas in microeconomics. In this book, we will focus on the behaviour of the individual consumers and producers of a single commodity and try to analyse how the price and the quantity is determined in the market for a single commodity. In Chapter 2, we 2019-20  shall study the consumer’s behaviour. Chapter 3 deals with basic ideas of production and cost. In Chapter 4, we study the producer’s behaviour. In Chapter 5, we shall study how price and quantity is determined in a perfectly competitive market for a commodity. Chapter 6 studies some other forms of market. Consumption Production Exchange Key Concepts Scarcity Production possibilities Opportunity cost Market Market economy Centrally planned economy Mixed economy Positive analysis Normative analysis Microeconomics Macroeconomics ? Exercises 1. Discuss the central problems of an economy. 2. What do you mean by the production possibilities of an economy? 3. What is a production possibility frontier? 4. Discuss the subject matter of economics. 5. Distinguish between a centrally planned economy and a market economy. 6. What do you understand by positive economic analysis? 7. What do you understand by normative economic analysis? ? 8. Distinguish between microeconomics and macroeconomics. 7 Introduction 2019-20 Chapter 2 Theor Theoryy of Consumer Behaviour In this chapter, we will study the behaviour of an individual consumer. The consumer has to decide how to spend her income on different goods1. Economists call this the problem of choice. Most naturally, any consumer will want to get a combination of goods that gives her maximum satisfaction. What will be this ‘best’ combination? This depends on the likes of the consumer and what the consumer can afford to buy. The ‘likes’ of the consumer are also called ‘preferences’. And what the consumer can afford to buy, depends on prices of the goods and the income of the consumer. This chapter presents two different approaches that explain consumer behaviour (i) Cardinal Utility Analysis and (ii) Ordinal Utility Analysis. Preliminary Notations and Assumptions A consumer, in general, consumes many goods; but for simplicity, we shall consider the consumer’s choice problem in a situation where there are only two goods2: bananas and mangoes. Any combination of the amount of the two goods will be called a consumption bundle or, in short, a bundle. In general, we shall use the variable x1 to denote the quantity of bananas and x2 to denote the quantity of mangoes. x1 and x2 can be positive or zero. (x1, x2) would mean the bundle consisting of x1 quantity of bananas and x2 quantity of mangoes. For particular values of x1 and x2, (x1, x2), would give us a particular bundle. For example, the bundle (5,10) consists of 5 bananas and 10 mangoes; the bundle (10, 5) consists of 10 bananas and 5 mangoes. 2.1 UTILITY A consumer usually decides his demand for a commodity on the basis of utility (or satisfaction) that he derives from it. What is utility? Utility of a commodity is its want-satisfying capacity. The more the need of a commodity or the stronger the desire to have it, the greater is the utility derived from the commodity. Utility is subjective. Different individuals can get different levels of utility from the same commodity. For example, some one who 1 We shall use the term goods to mean goods as well as services. 2 The assumption that there are only two goods simplifies the analysis considerably and allows us to understand some important concepts by using simple diagrams. 2019-20 likes chocolates will get much higher utility from a chocolate than some one who is not so fond of chocolates, Also, utility that one individual gets from the commodity can change with change in place and time. For example, utility from the use of a room heater will depend upon whether the individual is in Ladakh or Chennai (place) or whether it is summer or winter (time). 2.1.1 Cardinal Utility Analysis Cardinal utility analysis assumes that level of utility can be expressed in numbers. For example, we can measure the utility derived from a shirt and say, this shirt gives me 50 units of utility. Before discussing further, it will be useful to have a look at two important measures of utility. Measures of Utility Total Utility: Total utility of a fixed quantity of a commodity (TU) is the total satisfaction derived from consuming the given amount of some commodity x. More of commodity x provides more satisfaction to the consumer. TU depends on the quantity of the commodity consumed. Therefore, TUn refers to total utility derived from consuming n units of a commodity x. Marginal Utility: Marginal utility (MU) is the change in total utility due to consumption of one additional unit of a commodity. For example, suppose 4 bananas give us 28 units of total utility and 5 bananas give us 30 units of total utility. Clearly, consumption of the 5th banana has caused total utility to increase by 2 units (30 units minus 28 units). Therefore, marginal utility of the 5th banana is 2 units. MU5 = TU5 – TU4 = 30 – 28 = 2 In general, MUn = TUn – TUn-1, where subscript n refers to the nth unit of the commodity Total utility and marginal utility can also be related in the following way. TUn = MU1 + MU2 + … + MUn-1 + MUn This simply means that TU derived from consuming n units of bananas is the sum total of marginal utility of first banana (MU1), marginal utility of second 9 banana (MU2), and so on, till the marginal utility of the nth unit. Theory of Consumer Table No. 2.1 and Figure 2.1 show an imaginary example of the values of Behaviour marginal and total utility derived from consumption of various amounts of a commodity. Usually, it is seen that the marginal utility diminishes with increase in consumption of the commodity. This happens because having obtained some amount of the commodity, the desire of the consumer to have still more of it becomes weaker. The same is also shown in the table and graph. Table 2.1: Values of marginal and total utility derived from consumption of various amounts of a commodity Units Total Utility Marginal Utility 1 12 12 2 18 6 3 22 4 4 24 2 5 24 0 6 22 -2 2019-20  Notice that MU3 is less than MU2. You may also notice that total utility increases but at a diminishing rate: The rate of change in total utility due to change in quantity of commodity consumed is a measure of marginal utility. This marginal utility diminishes with increase in consumption of the commodity from 12 to 6, 6 to 4 The values of marginal and total utility derived and so on. This follows from the from consumption of various amounts of a law of diminishing marginal commodity. The marginal utility diminishes with utility. Law of Diminishing increase in consumption of the commodity. Marginal Utility states that marginal utility from consuming each additional unit of a commodity declines as its consumption increases, while keeping consumption of other commodities constant. MU becomes zero at a level when TU remains constant. In the example, TU does not change at 5th unit of consumption and therefore MU5= 0. Thereafter, TU starts falling and MU becomes negative. Derivation of Demand Curve in the Case of a Single Commodity (Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility) Cardinal utility analysis can be used to derive demand curve for a commodity. What is demand and what is demand curve? The quantity of a commodity that a consumer is willing to buy and is able to afford, given prices of goods and income of the consumer, is called demand for that commodity. Demand for a commodity x, apart from the price of x itself, depends on factors such as prices of other commodities (see substitutes and complements 2.4.4), income of the 10 consumer and tastes and preferences of the consumers. Demand curve is a graphic presentation of various quantities of a commodity that a consumer is Microeconomics Introductory willing to buy at different prices of the same commodity, while holding constant prices of other related commodities and income of the consumer. Figure 2.2 presents hypothetical demand curve of an individual for commodity x at its different prices. Quantity is measured along the horizontal axis and price is measured along the vertical axis. The downward sloping demand curve shows that at lower prices, the individual is willing to buy more of commodity x; at higher prices, she is willing to buy less of commodity x. Demand curve of an individual for Therefore, there is a negative commodity x relationship between price of a commodity and quantity demanded which is referred to as the Law of Demand. An explaination for a downward sloping demand curve rests on the notion of diminishing marginal utility. The law of diminishing marginal utility states that each successive unit of a commodity provides lower marginal utility. 2019-20 Therefore the individual will not be willing to pay as much for each additional unit and this results in a downward sloping demand curve. At a price of Rs. 40 per unit x, individual’s demand for x was 5 units. The 6th unit of commodity x will be worth less than the 5th unit. The individual will be willing to buy the 6th unit only when the price drops below Rs. 40 per unit. Hence, the law of diminishing marginal utility explains why demand curves have a negative slope. 2.1.2 Ordinal Utility Analysis Cardinal utility analysis is simple to understand, but suffers from a major drawback in the form of quantification of utility in numbers. In real life, we never express utility in the form of numbers. At the most, we can rank various alternative combinations in terms of having more or less utility. In other words, the consumer does not measure utility in numbers, though she often ranks various consumption bundles. This forms the starting point of this topic – Ordinal Utility Analysis. A consumer’s preferences over the set of available bundles can often be represented diagrammatically. We have already seen that the bundles available to the consumer can be plotted as points in a two- A dimensional diagram. The points representing bundles which give the consumer equal utility can generally be joined to obtain a curve like the one in Figure 2.3. The consumer is said to be indifferent on the different bundles because each point of the bundles give the consumer equal utility. Such a curve joining all points representing bundles among which Indifference curve. An indifference curve joins the consumer is indifferent is called all points representing bundles which are 11 Theory of Consumer an indifference curve. All the points considered indifferent by the consumer. such as A, B, C and D lying on an Behaviour indifference curve provide the consumer with the same level of satisfaction. It is clear that when a consumer gets one more banana, he has to forego some mangoes, so that her total utility level remains the same and she remains on the same indifference curve. Therefore, indifference curve slopes downward. The amount of mangoes that the consumer has to forego, in order to get an additional banana, her total utility level being the same, is called marginal rate of substitution (MRS). In other words, MRS is simply the rate at which the consumer will substitute bananas for mangoes, so that her total utility remains constant. So, MRS =| ∆Y / ∆X | 3. One can notice that, in the table 2.2, as we increase the quantity of bananas, the quantity of mangoes sacrificed for each additional banana declines. In other words, MRS diminishes with increase in the number of bananas. As the number 3 | ∆Y / ∆X |= ∆Y / ∆X if (∆Y / ∆X ) ≥ 0 = −∆Y / ∆X if (∆Y / ∆X ) < 0 MRS =| ∆Y / ∆X | means that MRS equals only the magnitude of the expression ∆Y / ∆X. If ∆Y / ∆X = −3 / 1 it means MRS=3. 2019-20  Table 2.2: Representation of Law of Diminishing Marginal Rate of Substitution Combination Quantity of bananas (Qx) Quantity of Mangoes (Qy) MRS A 1 15 - B 2 12 3:1 C 3 10 2:1 D 4 9 1:1 of bananas with the consumer increases, the MU derived from each additional banana falls. Similarly, with the fall in quantity of mangoes, the marginal utility derived from mangoes increases. So, with increase in the number of bananas, the consumer will feel the inclination to sacrifice small and smaller amounts of mangoes. This tendency for the MRS to fall with increase in quantity of bananas is known as Law of Diminishing Marginal Rate of Substitution. This can be seen from figure 2.3 also. Going from point A to point B, the consumer sacrifices 3 mangoes for 1 banana, going from point B to point C, the consumer sacrifices 2 mangoes for 1 banana, and going from point C to point D, the consumer sacrifices just 1 mango for 1 banana. Thus, it is clear that the consumer sacrifices smaller and smaller quantities of mangoes for each additional banana. Shape of an Indifference Curve It may be mentioned that the law of Diminishing Marginal Rate of Substitution causes an indifference curve to be convex to the origin. This is the most common shape of an indifference curve. But in case of goods being perfect substitutes4, the marginal rate of substitution does not diminish. It remains the same. Let’s take an example. Table 2.3: Representation of Law of Diminishing Marginal Rate of Substitution 12 Combination Quantity of five Quantity of five MRS Rupees notes (Qx) Rupees coins (Qy) Microeconomics Introductory A 1 8 - B 2 7 1:1 C 3 6 1:1 D 4 5 1:1 Here, the consumer is indifferent for all these combinations as long as the total of five rupee coins and five rupee notes remains the same. For the consumer, it hardly matters whether she gets a five rupee coin or a five rupee note. So, irrespective of how many five rupee notes she has, the consumer will sacrifice only one five rupee coin for a five rupee note. So these two commodities are perfect substitutes for the consumer and indifference curve depicting these will be a straight line. In the figure.2.4, it can be seen that consumer sacrifices the same number of five-rupee coins each time he has an additional five-rupee note. 4 Perfect Substitutes are the goods which can be used in place of each other, and provide exactly the same level of utility to the consumer. 2019-20  Monotonic Preferences Consumer’s preferences are assumed to be such that between any two bundles (x1, x2) and (y1, y2), if (x1, x2) has more of at least one of the goods and no less of the other good compared to (y1, y2), then the consumer prefers (x1, x2) to (y1, y2). Preferences of this kind are called monotonic preferences. Thus, a consumer’s preferences are monotonic if and only if between Indif ference Curve for per fect any two bundles, the consumer substitutes. Indifference curve depicting two prefers the bundle which has more commodities which are perfect substitutes is of at least one of the goods and no a straight line. less of the other good as compared to the other bundle. Indifference Map The consumer’s preferences over all the bundles can be represented by a family of indifference curves as shown in Figure 2.5. This is called an indifference map of the consumer. All points on an indifference curve represent bundles which are considered indifferent by the consumer. Monotonicity of preferences Indifference Map. A family of imply that between any two indifference indifference curves. The arrow indicates 13 curves, the bundles on the one which lies that bundles on higher indifference curves Theory of Consumer above are preferred to the bundles on the are preferred by the consumer to the bundles on lower indifference curves. Behaviour one which lies below. Features of Indifference Curve 1. Indifference curve slopes downwards from left to right: An indifference curve slopes downwards from left to right, which means that in order to have more of bananas, the consumer has to forego some mangoes. If the consumer does not forego some mangoes with an increase in number of bananas, it will mean consumer having more of bananas with same number of mangoes, taking her to a higher Slope of the Indifference Curve. The indifference curve. Thus, as long as the indifference curve slopes downward. An consumer is on the same indifference increase in the amount of bananas along the curve, an increase in bananas must be indifference curve is associated with a compensated by a fall in quantity of decrease in the amount of mangoes. If ∆ x1 mangoes. > 0 then ∆ x2 < 0. 2019-20  2.Higher indifference curve gives greater level of utility: As long as marginal utility of a commodity is positive, an individual will always prefer more of that commodity, as more of the commodity will increase the level of satisfaction. Table 2.4: Representation of different level of utilities from different combination of goods Combination Quantity of bananas Quantity of Mangoes A 1 10 B 2 10 C 3 10 Consider the different combination of bananas and mangoes, A, B and C depicted in table 2.4 and figure 2.7. Combinations A, B and C consist of same quantity of mangoes but different quantities of bananas. Since combination B has more bananas than A, B will provide the individual a higher level of satisfaction than A. Therefore, B will lie on a higher indifference curve than A, depicting higher satisfaction. Likewise, C has more bananas than B (quantity of mangoes is the same in both B and C). Therefore, C will provide higher level of satisfaction than B, and also lie on a higher indifference curve than B. A higher indifference curve 14 consisting of combinations with Higher indifference curves give greater level more of mangoes, or more of of utility. Microeconomics Introductory bananas, or more of both, will represent combinations that give higher level of satisfaction. 3.Two indifference curves never intersect each other: Two indifference curves intersecting each other will lead to conflicting results. To explain this, let us allow two indifference curves to intersect each other as shown in the figure Mangoes 2.8. As points A and B lie on the A (7,10) same indifference curve IC1, utilities B (9,7) derived from combination A and IC1 combination B will give the same C (9,5) Ic2 level of satisfaction. Similarly, as points A and C lie on the same Bananas indifference curve IC 2, utility 8 derived from combination A and from combination C will give the Two indifference curves never intersect same level of satisfaction. each other 2019-20  From this, it follows that utility from point B and from point C will also be the same. But this is clearly an absurd result, as on point B, the consumer gets a greater number of mangoes with the same quantity of bananas. So consumer is better off at point B than at point C. Thus, it is clear that intersecting indifference curves will lead to conflicting results. Thus, two indifference curves cannot intersect each other. 2.2 THE CONSUMER’S BUDGET Let us consider a consumer who has only a fixed amount of money (income) to spend on two goods. The prices of the goods are given in the market. The consumer cannot buy any and every combination of the two goods that she may want to consume. The consumption bundles that are available to the consumer depend on the prices of the two goods and the income of the consumer. Given her fixed income and the prices of the two goods, the consumer can afford to buy only those bundles which cost her less than or equal to her income. 2.2.1 Budget Set and Budget Line Suppose the income of the consumer is M and the prices of bananas and mangoes are p1 and p2 respectively5. If the consumer wants to buy x1 quantities of bananas, she will have to spend p1x1 amount of money. Similarly, if the consumer wants to buy x2 quantities of mangoes, she will have to spend p2x2 amount of money. Therefore, if the consumer wants to buy the bundle consisting of x1 quantities of bananas and x2 quantities of mangoes, she will have to spend p1x1 + p2x2 amount of money. She can buy this bundle only if she has at least p1x1 + p2x2 amount of money. Given the prices of the goods and the income of a consumer, she can choose any bundle as long as it costs less than or equal to the income she has. In other words, the consumer can buy any bundle (x1, x2) such that p1x1 + p2x2 ≤ M (2.1) 15 Theory of Consumer The inequality (2.1) is called the consumer’s budget constraint. The set of Behaviour bundles available to the consumer is called the budget set. The budget set is thus the collection of all bundles that the consumer can buy with her income at the prevailing market prices. EXAMPLE 2.1 Consider, for example, a consumer who has Rs 20, and suppose, both the goods are priced at Rs 5 and are available only in integral units. The bundles that this consumer can afford to buy are: (0, 0), (0, 1), (0, 2), (0, 3), (0, 4), (1, 0), (1, 1), (1, 2), (1, 3), (2, 0), (2, 1), (2, 2), (3, 0), (3, 1) and (4, 0). Among these bundles, (0, 4), (1,3), (2, 2), (3, 1) and (4, 0) cost exactly Rs 20 and all the other bundles cost less than Rs 20. The consumer cannot afford to buy bundles like (3, 3) and (4, 5) because they cost more than Rs 20 at the prevailing prices. 5 Price of a good is the amount of money that the consumer has to pay per unit of the good she wants to buy. If rupee is the unit of money and quantity of the good is measured in kilograms, the price of banana being p1 means the consumer has to pay p1 rupees per kilograms of banana that she wants to buy. 2019-20  If both the goods are perfectly divisible6, the consumer’s budget set would consist of all bundles (x1, x2) such that x1 and x2 are any numbers greater than or equal to 0 and p1x1 + p 2x 2 ≤ M. The budget set can be represented in a diagram as in Figure 2.9. All bundles in the positive quadrant which are on or below the line are included in the budget set. The equation of the line is Budget Set. Quantity of bananas is measured p1x1 + p2x2 = M (2.2) along the horizontal axis and quantity of mangoes is measured along the vertical axis. Any point in The line consists of all bundles which the diagram represents a bundle of the two cost exactly equal to M. This line is goods. The budget set consists of all points on called the budget line. Points below or below the straight line having the equation the budget line represent bundles p1x1 + p2x2 = M. which cost strictly less than M. The equation (2.2) can also be written as7 p x 2 = M − 1 x1 (2.3) p2 p 2 M The budget line is a straight line with horizontal intercept p and vertical 1 M intercept p. The horizontal intercept represents the bundle that the consumer 2 can buy if she spends her entire income on bananas. Similarly, the vertical intercept represents the bundle that the consumer can buy if she spends her p1 entire income on mangoes. The slope of the budget line is – p. 16 2 Introductory Microeconomics Price Ratio and the Slope of the Budget Line Think of any point on the budget line. Such a point represents a bundle which costs the consumer her entire budget. Now suppose the consumer wants to have one more banana. She can do it only if she gives up some amount of the other good. How many mangoes does she have to give up if she wants to have an extra quantity of bananas? It would depend on the prices of the two goods. A quantity of banana costs p1. Therefore, she will have to reduce her expenditure on mangoes by p1 amount, if she wants one more quantity of banana. With p1, p1 she could buy p quantities of mangoes. Therefore, if the consumer wants to 2 have an extra quantity of bananas when she is spending all her money, she will p1 have to give up p quantities of mangoes. In other words, in the given market 2 6 The goods considered in Example 2.1 were not divisible and were available only in integer units. There are many goods which are divisible in the sense that they are available in non-integer units also. It is not possible to buy half an orange or one-fourth of a banana, but it is certainly possible to buy half a kilogram of rice or one-fourth of a litre of milk. 7 In school mathematics, you have learnt the equation of a straight line as y = c + mx where c is the vertical intercept and m is the slope of the straight line. Note that equation (2.3) has the same form. 2019-20  Derivation of the Slope of the Mangoes Budget Line The slope of the budget line measures the amount of change in mangoes required per unit of change in bananas along the budget line. Consider any two points (x1, x2) and (x1 + ∆x1, x2 + ∆x2) on the budget line.a Bananas It must be the case that p1x1 + p2x2 = M (2.4) and, p1(x1 + ∆x1) + p2(x2 + ∆x2) = M (2.5) Subtracting (2.4) from (2.5), we obtain p1∆x1 + p2∆x2 = 0 (2.6) By rearranging terms in (2.6), we obtain ∆x 2 p =− 1 (2.7) ∆x1 p2 a ∆ (delta) is a Greek letter. In mathematics, ∆ is sometimes used to denote ‘a change’. Thus, ∆x1 stands for a change in x1 and ∆x2 stands for a change in x2. p1 conditions, the consumer can substitute bananas for mangoes at the rate p. 2 The absolute value8 of the slope of the budget line measures the rate at which the consumer is able to substitute bananas for mangoes when she spends her 17 entire budget. Theory of Consumer 2.2.2 Changes in the Budget Set Behaviour The set of available bundles depends on the prices of the two goods and the income of the consumer. When the price of either of the goods or the consumer’s income changes, the set of available bundles is also likely to change. Suppose the consumer’s income changes from M to M ′ but the prices of the two goods remain unchanged. With the new income, the consumer can afford to buy all bundles (x1, x2) such that p1x1 + p2x2 ≤ M ′. Now the equation of the budget line is p1x1 + p2x2 = M ′ (2.8) Equation (2.8) can also be written as p x 2 = M' – 1 x 1 (2.9) p2 p2 Note that the slope of the new budget line is the same as the slope of the budget line prior to the change in the consumer’s income. However, the vertical intercept has changed after the change in income. If there is an increase in the 8 The absolute value of a number x is equal to x if x ≥ 0 and is equal to – x if x < 0. The absolute value of x is usually denoted by |x|. 2019-20  income, i.e. if M' > M, the vertical as well as horizontal intercepts increase, there is a parallel outward shift of the budget line. If the income increases, the consumer can buy more of the goods at the prevailing market prices. Similarly, if the income goes down, i.e. if M' < M, both intercepts decrease, and hence, there is a parallel inward shift of the budget line. If income goes down, the availability of goods goes down. Changes in the set of available bundles resulting from changes in consumer’s income when the prices of the two goods remain unchanged are shown in Figure 2.10. Mangoes Mangoes M' p1, the absolute value of the slope of the budget line increases, and the budget line becomes steeper (it pivots inwards around the vertical intercept and horizontal intercept decreases). If the price of bananas decreases, i.e., p'1< p1, the absolute value of the slope of the budget line decreases and hence, the budget line becomes flatter (it pivots outwards around the vertical intercept and horizontal intercept increases). Figure 2.11 shows change in the budget set when the price of only one commodity changes while the price of the other commodity as well as income of the consumer are constant. A change in price of mangoes, when price of bananas and the consumer’s income remain unchanged, will bring about similar changes in the budget set of the consumer. 2019-20  Mangoes Mangoes Bananas Bananas 11 Changes in the Set of Available Bundles of Goods Resulting from Changes in the Price of bananas. An increase in the price of bananas makes the budget line steeper as in panel (a). A decrease in the price of bananas makes the budget line flatter as in panel (b). 2.3 OPTIMAL CHOICE OF THE CONSUMER The budget set consists of all bundles that are available to the consumer. The consumer can choose her consumption bundle from the budget set. But on what basis does she choose her consumption bundle from the ones that are available to her? In economics, it is assumed that the consumer chooses her consumption bundle on the basis of her tatse and preferences over the bundles in the budget set. It is generally assumed that the consumer has well defined preferences over the set of all possible bundles. She can compare any two bundles. In other words, between any two bundles, she either prefers one to the other or she is indifferent between the two. Equality of the Marginal Rate of Substitution and the Ratio of 19 the Prices Theory of Consumer The optimum bundle of the consumer is located at the point where the Behaviour budget line is tangent to one of the indifference curves. If the budget line is tangent to an indifference curve at a point, the absolute value of the slope of the indifference curve (MRS) and that of the budget line (price ratio) are same at that point. Recall from our earlier discussion that the slope of the indifference curve is the rate at which the consumer is willing to substitute one good for the other. The slope of the budget line is the rate at which the consumer is able to substitute one good for the other in the market. At the optimum, the two rates should be the same. To see why, consider a point where this is not so. Suppose the MRS at such a point is 2 and suppose the two goods have the same price. At this point, the consumer is willing to give up 2 mangoes if she is given an extra banana. But in the market, she can buy an extra banana if she gives up just 1 mango. Therefore, if she buys an extra banana, she can have more of both the goods compared to the bundle represented by the point, and hence, move to a preferred bundle. Thus, a point at which the MRS is greater, the price ratio cannot be the optimum. A similar argument holds for any point at which the MRS is less than the price ratio. 2019-20  In economics, it is generally assumed that the consumer is a rational individual. A rational individual clearly knows what is good or what is bad for her, and in any given situation, she always tries to achieve the best for herself. Thus, not only does a consumer have well-defined preferences over the set of available bundles, she also acts according to her preferences. From the bundles which are available to her, a rational consumer always chooses the one which gives her maximum satisfaction. In the earlier sections, it was observed that the budget set describes the bundles that are available to the consumer and her preferences over the available bundles can usually be represented by an indifference map. Therefore, the consumer’s problem can also be stated as follows: The rational consumer’s problem is to move to a point on the highest possible indifference curve given her budget set. If such a point exists, where would it be located? The optimum point would be located on the budget line. A point below the budget line cannot be the optimum. Compared to a point below the budget line, there is always some point on the budget line which contains more of at least one of the goods and no less of the other, and is, therefore, preferred by a consumer whose preferences are monotonic. Therefore, if the consumer’s preferences are monotonic, for any point below the budget line, there is some point on the budget line which is preferred by the consumer. Points above the budget line are not available to the consumer. Therefore, the optimum (most preferred) bundle of the consumer would be on the budget line. Where on the budget line will the optimum bundle be located? The point at which the budget line just touches (is tangent to), one of the indifference curves would be the optimum.9 To see why this is so, note that any point on the budget line other than the point at which it touches the indifference curve lies on a lower indifference curve and hence is inferior. Therefore, such a point cannot be the consumer’s optimum. The optimum bundle is located on the budget line at 20 the point where the budget line is tangent to an indifference curve. Figure 2.12 illustrates the Introductory Microeconomics consumer’s optimum. At ( x1* , x 2* ) , the budget line is tangent to the black coloured indifference curve. The first thing to note is that the indifference curve just touching the budget line is the highest possible indifference curve given the consumer’s budget set. Bundles on the indifference curves above this, like the grey one, are not affordable. Points on the ∗ ∗ indifference curves below this, like the Consumer’s Optimum. The point (x 1, x 2 ), at blue one, are certainly inferior to the which the budget line is tangent to an indifference curve represents the consumers points on the indifference curve, just touching the budget line. Any other point on the budget line lies on a lower indifference curve and hence, is inferior to ( x 1* , x 2* ). Therefore, ( x 1* , x 2* ) is the consumer’s optimum bundle. 9 To be more precise, if the situation is as depicted in Figure 2.12 then the optimum would be located at the point where the budget line is tangent to one of the indifference curves. However, there are other situations in which the optimum is at a point where the consumer spends her entire income on one of the goods only. 2019-20 2.4 DEMAND In the previous section, we studied the choice problem of the consumer and derived the consumer’s optimum bundle given the prices of the goods, the consumer’s income and her preferences. It was observed that the amount of a good that the consumer chooses optimally, depends on the price of the good itself, the prices of other goods, the consumer’s income and her tastes and preferences. The quantity of a commodity that a consumer is willing to buy and is able to afford, given prices of goods and consumer’s tastes and preferences is called demand for the commodity. Whenever one or more of these variables change, the quantity of the good chosen by the consumer is likely to change as well. Here we shall change one of these variables at a time and study how the amount of the good chosen by the consumer is related to that variable. 2.4.1 Demand Curve and the Law of Demand If the prices of other goods, the consumer’s income and her tastes and preferences remain unchanged, the amount of a good that the consumer Demand Curve. The demand curve is a relation between the quantity of the good optimally chooses, becomes entirely chosen by a consumer and the price of the dependent on its price. The relation good. The independent variable (price) is between the consumer’s optimal choice measured along the vertical axis and of the quantity of a good and its price is dependent variable (quantity) is measured very important and this relation is called along the horizontal axis. The demand curve the demand function. Thus, the gives the quantity demanded by the consumer at each price. consumer’s demand function for a good 21 Theory of Consumer Functions Behaviour Consider any two variables x and y. A function y = f (x) is a relation between the two variables x and y such that for each value of x, there is an unique value of the variable y. In other words, f (x) is a rule which assigns an unique value y for each value of x. As the value of y depends on the value of x, y is called the dependent variable and x is called the independent variable. EXAMPLE 1 Consider, for example, a situation where x can take the values 0, 1, 2, 3 and suppose corresponding values of y are 10, 15, 18 and 20, respectively. Here y and x are related by the function y = f (x) which is defined as follows: f (0) = 10; f (1) = 15; f (2) = 18 and f (3) = 20. EXAMPLE 2 Consider another situation where x can take the values 0, 5, 10 and 20. And suppose corresponding values of y are 100, 90, 70 and 40, respectively. 2019-20  Here, y and x are related by the function y = f (x ) which is defined as follows: f (0) = 100; f (10) = 90; f (15) = 70 and f (20) = 40. Very often a functional relation between the two variables can be expressed in algebraic form like y = 5 + x and y = 50 – x A function y = f (x) is an increasing function if the value of y does not decrease with increase in the value of x. It is a decreasing function if the value of y does not increase with increase in the value of x. The function in Example 1 is an increasing function. So is the function y = x + 5. The function in Example 2 is a decreasing function. The function y = 50 – x is also decreasing. Graphical Representation of a Function A graph of a function y = f (x) is a diagrammatic representation of the function. Following are the graphs of the functions in the examples given above. 22 Introductory Microeconomics Usually, in a graph, the independent variable is measured along the horizontal axis and the dependent variable is measured along the vertical axis. However, in economics, often the opposite is done. The demand curve, for example, is drawn by taking the independent variable (price) along the vertical axis and the dependent variable (quantity) along the horizontal axis. The graph of an increasing function is upward sloping or and the graph of a decreasing function is downward sloping. As we can see from the diagrams above, the graph of y = 5 + x is upward sloping and that of y = 50 – x, is downward sloping. 2019-20 gives the amount of the good that the consumer chooses at different levels of its price when the other things remain unchanged. The consumer’s demand for a good as a function of its price can be written as X = f (P) (2.12) where X denotes the quantity and P denotes the price of the good. The demand function can also be represented graphically as in Figure 2.13. The graphical representation of the demand function is called the demand curve. The relation between the consumer’s demand for a good and the price of the good is likely to be negative in general. In other words, the amount of a good that a consumer would optimally choose is likely to increase when the price of the good falls and it is likely to decrease with a rise in the price of the good. 2.4.2 Deriving a Demand Curve from Indifference Curves and Budget Constraints Consider an individual consuming bananas (X1)and mangoes (X2), whose income is M and market prices of X1 and X2 are P '1 and P '2 respectively. Figure (a) depicts her consumption equilibrium at point C, where she buys X '1 and X '2 quantities of bananas and mangoes respectively. In panel (b) of figure 2.14, we plot P '1 against X '1 which is the first point on the demand curve for X1. 23 Theory of Consumer Deriving a demand curve from indifference curves and budget constraints Behaviour Suppose the price of X1 drops to P1 with P '2 and M remaining constant. The budget set in panel (a), expands and new consumption equilibrium is on a higher indifference curve at point D, where she buys more of bananas ( X1 > X '1 ). Thus, demand for bananas increases as its price drops. We plot P1 against X 1 in panel (b) of figure 2.14 to get the second point on the∧demand curve for X1. Likewise the price of bananas can be dropped ∧ ∧ further to P1 , resulting ∧ in further increase in consumption of bananas to X 1. P1 plotted against X 1 gives us the third point on the demand curve. Therefore, we observe that a drop in price of bananas results in an increase in quality of bananas purchased by an individual who maximises his utility. The demand curve for bananas is thus negatively sloped. The negative slope of the demand curve can also be explained in terms of the two effects namely, substitution effect and income effect that come into play when price of a commodity changes. when bananas become cheaper, the consumer maximises his utility by substituting bananas for mangoes in order to derive the same level of satisfaction of a price change, resulting in an increase in demand for bananas. 2019-20  Moreover, as price of bananas drops, consumer’s purchasing power increases, which further increases demand for bananas (and mangoes). This is the income effect of a price change, resulting in further increase in demand for bananas. Law of Demand: Law of Demand states that other things being equal, there is a negative relation between demand for a commodity and its price. In other words, when price of the commodity increases, demand for it falls and when price of the commodity decreases, demand for it rises, other factors remaining the same. Linear Demand A linear demand curve can be written as a d(p) = a – bp; 0 ≤ p ≤ b a = 0; p > (2.13) b where a is the vertical intercept, –b is the slope of the demand curve. At price 0, the demand is a, and at price a Linear Demand Curve. The diagram depicts equal to , the demand is 0. The the linear demand curve given by equation 2.13. b slope of the demand curve measures the rate at which demand changes with respect to its price. For a unit increase in the price of the good, the demand falls by b units. Figure 2.15 depicts a linear demand curve. 2.4.3 Normal and Inferior Goods The demand function is a relation between the consumer’s demand for a good and its price when other things are given. Instead of studying the relation 24 between the demand for a good and its price, we ca