Income And Income Effect Essay

2800 Words6 Pages

Distinguish clearly between the Income and the Substitution Effects of a change in the Price of a Good. Under what Conditions will the Income Effect and the Substitution Effect act in Opposite Directions? The changes in the prices of goods that a consumer buys can greatly affect their purchasing decisions. This is referred to as the income effect to the consumer resulting from the change in price of the good. When the price of a good goes up, the consumer feels poorer than before. This is because they have to spend more purchasing that same good. Though the price goes, their paycheck does not increase. Ultimately, the buyer purchases less of that good. A decrease in the price of a good makes the consumer feel richer, thus making them to feel …show more content…

The diagram shows the income and substitution effect of a consumer for good 1 and good 2, that is the substitution effect for bananas and mangoes .Initially, the consumer is faced with a situation where they choose to consume a combination of both goods 1 and 2, forming a point of equilibrium at point A. at this point, the old budget line of the consumer is tangent to the indifference curve that is located at the outer side (the higher indifference curve). Here, the consumer makes a choice of the amount of good 1 and the amount of good 2 to consume so as to attain the highest level of utility. In this case, the consumer makes a choice to consume 11 units of the good 1 and 8 units of the good 2, forming the equilibrium level at point A. A price change occurs for the good 1,say the price changes from 50 to 70. This is a price increase of 20. following the increase in the price for bananas, good 1, the good becomes more expensive. This brings about a change in the consumption of good 1 by the consumer. Thus the consumption level of the consumer moves along to the point E. this becomes the new equilibrium level following the price increase of 20. At the point E, the new budget line of the consumer is tangent to the indifference curve that is on the lower side in the diagram. The increase of the price of bananas leads to a decline in the amount that is consumed. Hence, the consumption level falls from 11 units to 4 units. On …show more content…

The same effect also leads to a decrease in the consumption of good 2.on the other hand; there is an increase in the consumption of good 1 due to the income effect. The same effect also leads to decrease in the consumption of good 2. The overall effect makes the consumer of goods 1 and 2 to be less declined towards purchasing the inferior good. Price change for an Inferior Good If a good is said to be an inferior good, then in such a case both the income effect and the substitution effect move in the opposite direction. This means that they do not move in the same direction. The resulting effect is thus not determinate. Due to the substitution effect, there is a drop in the amount of good demanded by the consumer following an increase in the price of the good. However, the income effect acts in the opposite direction. Following the decrease in the price of a good, there is an increase in the quantity demanded by the consumer due to the substitution effect. However, in such a case, the income effect is opposite (Krugman and Wells

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