Worked-example setupScope and assumptions
- Both response arcs use Linden's fixed baseline lines from $50 to $70 and aligned weekly quantity units.
- Demand magnitude and supply elasticity are compared numerically while their signs and economic meanings remain distinct.
- Quantity supplied is an offer schedule, not completed production, inventory, sales, revenue, or cash.
- Period
- One representative fictional week at each endpoint
- Units
- USD per qualifying chair; qualifying chairs per week; unit-free elasticities
- Rounding
- Full precision internally; displayed to two or four decimals as labeled
Between $50 and $70, Linden quantity demanded falls from 900 to 700 while quantity supplied rises from 700 to 900. Both quantity changes have magnitude 200 around a midpoint of 800; both divide by the same 33.3333% price change.
| Relationship | Quantity change | Signed elasticity | Magnitude class |
|---|---|---|---|
| Demand | -25.00% | -0.75 | Inelastic |
| Supply | +25.00% | +0.75 | Inelastic |
Equal magnitudes do not make demand and supply synonyms. Demand describes buyer choice under one relationship. Supply describes seller offers under another. The signs preserve those opposite directions.
Ask what can adjust
Linden's supplied schedule is stipulated for teaching. A real supply estimate needs an adjustment horizon and evidence about finished inventory, capacity, labor, inputs, lead time, storage, finance, entry, and regulation. A weekly coefficient cannot be promoted to a long-run capacity response.
The 900 units supplied at $70 are not necessarily produced or sold. Under the baseline market, only 700 are demanded at that price. Inventory and completed sales require firm-level records. The demand coefficient similarly does not prove that 700 purchases occurred.
This comparison establishes two proportional responses over one range. It does not establish equilibrium adjustment speed, incidence, revenue, cost, profit, cash, or a course of action.
Verified calculation · economics foundations analysis
The curriculum loader recomputed this example before it entered the site build. Expand any structured input to inspect the stated facts.
- midpoint elasticities
- 2 fields
Inspect data
{
"linden_demand_response": {
"driver_end": 70,
"driver_name": "usd_per_chair",
"driver_start": 50,
"relationship": "price_demand",
"response_end": 700,
"response_name": "chairs_demanded_per_week",
"response_start": 900
},
"linden_supply_response": {
"driver_end": 70,
"driver_name": "usd_per_chair",
"driver_start": 50,
"relationship": "price_supply",
"response_end": 900,
"response_name": "chairs_supplied_per_week",
"response_start": 700
}
}Recomputed result
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| demand response absolute elasticity | 0.75 |
| demand response inelastic | 1 |
| demand response signed elasticity | -0.75 |
| supply response absolute elasticity | 0.75 |
| supply response inelastic | 1 |
| supply response signed elasticity | 0.75 |