Demand and Slutsky Equation Varian: Intermediate Microeconomics, 8e, Chapters 6 and 8 LITTER This bin is sponsored by: MANBURV'S FAMOUS FISH & CHIPS Princes Street, Babbacombe, j Q^R03 329928 i Demand The first part of the lecture explains • what does the consumer's demand function for a good depend on, • what are normal and inferior goods, ordinary and Giffen goods, and substitutes and complements, • what is the inverse demand function. Introduction Demand functions — relate prices and income to choices: xi = xi(Pi,P2, m) *2 = X2(pi,P2, m) Comparative statics - comparing two situations before and after a change without being concerned about any adjustment process. Comparative statics in consumer theory - how demand changes when income and prices change. EJ demanc Changes in Income A rise in income shifts the budget line out. Normal good - increase in income increases demand (Figure 6.1): Axi Am > 0. Inferior good - increase in income decreases demand (Figure 6.2): ^<0. Am Examples of inferior goods: nearly any kind low quality good like gruel, bologna, shacks. FIGURE 6.2 An inferior good Intermediate Microeconomics. 8th Edition Changes in Income (cont'd) As income changes, the optimal choice moves along the income offer curve or income expansion path. The relationship between the optimal choice and income, with prices fixed, is called the Engel curve. A Income offer curve B Engel curve Examples: Perfect Substitutes Suppose that pi < p>: Consumer is specializing in consuming good 1 horizontal income offer curve. Demand for good 1 is Xi = m/pi Engel curve is a straight line: m = piX\. x2 m Indifference A Income offer curve B Engel curve Examples: Perfect Complements Demand for good 1 is Xi = m/(Pi + P2). Engel curve is a straight line: m = (pi + P2)xi. A Income offer curve B tngel curve Examples: Cobb-Douglas Preferences For u(xi,X2) = xfx^3, the demand for good 1 Xi = am/pi and the demand for good 2 is X2 = (1 — a)m/p2. The income offer curve is a straight line: xi = ^1~a^pixi-Engel curve is a straight line: m = p\Xyj a. A Income otlcr curve B Engel curve Examples: Homothetic Preferences The consumer has homothetic preferences, if the demand for good goes up by the same proportion as income. Or if (xi,X2) >- (yi,y2). then (txi, tX2) >- (tyi, ty2) for any positive value of t. If the consumer has homothetic preferences, the income offer curves and Engel curves are straight lines. Thus perfect substitutes, perfect complements and Cobb-Douglas are homothetic preferences. Homothetic preferences are not very realistic. The other options: • luxury good - demand increases by a greater proportion than income. • necessary good - demand increases by a lesser proportion than income. Examples: Quasilinear Preferences The indifference curves shift in a parallel way. =>■ It is tangent to the budget line at a bundle (x^,x|), then another indifference curve must be tangent at (x^,x| + k) for any constant k. Real-life example: choice between single good that is a small part of the consumer's budget (e.g. salt or toothpaste) and all other goods. A Income offer curve B Engel curve Changes in Price Changes in price lead to a tilts or pivots of the budget line. Ordinary good - decrease in price increases demand (see Figure 6.9): Axi Aft < 0. G if fen good - decrease in price decreases demand (see Figure 6.10): Axi Aft > 0. Intuituion behind Giffen good: Suppose you consume a little of meat and a lot of potatoes. A reduction of price of potatoes gives you extra money for meat. Then you might need less potatoes. Indifference curves FIGURE 6.9 An ordinary good liUcmicclule .V'Vu-ieroriomir.*. Edition Indifference curves FIGURE 6.10 A Giffen good Changes in Prices (cont'd) As price changes the optimal choice moves along the price offer curve. The relationship between the optimal choice and a price, with income and the other price fixed, is called the demand curve. Indifference curves Price offer curve Dem ;;nd i curve A Price offer curve B Demand curve Examples: Perfect Substitutes The demand function for good 1 is A Price offer curve B Demand curve Examples: Perfect Complements Consumed in fixed proportions =>■ price offer curve is a straight line. If consumed in 1:1 proportion, the demand for good 1 is given by m A Price offer curve B Demand curve Examples: Discrete Goods Reservation price rn - price where consumer is just indifferent between consuming and not consuming unit n of good. For the price ri the utility from 0 and 1 units is the same: u(0, m) = u(l, m — ri). For the price r$, u(l, m — r?) = u(2, m — 2f2). Optima 1 2 J GOOD A Optimal bundles at different prices 1 2 GOOD Demand curve Examples: Discrete Goods (cont'd) Special case: quasilinear preferences u(x±, X2) = v(xi) + X2. u(0, m) = u(l, m — ri) can be written as v(0) + m = v(l) + m — r±. u(l, m — f^) = u(2, m — 2^) as v(l) + m — f2 = v(2) + m — 2f2. If i/(0) = 0, then v(0) + m = v(l) + m - r± fi = Similarly, + m — = v(2) + m — 2f2 f2 = i/(2) — v(l). Reservation prices just measure marginal utilities. Substitutes and Complements Blue and red pencils are perfect subsitutes, what about pencils and pens? Substitutes - increase in P2 increases demand for Xi: ^>0. Left and right shoes are perfect complements, what about shoes and socks? Complements - increase in P2 decreases demand for xi: The Inverse Demand Curve Usually think of demand curve as measuring quantity as a function of price - e.g. the Cobb-Douglas demand for good 1 is xi = am/pi. We can also think of price as a function of quantity = the inverse demand function. The Cobb-Douglas indirect demand function is pi = am/xi. The Inverse Demand Curve: Economic Interpretation If both goods are consumed in positive amounts, MRSI = — pi = P2IMRSI. P2 Price of good 1 is proportional to the absolute value of MRS between good 1 and 2. Suppose p2 = 1, then pi measures how much of good 2 would the consumer trade for one additional unit of good 1. If good 2 is money, pi measures marginal willingness to pay: How many dollars is the consumer willing to give up for one additional unit of good 1. Summary • The consumer's demand function for a good depends on the prices of all goods and income. • Normal good - demand increases when income increases X inferior good • Ordinary good - demand decreases when its price increases X Giffen good • Good 1 is substitute (complement) for good 2 if the demand for good 1 increases (decreases) when the price of good 2 increases. • The height of the inverse demand function at any given level of consumption measures the marginal willingness to pay for an additional unit of good. Slutsky Equation The second part of the lecture explains • what are the substitution and income effects, • what is the Slutsky equation, • what does the Law of Demand say. Slutsky Equation We want a way to decompose the effect of a price change into "simpler" pieces. That's what analysis is all about - break up into simple pieces to determine behavior of whole. With this analytical tool, we will be able to answer the following questions: • Does a reduction in price always increase the demand for the good? What if we have a Giffen good? • Does an increase in wage induce people to work more? What if the wage increases from $10 to $100 an hour? What if it increases from $100 to $10,000 an hour? Slutsky Equation (con't) Break up price change into a pivot and a shift. These are hypothetical changes. We can examine each change in isolation and look at sum of two changes. x2 Incliilerence curves Substitution effect Income effect The Pivoted Line The pivoted line has the same slope (relative prices) like the final budget line, but the purchasing power is adjusted so that the original consumption bundle (xi, X2) is just affordable. How much we have to adjust the income to keep (xi,X2) just affordable? The Pivoted Line (con't) Let rrl be the income that will make (xi,X2) just affordable and p[ the final price of good 1. Then m = pixi + P2X2. Substracting the second equation from the first, we have m' - m = xi[pi - pi]. Using Am = rrl — m and Api = p[ — pi, we get Am = xiApi. Example: 20 candy bars, price increase from 50 to 60 cents a piece: 20 candy bars are just affordable if the income increases by Slutsky Substitution Effect Substitution effect is change in demand due to pivot. Slutsky substitution effect measures how demand changes when we change prices, keeping purchasing power fixed: Indifference p[*l + P2X2. Am = 20 x 0.1 = $2.00. Axi = *i(Pi> m') - *i(Pi> ">)■ Sometimes called the change in compensated demand: The consumer is compensated for the effect of a price change by Am. m/p2 m'ip2 Substitution Income effect effect FIGURE 8,2 Substitution effect and income effect hncinu'ilhVc ^''crocro'tomk-^ hi 1 Edition Copyrights 2010 W, W. Nerton & Company Sign of the Substitution Effect Substitution effect is negative - "negative" means quantity moves opposite the direction of price. The bundles on the pivoted budget line to the left of X (with less of good 1 than Xi) were affordable at the old prices. If the consumer chooses the best bundles he can afford, then X must be preferred to all the bundles on the pivoted line inside the original budget set (revealed preference). Similarly we could prove that if pi increases, Xi goes down. Example: Calculating the Substitution Effect Suppose m = $120, pi = $3 per quart and the demand for milk is m xi = 10 lOpi The demand for milk is 10 + 120/(10 x 3) = 14 quarts per week. Now the price of milk falls to p[ = $2 per quart. The demand for milk is 10 + 120/(10 x 2) = 16 quarts per week. In order to calculate the substitution effect, we need to calculate the income necessary to keep the purchasing power constant m' = m + Am = m + xx Api = 120 + 14 x (2 - 3) = 106. The substitution effect is Axf = xi(pi, m') - xi(pi, m) = xi(2,106) - xi(3,120) = 1.3. Income Effect Income effect is change in demand due to shift. This measures the change in demand for good 1 when we change the income from m' to m and keep the prices constant at (p[,P2): Axi1 = xi(p^, m) - x1(p[, m'). Income effect is negative for normal goods (a rise in price reduces the income which reduces the demand) and positive for inferior good. x2 Indifference curves m/p2 m1pl ^>S^ \ ^^^^ z 1 \ 1 1 -»-» xl Substitution Income effect effect .-.^ .i.w..,<- , ... ,. . ,. „ . IntemiedwteMferoeewtcwHci, Bth Edition FIGURE 8.2 Substitution effect and income effect r^tcmMww.n^srn^ The Total Change in Demand Total change in demand is substitution effect plus the income effect. This equation is called Slutsky indentity: Axi = Axif + Ax". *l(Pi, m) - xi(Pi, m) = xi(Pi, m') - *l(Pi, m) + *l(Pi, m) - *l(Pi, m')- It is an identity - the first and fourth terms cancel out. If good is normal, the substitution effect and the income effect are negative. The total effect is negative. If good is inferior, the substitution effect is negative and the income effect is positive. The total effect is ambiguous (see Figure 8.3). The Rates of Change If we want to express Slutsky identity in terms rates of change, it is convenient to define negative income effect: Axf = xi(pi, m') - xi(pi, m) = -Axf. Then the Slutsky identity is Axi = Axf - Axf. Dividing the identity by Ap1: we get Axi _ Axf Axf Api Api Api ' From Am = XiApi, we get Apx = Ap. Subsituting into (75), we get Ax! _ Axf Axf Api Api Am 1 The Law of Demand The Law of Demand - If the demand for a good increases when income increases, then the demand for that good must decrease when its price increases. Follows directly from the Slutsky equation: • If demand increases when income increases, it is a normal good. • If we nave a normal good, then the total effect of a price change is negative. Examples: Perfect Complements Substitution effect is zero: The entire change in demand is due to income effect. Indifference curves Original budget line Income effect = total effect Examples: Perfect Substitutes Income effect is zero: The entire change in demand is due to substitution effect. Substitution effect - total effect Examples: Quasilinear Preferences Quasilinear preferences imply that shift in income causes no change in demand: The entire change in demand is due to substitution effect. -»- *, Substitution effect = total effect Application: Rabating a Tax In 1974, OPEC instituted an oil embargo against the US and was able to stop oil shipments for several weeks. Many plans to reduce US dependency on foreign oil. One of the plans: • put a tax on gasoline, in order to reduce the consumption of oil • return the revenues, so that consumers are not hit by the tax. Critics: Consumers will use the rebated money to purchase more gasoline. What does economic analysis say about the plan? S3 OPEC Application: Rabating a Tax (cont'd) Original budget constraint: px + y = m After tax budget constraint: (p + t)x' + y' = m + tx' -$=>■ px' + y' = m So (x',y') was affordable originally and rejected in favor of (x,y) => consumer must be worse off. The consumer will choose less gasoline and more of other goods (see Figure 8.7). FIGURE 8.r Rebating a tax Intermediate Microeconomics. 8th Edition Application: Voluntary Real Time Pricing Electricity producers have extreme capacity problem: easy to produce up to capacity, impossible to produce more. Increasing capacities is expensive =>■ reducing the use of electricity during peak demand is attractive. Peak demand due to weather is easy to forecast (in hot weather in Georgia - 30 % of usage due to air conditioning). How to set up pricing system so that people have incentives to reduce consumption in peak demand. Application: Voluntary Real Time Pricing (cont'd) One solution: Real Time Pricing (RTP) RTP: industrial users equipped with special meters - the price of electricity can vary from minute to minute depending on the total demand of electricity. Georgia Power Company - largest RTP program in the world: In 1999 reduced demand by 750 MW on high-price day by inducing some large customers to cut their demand by as much as 60 %. GEORGIA POWER A SOUTHERN COMPANY OTHER GOODS ELECTRICITY FIGURE 8.8 Voluntary real time pricing Intel mediale /vi Pi*i + P2*2 and qiyi + q2y2 > qm + q2Y2- Hence, these inequalities are true: pixi + P2X2 < pixi + P2X2and qiyi + q2Y2 < qm + q2y2- Adding and rearrangig the inequalities gives ((71 - Pi)(yi - xi) + («72 - P2)(y2 - x2) ^ °- Using P2 = q2 (change only in pi), we get (qx - pi)(yi - xx) < 0. The change in price and quantity demanded must have the opposite sign. Summary • There are two effects of a change in price: substitution and income effect. • The substitution effect is the change in demand due to the change in relative prices when purchasing power is held constant. • The income effect is the change in demand due to the change in purchasing power. • Slutsky equation says that the total change in demand is the sum of the substitution and the income effect. • The Law of Demand says that normal goods must have downward-sloping demand.