Concept explainers
Consumers’ and Producers’ Surplus Suppose that with the supply and demand for oil as in Exercise 35, the government sets the price at $264 per unit.
(a) Use the supply function to calculate the quantity that will be produced at the new price.
(b) Find the consumers’ surplus for the new price, using the quantity found in part (a) in place of the equilibrium quantity. How much larger is this than the consumers’ surplus in Exercise 35?
(c) Find the producers’ surplus for the new price, using the quantity found in part (a) in place of the equilibrium quantity. How much smaller is this than the producers’ surplus in Exercise 35?
(d) Calculate the difference between the total of the consumers’ and producers’ surplus under the equilibrium price and under the government price. Economists refer to this loss as the welfare cost of the government’s setting the price.
(e) Because of the welfare cost calculated in part (d), many economists argue that it is bad economics for the government to set prices. Others point to the increase in the consumers’ surplus, calculated in part (b), as a justification for such government action. Discuss the pros and cons of this issue.
35. Consumers’ and Producers’ Surplus Suppose the supply function for oil is given (in dollars) by
and the demand function is given (in dollars) by
(a) Graph the supply and demand curves.
(b) Find the point at which supply and demand are in equilibrium.
(c) Find the consumers’ surplus.
(d) Find the producers’ surplus.
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Finite Mathematics and Calculus with Applications (10th Edition)
- Linear Algebra: A Modern IntroductionAlgebraISBN:9781285463247Author:David PoolePublisher:Cengage Learning