微观经济学第(曼昆)章课件.pptVIP

* In this slide, the equilibrium price ($800) and price ceiling ($500) are the same as on the preceding slides, but supply and demand are more price-elastic than before, and the shortage that results from a binding price ceiling is larger. * The last two bullets discuss “efficiency” in the context of rationing goods to those buyers who value them most highly. This concept will be explored further in the following chapter. * Now we switch gears and look at the effects of a price floor. We illustrate this concept using the common textbook example – the minimum wage. This may be the first time students have seen a supply-demand diagram of the labor market. It might be useful to note that the “price” of labor is simply the wage, which we measure on the vertical axis of our supply-demand diagram. Along the horizontal axis, we measure the quantity of labor (number of workers). The demand for unskilled labor comes from firms. The supply comes from workers. We focus on unskilled labor because the minimum wage is not relevant for higher skilled, higher wage workers. * Some students may wonder why the $3 price floor does not cause a shortage. After all, at a wage of $3, the quantity of unskilled workers that firms wish to hire exceeds the quantity of unskilled workers that are looking for jobs. But the minimum wage law does not stop the wage from rising above $3. So, in response to this shortage, the wage will rise until the shortage disappears – which occurs at the equilibrium wage of $4. The equilibrium wage is perfectly legal when the price floor (i.e. minimum wage) is below it. * Now, the minimum wage exceeds the equilibrium wage. The equilibrium wage (or any wage below $5) is illegal. In this case, the actual wage will be $5. It will not be lower, because any lower wage is illegal. It will not be higher, because at any higher wage, the surplus would be even greater. The actual number of unskilled workers with jobs equals 400. 550 want jo