MicroeconomicELASTICITY文件材料.ppt

* * * * * The unit elastic demand curve is a good one to use to emphasize that elasticity and slope are not equal. Have the students calculate the elasticity of supply on two linear demand curves that passes through the origin, one with a slope of 0.5 and the other with a slope of 2. They’ll get the message. * * * * * * * Notes and teaching tips: 4, 20, 23, 25, 35, 43, 45, 49, 65, and 70. To view a full-screen figure during a class, click the red “expand” button. To return to the previous slide, click the red “shrink” button. To advance to the next slide, click anywhere on the full screen figure. * * Make the discussion of this topic concrete and real. Come to class with something of low but positive value that you’ve going to end up giving to a student. How will the decision about who gets the object be made? Make the class debate the pros and cons of each of the methods. If you did the demand curve experiment, remind the class that market price allocated the bottles of water. The question now is does market price do a good job? * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The consumer surplus, producer surplus, and deadweight loss are all generally triangular in shape. Indeed, if you draw only linear demand and supply curves and do not make either curve vertical or horizontal, these surpluses and any deadweight loss are triangles. So, it is a good idea to remind your students of the formula for calculating the area of a triangle. Make sure to do several examples of the calculation for both consumer and producer surplus. Remind them that this area represents a dollar value. This reminder is especially useful when you quantify the deadweight losses created by monopolies, quotas, subsidies, etc. Many students just see the loss to society as a loss of jobs or less output, but you can create more intuition by putting the loss in dollar terms. * * * The only thing that students sometimes get hung up on is the exact shape of the consumer surplus area—steps versus the complete