Applications of Demand and Supply
Read this chapter and attempt the "Try It" exercises. This chapter will help you gain familiarity and competencies with regard to basic demand and supply concepts. At a minimum, you should be able to list the factors that shift the demand curve and those that shift the supply curve after completing these chapters. This will help you prepare for similar types of analyses in the units ahead.
4.2 Government Intervention in Market Prices: Price Floors and Price Ceilings
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Price floors create surpluses by fixing the price above the equilibrium price. At the price set by the floor, the quantity supplied exceeds the quantity demanded.
- In agriculture, price floors have created persistent surpluses of a wide range of agricultural commodities. Governments typically purchase the amount of the surplus or impose production restrictions in an attempt to reduce the surplus.
- Price ceilings create shortages by setting the price below the equilibrium. At the ceiling price, the quantity demanded exceeds the quantity supplied.
- Rent controls are an example of a price ceiling, and thus they create shortages of rental housing.
- It is sometimes the case that rent controls create "backdoor" arrangements, ranging from requirements that tenants rent items that they do not want to outright bribes, that result in rents higher than would exist in the absence of the ceiling.