Over a six-month period in 2007, the price of corn increased by almost 70% as a result of increased demand for ethanol biofuel.
What signal does the dramatic price increase give buyers and farmers?
How does the price change impact buyers’ and farmers’ incentives?
How do you think buyers and farmers responded to the dramatic price increase?
1. The increase in the price of corn was caused due to increase in the demand for ethanol biofuel and since corn is an important ingredient to manufacture biofuel, the derived demand for corn increased and this price increase gave the farmers and buyers a signal that demand for the product was increasing beacuse it is used as a factor of production in making biofuel.
2. Increase in price of corn will reduce consumer surplus and reduce their incentive to buy the product. On the other hand, increase in price will increase producer surplus and increase the incentive to produce corn.
3. Since demand curve is negatively sloped, buyers responded to the dramatic price increase by purchasing less corn and farmers responded to the drastic price increase by producing more of corn because supply curve is positively sloped.
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