📚 Learning Guide
Elasticity of Demand
medium

A local coffee shop decides to raise the price of its medium latte from $4 to $5. After the price increase, they notice that the quantity of medium lattes sold decreases from 100 cups to 60 cups per day. Based on this scenario, how would you classify the demand for medium lattes in this coffee shop?

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Learning Path
Learning Path

Question & Answer
1
Understand Question
2
Review Options
3
Learn Explanation
4
Explore Topic

Choose the Best Answer

A

Elastic demand, because the percentage change in quantity demanded is greater than the percentage change in price.

B

Inelastic demand, because the quantity demanded did not change significantly despite the price increase.

C

Unit elastic demand, because the changes in price and quantity demanded offset each other.

D

Perfectly inelastic demand, because consumers continue to buy the same quantity regardless of price.

Understanding the Answer

Let's break down why this is correct

Answer

In this scenario, we can classify the demand for medium lattes as elastic. This means that when the price increased from $4 to $5, the quantity sold dropped significantly from 100 cups to 60 cups. The large change in quantity sold, despite a relatively small change in price, indicates that customers are sensitive to the price increase. For example, if a customer can easily find a similar latte at another shop for a lower price, they might choose to go there instead. Therefore, the coffee shop's decision to raise prices led to a noticeable decrease in sales, showing that demand is elastic.

Detailed Explanation

When the price goes up, fewer people buy the lattes. Other options are incorrect because Some might think that a small change in sales means demand is steady; Unit elastic means price and quantity change equally.

Key Concepts

Elasticity of demand
Pricing strategies
Revenue potential
Topic

Elasticity of Demand

Difficulty

medium level question

Cognitive Level

understand

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