In a perfectly competitive dairy market, a decrease in consumer income typically leads to a leftward shift in the demand curve, resulting in a new equilibrium where the price of milk is ___.

In a perfectly competitive dairy market, when consumer income decreases, people generally have less money to spend. This often leads to a decrease in demand for normal goods, like milk, causing the demand curve to shift leftward. As demand decreases, the quantity of milk that consumers are willing to buy at each price level falls. This shift results in a new equilibrium where the price of milk is lower than before. For example, if the original price of milk was $3 per gallon and the demand decreases due to lower consumer income, the new equilibrium price might drop to $2.