《經濟學導論（英）》 第五章 Elasticity and its application (2學時)

 

教學重點

Elasticity

課教學難點

The Application of Elasticity

價值引領

責任感、共同富裕

思政元素

社會主義特色市場經濟體制優勢。

本次課教學内容

➢ The Market Forces of Supply and Demand

➢ Lead-in activities: You design websites for local businesses.

You charge $200 per website, and currently sell 12 websites per month. Your costs are rising (including the opp. cost of your time), so you consider raising the price to $250.The law of demand says that you won’t sell as many websites if you raise your price. How many fewer websites? How much will your revenue fall, or might it increase?

➢ Price elasticity of demand: definition; calculation-mid-point method

➢ ACTIVE LEARNING 1:

Calculate an elasticity

➢ Use the following information to calculate the

price elasticity of demand for hotel rooms:

① if P = $70, Qd = 5000

② if P = $90, Qd = 3000

➢ The Determinants of Price Elasticity:

The price elasticity of demand depends on:

① the extent to which close substitutes are available

② whether the good is a necessity or a luxury

③ how broadly or narrowly the good is defined

④ the time horizon: elasticity is higher in the long run than the short run.

➢ The Variety of Demand Curves：perfectly elastic; elastic; unit elastic; inelastic; perfectly inelastic

➢ Price Elasticity and Total Revenue

➢ A C T I V E L E A R N I N G 2:

Elasticity and expenditure/revenue

① Pharmacies raise the price of insulin by 10%. Does total expenditure on insulin rise or fall?

② As a result of a fare war, the price of a luxury cruise falls 20%. Does luxury cruise companies’ total revenue rise or fall?

思政元素：

由奢侈品的需求分析引出，西方精英的炫富的要訣體現在：富裕隻是基本，一定需要文化和象征符号的東西來高雅化和擡高身份。沒有讀過書的人需要書櫃、藝術家、名人來映襯；富人的兒女需要學曆、慈善來映襯其修養、道德感和社會責任和雄心；富人之間需要血統來映襯。因此，西方國家通常不直接提“共同富裕”，一般都将這一問題歸結為公平與效率的關系問題。這樣，隻要是發達國家，公平問題處理地較好，我們就把這樣的國家視為實現共同富裕目标效果比較好的國家。在西方市場經濟發展的初期階段，自由競争的市場經濟是社會的主流，國家幹預被限制在較小的範圍内，國家甚至被當成“必要的邪惡”。這樣，收入和财富分配狀況就是由市場決定的。即使是不合理的分配狀況，一般認為這會随着時間的流逝而得到改變。有這樣的理論認識，就有相應的政策實踐。總之，在這樣的認識下，國家基本上不對收入分配進行幹預。

在全世界範圍内，中國首提“共同富裕”奮鬥目标。從脫貧攻堅，到共同富裕，中國普通民衆生活的真實改善，大量中國企業積極提升社會責任定位，都讓許多西方人不得不正視中國這一曆史性進程。

➢ Price elasticity of supply: definition; calculation-mid-point method

➢ The Variety of Supply Curves：perfectly elastic; elastic; unit elastic; inelastic; perfectly inelastic

➢ The Determinants of Supply Elasticity: possibility to vary supply; time horizon

➢ ACTIVE LEARNING 3:

Elasticity and changes in equilibrium

➢ The supply of beachfront property is inelastic. The supply of new cars is elastic.Suppose population growth causes demand for both goods to double (i.e. at each price, Qd doubles).

① For which product will P change the most?

② For which product will Q change the most?

➢ Other elasticities: income elasticity of demand; cross-price elasticity of demand

 

教學組織：

1．教師講授内容

2．學生讨論回答問題

3．多媒體輔助

4．逐步引導學生對經濟學原理核心概念的認識

作業布置

Questions for review, Q2-Q10

Problems and applications, Q7& Q13

本次課推薦參考文獻

保羅•薩缪爾森、威廉•諾德豪斯：《經濟學》（英文版 第19版），商務印書館，2013年。

課後自我總結分析

通過教學和實踐，學生認識和理解彈性的原理和應用。

供稿：鐘澤楠

2023-2-15