《经济学导论（英）》 第五章 Elasticity and its application (2学时)

 

教学重点

Elasticity

课教学难点

The Application of Elasticity

价值引领

责任感、共同富裕

思政元素

社会主义特色市场经济体制优势。

本次课教学内容

➢ 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诀体现在：富裕只是基本，一定需要文化和象征符号的东西来高雅化和抬高身份。没有读过书的人需要书柜、艺术家、名人来映衬；富人的儿女需要学历、慈善来映衬其修养、道德感和社会责任和雄心；富人之间需要血统来映衬。因此，西方国家通常不直接提“共同富裕”，一般都将这一问题归结为公平与效率的关系问题。这样，只要是发达国家，公平问题处理地较好，我们就把这样的国家视为实现共同富裕目标效果比较好的国家。在西方市场经济发展的初期阶段，自由竞争的市场经济是社会的主流，国家干预被限制在较小的范围内，国家甚至被当成“必要的邪恶”。这样，收入和财富分配状况就是由市场决定的。即使是不合理的分配状况，一般认为这会随着时间的流逝而得到改变。有这样的理论认识，就有相应的政策实践。总之，在这样的认识下，国家基本上不对收入分配进行干预。

在全世界范围内，中国首提“共同富裕”奋斗目标。从脱贫攻坚，到共同富裕，中国普通民众生活的真实改善，大量中国企业积极提升社会责任定位，都让许多西方人不得不正视中国这一历史性进程。

➢ 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

 

教学组织：

1．教师讲授内容

2．学生讨论回答问题

3．多媒体辅助

4．逐步引导学生对经济学原理核心概念的认识

作业布置

Questions for review, Q2-Q10

Problems and applications, Q7& Q13

本次课推荐参考文献

保罗•萨缪尔森、威廉•诺德豪斯：《经济学》（英文版 第19版），商务印书馆，2013年。

课后自我总结分析

通过教学和实践，学生认识和理解弹性的原理和应用。

供稿：钟泽楠

2023-2-15