What are the uses of price elasticity of demand to the business firms and to the government?

Answer 1

Elasticity measures help the sales manager in fixing the price of his product. The concept is also important to the economic planners of the country. In trying to fix the production target for various goods in a plan, a planner must estimate the likely demand for goods at the end of the plan. This erequires the use of income elasticity concepts.
The price elasticity of demand as well as cross elasticity would determine the substitution between goods and hence useful in fixing the output mix in a production period. The concept is also useful to the policy makers of the government, in particular in determining taxation policy, minimum wages policy, stabilization programmer for agriculture, and price policies for various other goods (where administered prices are used).
The managers are concerned with empirical demand estimates because they provide summary information about the direction and proportion of change in demand, as a result of a given change in its explanatory variables. From the standpoint of control and management of external factors, such empirical estimates and their interpretations are therefore, very relevant.

Answer 2

There are several uses of Price Elasticity of Demand that is why firms gather information about the Price Elasticity of Demand of its products. A firm will know much more about its internal operations and product costs than it will about its external environment. Therefore, gathering data on how consumers respond to changes in price can help reduce risk and uncertainly. More specifically, knowledge of Price Elasticity of Demand can help the firm forecast its sales and set its price.

1. Sales forecasting: The firm can forecast the impact of a change in price on its sales volume, and sales revenue (total revenue, TR). For example, if Price Elasticity of Demand for a product is (-) 2, a 10% reduction in price (say, from $10 to $9) will lead to a 20% increase in sales (say from 1000 to 1200). In this case, revenue will rise from $10,000 to $10,800.
2. Pricing policy: Knowing Price Elasticity of Demand helps the firm decide whether to raise or lower price, or whether to price discriminate. Price discrimination is a policy of charging consumers different prices for the same product. If demand is elastic, revenue is gained by reducing price, but if demand is inelastic, revenue is gained by raising price.
3. Non-pricing policy: When Price Elasticity of Demand is highly elastic, the firm can use advertising and other promotional techniques to reduce elasticity.

Answer 3

explain how s.a government can use the elasticity figures in implementing its policy

Answer 4

The government could only benifit by implementing tax if the good is inelastic.These will be products such as cigarettes and alcopops that are addictive or necessities such as food and water.