perfectly elastic demand
- noun
- /ˈpɜrfɪktli ɪˈlæstɪk dɪˈmænd/
- Specialized
:
demanda perfectamente elástica
- If wheat exhibited perfectly elastic demand, even a minor price increase would eliminate all sales instantly.
Examples
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In a market with perfectly elastic demand, suppliers must sell at the prevailing price or risk losing all customers.
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In economics, perfectly elastic demand means consumers buy only at one price.
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The concept of perfectly elastic demand is essential for understanding certain idealized economic models.
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If the price rises, the perfectly elastic demand will drop to zero.
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If wheat exhibited perfectly elastic demand, even a small price increase would cause demand to fall to zero.
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In a market with perfectly elastic demand, no consumers will purchase the product if the price increases.
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When a product has perfectly elastic demand, any decrease in price leads to unlimited buying by consumers.
Antonyms
How Elastic
- Specialized
- Specialized
- Specialized
2
5.1
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
The constituents 'elastic' and 'demand' and the intensifier 'perfectly' make it partly predictable that this refers to demand that responds extremely to price changes, so a B1 learner could infer a strong sensitivity. However, the exact technical implication (demand dropping to zero or becoming infinite with any price change) is a specialized economic convention not derivable from everyday word meanings, so full understanding requires domain knowledge.
Etymology
Perfectly elastic demand uses a simple picture: think of elastic like a rubber band—if the 'price' moves a little, the amount people want stretches to either nothing or a huge amount. So it means buyers will only 'buy' at one exact 'price'; a small rise makes demand fall to zero and a small fall makes demand jump to a very large level.