Economic Concept Podcast - Quantity Demanded

The podcast discusses the concept of quantity demanded in economics. Quantity demanded is the amount of a good or service that a consumer is willing and able to purchase at a given price. The price of a product affects the quantity demanded, with demand falling as prices rise and vice versa. Demand and quantity demanded are not the same, with demand being based on customer needs and wants, while quantity demanded is a specific point on the demand curve. The concept of quantity demanded can be seen in daily life, such as when purchasing apples at the supermarket. The podcast concludes by highlighting the relationship between demand and quantity demanded and how it affects prices. Welcome to this ECON podcast. I'm Caroline Wickham and today I will be visiting the economic concept of quantity demanded. So what do we know about this specific topic? Well, per the microeconomic 7th edition textbook written by Glenn Hubbard and Anthony Patrick O'Brien found in chapter 3, quantity demanded can be defined as the amount of a good or service that a consumer is willing and able to purchase at a given price. Say you're at a carnival and you've been craving a hot dog. You walk up to the stand and they're charging $5 per hot dog. You decide that you really want two of them and you purchase both. The quantity demanded in that situation would be two. So it gets deeper than that. If there's a change in the price of a specific product, such as a hot dog, there is movement along the demand curve resulting in a change in quantity demanded. As I'm not extremely certain that one would be willing to pay $15 per hot dog. In the more complicated world of economics, the quantity demanded will change at every possible price. The specific amount demanded will also determine the overall price of certain goods and services. So what is one of the main factors that can affect quantity demanded? Well, the overall price of a specific good. If prices rise, demand will fall and vice versa. If prices fall, demand will rise, which causes an inverse relationship between price and demand. Now, some may confuse demand and quantity demanded as the same type of concept, but let's discuss their differences. Demand is based on the needs and wants of customers and is also solely based upon pay. If one cannot pay for a good, then there is simply no demand. While glancing at a graph that represents demand and quantity demanded, demand is pictured by the entire demand curve, whereas quantity demanded is represented by just one point along the demand curve that relates with a singular price and quantity. Although some may not see graphs including demand and quantity demanded every single day, it is present throughout our daily lives and in the world of economics. The concept of quantity demanded can also occur and be identified any and every single day. About a week ago, I made my occasional stop at the supermarket to gather a few items needed for the upcoming week, one being apples. They were retailing at $1.31 per pound, which was honestly shocking to me, although everything has become significantly expensive. I purchased three apples, but I couldn't help but think about how I most likely would have bought more if the prices were lowered. Now that I examine the situation, I realize that after seeing those prices, my demand for more apples was lowered significantly. So, if they were retailing for, say, $1 a pound, I would have purchased many more for the upcoming week. If I myself or no one else were to purchase those red delicious apples, the quantity demanded would be zero, indicating that there would be a perfectly elastic demand. Since products like apples are not necessarily a necessity, like insulin or water, the demand solely depends on the price. It happens everywhere. So, the next time you take a trip to the grocery store and browse through the produce to find they're ridiculously priced, remember that increase in demand increases the quantity. This has been one in a series of EC on Econ podcasts. I'm Caroline Wicca, and thanks for listening.