…That question doesn’t really make sense. The whole point of “elasticity” in this context is to give a name for the responsiveness of the quantity demanded to a change in its price, aka “price elasticity of demand”. You’re asking if elasticity is changed depending on price…but when people generally talk about “elasticity”, their entire point is to illustrate how much people are still willing to maintain their same quantity demand despite a price change.
If quantity-demanded changed with a price change, there really wouldn’t be any inelasticity to speak of. The entire reason you bring up water is because it is highly inelastic…that is to say the quantity demanded is highly resistent to change due to price change.
I don’t understand. I thought when you were talking about “water” you literally meant “H2O”…I didn’t realize you were simply saying “water provided by one supplier”. I mean, vitamin water, smartwater, Gaterade, Coca-Cola, milk…all these products require H2O. A monopoly on water would affect the ability to make any of these goods. (Not to mention, you’re not going to wash your clothes in colored vitamin water or Gaterade).
I do not think that gasoline is as inelastic as people make it out to be. Just look at the effect on the typical “summer drive spike” a few years ago when the price of oil first got over $100/barrel and gasoline was breaking (nominal) records. People didn’t drive as much. The quantity demanded shifted pretty significantly…and that was just a change of a couple dollars.
By the same token…you’re telling me you wouldn’t see an increase in the quantity of gasoline demanded if the price fell to $1/gal over the next year? Balogna.
Exactly. Think of a diabetic’s demand for insulin. That’s inelastic. They need a certain amount, or they face serious consequences. So if the price goes up, their quantity demanded is exactly the same. Same story if the price goes down. Just because it’s cheaper doesn’t mean they’re going to buy more of it. They only need a certain amount of it to survive, and they really have no use for it otherwise. (And I believe it has a shelf-life, so they can’t really try to “stock up” on it if the price is low.)
That’s what inelasticity looks like.
You’re basically describing price elasticity.
Just try to use more paragraphs.