Equilibrium, shortages, surpluses and price ceilings and floors

Grade 12 Social Studies Worksheet

Circle the best answer.

1. 1.

   A city caps rent at $900. Economists debate how large such effects are in real cities. The cap is $900. Milo compares the market before and after 120 more households arrive. What follows?

   • Rented apartments rise to 680, since 680 households now want one at the $900 rent under the cap.
   • Rent rises to $1,100 and 560 apartments are rented, as the market adjusts to the new households.
   • The shortage doubles from 120 to 240, while 440 apartments are rented at the $900 cap.
   • The shortage stays at 120, because the cap is the same $900 and the cap fixes the size of the gap.
3. 2.

   Demand and supply for used bikes both rose in spring. Bo uses the table. What happens to price and quantity?

   • Quantity rises from 300 to 400 while the price stays $100, because the shifts offset on price.
   • The quantity stays at 300, because a rise in demand is cancelled out by a rise in supply here.
   • The price rises to $120 and quantity to 360, because the demand rise is the bigger shift.
   • The price falls to $80 and quantity to 340, because the supply rise is the bigger shift.
4. 3.

   A reporter writes that bike demand jumped 100 at every price, so prices must have jumped. How does Jun reply?

   Use the picture in question 2.

   • Right: demand rose, and a rise in demand raises the price in any market, whatever supply does.
   • Not here: supply also rose by 100 at every price, so the price held at $100 and only quantity rose.
   • Not here: supply rose by 160 at every price, which is why the price fell to $80.
   • Right: the reporter needs just the demand column, since used-bike sellers cannot change their supply.

5. Read this first

   A farm crop with a price floor (example figures, made up for practice)

   Price per bushel	Million bushels demanded	Million bushels supplied
   $3	100	60
   $4	80	80
   $5	60	100
   $6	40	120

   A floor of $5 is set, and the government buys every unsold bushel at $5.

6. 4.

   At the $5 floor, what does Kira expect for the farmers, the buyers and the government?

   • Farmers sell 60 million bushels at $5, and the other 40 million they grew go to waste.
   • Farmers sell 80 million bushels, the market amount, since the floor does not change what farmers grow.
   • Farmers sell 100 million and buyers take the whole amount, as demand adjusts to the higher price.
   • Farmers sell 100 million at $5: buyers take 60 million and the government buys 40 million.
7. 5.

   Luz totals who gains and who pays under the $5 floor. Which summary fits the table?

   • Farm revenue stays at $320 million, because the government pays just for the surplus bushels.
   • Farm revenue rises from $320 million to $500 million; taxpayers pay $200 million.
   • Farm revenue rises from $320 million to $500 million, the whole amount paid by buyers at $5.
   • Farm revenue rises by $180 million and no one else loses, since the government buys the surplus.

8. Use this

   Juice stands and a tax (example figures, made up for practice). Columns: Price, Quantity demanded, Quantity supplied. $2, 140, 60; $3, 120, 80; $4, 100, 100; $5, 80, 120; $6, 60, 140. A tax of $2 per unit is collected from sellers. Buyers pay the price in the table; sellers keep that price minus the tax.

9. 6.

   A $2 per-unit tax is collected from sellers. What does Noah predict for price and quantity?

   • Buyers pay $5, sellers keep $3, and 80 are sold: the tax splits evenly and quantity falls.
   • Buyers pay $4, sellers keep $2, and 100 are sold, since sellers absorb the whole tax.
   • The price stays $4 and 100 are sold, because a tax on sellers cannot change what buyers pay.
   • Buyers pay $6, sellers keep $4, and 60 are sold, since the whole tax passes to buyers.
10. 7.

    Tala asks why buyers cannot keep paying $4 after the tax. What does the table show?

    • At $4 sellers keep $2 and offer 60, while buyers want 100, so a shortage of 40 lifts the price.
    • At $4 buyers want 100 and sellers offer 100, so $4 stays the price and just the tax is new.
    • At $4 the tax of $2 is half the price, so buyers cut their purchases in half to 50.
    • At $4 sellers keep $2 and offer 100, while buyers want 60, so a surplus of 40 pushes the price down.
11. 8.

    The same floor applied to both markets. Economists debate how large such effects are in real towns. Ren reads the table for a report on wage floors. Which claim does the table support best?

    • The same $2 floor cost 200 jobs at the counters and 20 in cleaning, so job effects differ.
    • Fast-food workers lost out as a group at $11, since 200 jobs at the counters disappeared.
    • A $2 wage floor costs jobs in proportion to the wage rise, so both markets lost the same share.
    • Hospital cleaners lost nothing at $11, because just 20 jobs disappeared, too few to count as a loss.

12. Card

    a charity concert (made up for practice). A city caps tickets for the concert at $50. The hall has 1,000 seats, and 3,000 people want a ticket at $50. A resale site shows tickets selling at $120.

13. 9.

    What does the resale price tell Zee about the cap?

    • The cap worked: tickets sold at $50 to the 1,000 people who got them, so the shortage ended.
    • The cap removed 2,000 seats from the market, which is why the resale price is higher.
    • Buyers value seats at $50; the resale price comes from sellers who ask too much, not from demand.
    • Buyers value seats at about $120; the cap held the face price at $50 but did not end the shortage.
14. 10.

    In which seasons does Esme find that the $900 cap binds?

    • In each of the three seasons, since a legal cap applies in the same way to each season of the year.
    • In summer ($1,150) and spring ($950), where market rent exceeds $900; winter's $850 is unaffected.
    • In winter, since $850 is the lowest rent of the three and the cap is meant to protect the lowest.
    • In summer alone, the season with the highest rent, since the cap binds the most extreme price.