Constructing and Shifting Demand and Supply Curves
How demand and supply are drawn as curves, and the key difference between a movement along a curve caused by price and a shift of the whole curve caused by other factors.
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Demand and supply 📉
Prices in a market are set by demand and supply. Demand is how much buyers want to buy at each price, and supply is how much producers offer to sell. Each can be shown as a curve on a diagram. It is vital to tell the difference between a movement along a curve, caused by the price of the good, and a shift of the whole curve, caused by other factors.
Words for the market 🔑
Learn these four terms before you read the curves.
Movement and shift 🆚
A curve can respond in two very different ways.
Grade 9 thinking 💡
To reach the top grades, be precise: only a change in the price of the good moves you along the curve. Every other factor shifts the whole curve to the left or right.
Match the term to its meaning 🔗
- demand
- supply
- movement along a curve
- a shift of a curve
- how much buyers want to buy at each price
- how much producers offer to sell at each price
- a change caused by the price of the good itself
- a change caused by a non-price factor
Match the cause to its effect 🧩
- a rise in consumer income
- a good becomes fashionable
- a fall in production costs
- a new tax on a good
- raises demand for a normal good
- raises demand as tastes change
- raises supply
- lowers supply
Which way does demand slope? ❓
Which way does a demand curve slope?
- Downwards, because higher prices reduce quantity demanded.
- Upwards, because higher prices raise quantity demanded.
- It is always flat.
What shifts demand? ✅
Select the TWO factors that SHIFT the demand curve.
- A change in consumer income.
- A change in fashion or tastes.
- A change in the price of the good itself.
- The colour of the graph.
Order the shift 🪜
An interactive activity.
Summarise the curves 📝
The law of _____ says that as price rises, quantity demanded falls, so the demand curve slopes _____. A change in the price of the good causes a _____ along the curve. A non-price factor, such as _____, causes the whole curve to _____.
Count the curves 🔢
An interactive activity.
Spot the true statements 🖍️
An interactive activity.
Movement or shift? 🧭
An interactive activity.
Explain movement and shift ✍️
An interactive activity.