Concept of consumer’s surplus and its importance
Consumer surplus
is sued to measure the welfare of a group of consumers who purchase a
particular product at a particular price. Consumer surplus is defined as the
difference between what consumers are willing to pay for a unit of the good and
the amount consumers actually do pay for the product. Willingness to pay can be
read off of a market demand curve for a product. The market demand curve shows
the quantity of the good that would be demanded by all consumers at each and
every price that might prevail. Read the other way, the demand curve tells us
the maximum price that consumers would be willing to pay for any quantity
supplied to the market.
A graphical
representations of consumer surplus can be derived by considering the following
exercise. Suppose that only one unit of a good is available in a market. As
shown in the adjoining Figure, that fill unit could be sold at the price P1.
In other words there is a consumer in the market who would be willing to pay P1.
Presumably that person either has a relatively high desire or need for the
product or the person has a relatively high income. To sell two units of the
good the price would have to be lowered to P2. (This assumes that
the firm cannot perfectly price discriminate and charge two separate prices of
two consumers). A slightly lower price might induce another customer to
purchase the product, or might induce the first consumer to buy two units.
Three units of the good could be sold if the price is lowered to P3,
etc.
The price that
ultimately prevails in a free market is that price which equalizes market
supply with market demand. That price will be P in the diagram as long as the
firms do not price discriminate. Now go back to the first unit that could have
been sold. The person who would have been willing to pay P1 for a
unit of the good ultimately pays only P for the unit. The difference between
the two prices represents the amount of consumer surplus that accrues to that
person. For the second unit of the good, someone would have been willing to pay
P2 but ultimately pays P. The second unit generates a smaller amount
of surplus than the first unit.
We can continue
this procedure until the market supply at the price P is reached. The total
consumer surplus in the market is given by the sum of the areas of the
rectangles. If many units of the product are sold then a one-unit width would
be much smaller than shown in the diagram. Thus total consumer surplus can
reasonably be measured as the area between the demand curve and the horizontal line
drawn at the equilibrium market price. This is shown as the black triangle in
the diagram. The area reporting consumer’s surplus is measured in dollars.
Changes in
Consumer Surplus
Suppose the
supply of a good rises, represented as a rightward shift in the supply curve
from S to S’ in the adjoining diagram. At the original price P1,
consumer surplus is given by the blue area in the diagram. (That’s the
triangular area between the P price line and the demand curve). The increase in
supply lowers the market price to P2. the new level of consumer
surplus is now given by the sum of the blue and yellow areas in the Figure.
(That’s the triangular area between the P2 price line and the demand
curve). The change in consumer surplus, Q is given by the yellow area in the
Figure.
(That’s the area denoted by a and b). Note that the change in consumer
surplus is determined as the area between the price that prevails before, the
price that prevails after, and the demand curve. In this case consumer surplus
rises because the price falls. Two groups of consumers are affected. Consumers
who would have purchased the product even at the higher price P1,
now receive more surplus (P1 – P2) for each unit they
purchase. These extra benefits are represented by the rectangular area a in the
diagram. Also, there are additional consumers who were unwilling to purchase
the produce at the price P1, but are now willing to purchase at the
price P. Their consumer surplus is given by the triangular area b in the
diagram.
Importance of
Consumer’s Surplus:
The concept of
consumer’s surplus has both theoretical as well as practical importance.
Theoretical
Importance: The idea of consumer’s surplus reveals the benefits which we derive
from our purchase of commodity in the market. For example when we purchase
salt, or match box, we are willing to pay the amount much higher than their
market value. For example a consumer would be willing to pay Rs. 10 for match
box rather than go without it. But he actually pays Re one only on the purchase
of match box. Consumer’s surplus on the purchase of match box thus is Rs. 9.0.
Practical
Importance:
1. A monopolist
can charge higher price for his product if the consumer’s are enjoying large
consumer’s on the use of his product.
2. The
inhabitants of a country derive consumer’s surplus when they import commodities
from abroad. They are usually prepared to pay more for them than what they
actually pay.
3. A finance
minister imposes taxes of the commodities yielding consumer’s surplus.
4. An entrepreneur
before investing capital in a project evaluates the consumer’s surplus to be
derived from it. If benefits to be obtained are greater than the costs the
investment is under taken.
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