This week’s topics
Demand: how buyers behave
- The law of demand
- The demand curve
What you will be able to do
- 1.1 Explain the law of supply and demand.
Activity
Draw a demand curve from a class survey of prices.
Study materials
Further resources
- Principles of Economics 3e, ch. 3.1: Demand for goods and services · PDF · OpenStax (2022), the law of demand and the demand curve; pp. 48–49 · for registered students
- Introduction to Business 2e, ch. 11.4: Buyer behaviour · PDF · OpenStax (2026); pp. 371–374 · for registered students
- Using Big Data to Estimate Consumer Surplus: The Case of Uber · Open-access article · Cohen et al. (2016), NBER Working Paper 22627. Uses Uber prices to trace a real demand curve: higher prices, fewer rides. · for registered students
- Marshallian Cross Diagrams and Their Uses before Alfred Marshall · Open-access article · Humphrey (1992), Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Economic Review. A readable history of how the supply-and-demand diagram was invented and first used. · for registered students
Materials marked “for registered students” open in the student portal, which is set up as soon as you receive final acceptance.
