Our goal in this lesson is to investigate disruptions of the market. Specifically, we want to use the market model previously developed, to examine the why and how of market shocks. What causes market shocks? How do markets react when shocked? If the truth be known, markets in the real world don't remain at the same locations for very long. They move. They adjust. Prices change. Quantities change. We can understand these real world market changes, by analyzing what happens to market model when it's shocked.

• The first unit, Adjustments, lays the foundation for analyzing market shocks with an overview of the adjustment process and the role played by the ceteris paribus assumption.
• In the second unit, Determinants, we review the five determinants of demand and five determinants of supply that cause market disruptions.
• We then move into the actual adjustment process in the third unit, Single Shifts, examining four disruptions that involve a shift in either the demand or supply curve.
• The fourth unit, Double Shifts, builds on these four basic shifts to exam four complex shocks that have simultaneous shifts in both the demand and supply curves.
• We end this lesson in the fifth unit, Cause and Effect, by relating market shocks to the fundamental notion of cause and effect inherent in the study of economic science.

BEGIN Lesson =>