DEMAND ELASTICITY AND TOTAL EXPENDITURE: The notion that price-induced changes in total expenditure for a good (price times quantity) depends on the relative price elasticity of demand. In particular, for relatively elastic demand (1 < E < ∞) changes in price cause total expenditure to change in the opposite direction. An increase in price causes total expenditure to fall and a decrease in price causes total expenditure to rise. For relatively inelastic demand (0 < E < 1) changes in price cause total expenditure to change in the same direction. An increase in price causes total expenditure to rise and a decrease in price causes total expenditure to fall. For unit elastic demand (E =1) price changes do not cause any change in total expenditure. Total expenditure is the same whether price increases or decreases.

     See also | elasticity | price elasticity of demand | price | quantity | relatively elastic | relatively inelastic | unit elastic |

DEMAND ELASTICITY AND TOTAL EXPENDITURE, AmosWEB GLOSS*arama, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2025. [Accessed: July 18, 2025].

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A given proportional change in all resources in the long run results in a proportional smaller change in production. Decreasing returns to scale exists if a firm increases ALL resources--labor, capital, and other inputs--by a given proportion (say 10 percent) and output increases by less than this proportion (that is, less than 10 percent). This is one of three returns to scale. The other two are increasing returns to scale and constant returns to scale.

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