Flexible Prices

To see how this works consider the exhibit to the right. This exhibit illustrates a typical product market, in this case for Wacky Willy Stuffed Amigos. The market is initially in equilibrium, given by the intersection of the demand and supply curves.

A shock of the Stuffed Amigos market can serve to illustrate flexible prices, and how price flexibility maintains full employment.

• Market Demand Shock: The place to begin is with the demand side of the Stuffed Amigos market. In particular, suppose that the market demand decreases due to a an overall decline in aggregate demand throughout the economy. To illustrate this demand shock, click the [Demand Decrease] button. As might be expected, the equilibrium price of Stuffed Amigos declines and the equilibrium quantity is less.


• Labor Demand Adjusts: With the decrease in the sales of Stuffed Amigos, production also declines. With less production, The Wacky Willy Company needs fewer inputs, including labor. This decrease in labor demand results in a lower wage. The declining wage underlies the movement along the market supply curve corresponding with a decline in production cost and a decrease in the quantity supplied. The microeconomic analysis of Stuffed Amigos exchange need not proceed further. However, in the macroeconomic analysis of aggregate product and resource markets, there is more to this story.


• Labor Supply Reacts: The lower price level of Stuffed Amigos, combined with comparable decreases in the prices for other markets throughout the economy, results in a lower price level. This lower price level increases the real wage of Stuffed Amigos producing labor. These workers are thus inclined to increase their productivity and/or accept a lower wage.


• Back to Market Supply: The adjustment on the supply-side of the labor market reduces the cost of producing Stuffed Amigos. This results in a rightward shift of the market supply curve, which can be illustrated by clicking the [Supply Increase] button. This rightward shift of the market supply curve results in a lower price and a greater quantity. As production increases, employment returns to the original full-employment level.