JAMB Economics 1998 Question 18

Question 18

Market Structures

The producer in a perfectly competitive market is faced with a demand curve whose elasticity is

  1. A.unitary
  2. B.greater than one
  3. C.infinite
  4. D.less than one.
Show the answer and explanation

Answer: C (infinite)

Explanation

A perfect competitor can sell any amount at the market price but nothing above it, so its demand curve is horizontal: perfectly (infinitely) elastic.