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International Trade - Theory and Policy, 2010a

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A partial equilibrium analysis distinguishes between the welfare of consumers who purchase a product<br />

<strong>and</strong> the producers who produce it. Consumer welfare is measured using consumer surplus, while<br />

producer welfare is measured using producer surplus. Revenue collected by the government is assumed to<br />

be redistributed to others. Government revenue is either spent on public goods or is redistributed to<br />

someone in the economy, thus raising someone’s welfare.<br />

Consumer Surplus<br />

Consumer surplus is used to measure the welfare of a group of consumers who purchase a particular<br />

product at a particular price. Consumer surplus is defined as the difference between what consumers are<br />

willing to pay for a unit of the good <strong>and</strong> the amount consumers actually do pay for the product.<br />

Willingness to pay can be read from a market dem<strong>and</strong> curve for a product. The market dem<strong>and</strong> curve<br />

shows the quantity of the good that would be dem<strong>and</strong>ed by all consumers at each <strong>and</strong> every price that<br />

might prevail. Read the other way, the dem<strong>and</strong> curve tells us the maximum price that consumers would<br />

be willing to pay for any quantity supplied to the market.<br />

A graphical representation of consumer surplus can be derived by considering the following exercise.<br />

Suppose that only one unit of a good is available in a market. As shown in Figure 7.7 "Calculating Consumer<br />

Surplus", that first unit could be sold at the price P 1 . In other words, there is a consumer in the market who<br />

would be willing to payP 1 . Presumably that person either has a relatively high desire or need for the<br />

product or the person has a relatively high income. To sell two units of the good, the price would have to<br />

be lowered to P 2 . (This assumes that the firm cannot perfectly price discriminate <strong>and</strong> charge two separate<br />

prices to two customers.) A slightly lower price might induce another customer to purchase the product or<br />

might induce the first customer to buy two units. Three units of the good could be sold if the price is<br />

lowered to P 3 , <strong>and</strong> so on.<br />

Figure 7.7 Calculating Consumer Surplus<br />

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