Answer the following question in $$20$$ sentences.
Explain the Market equilibrium with the fixed number of firms with the help of a diagram.
The equilibrium price and quantity are determined
at the intersection of the market demand and
market supply curves when there is fixed number
of firms.
Figure above illustrates equilibrium for a perfectly
competitive market with a fixed number of firms.
Here SS denotes the market supply curve and DD
denotes the market demand curve for a commodity.
The market supply curve SS shows how much of the
commodity firms would wish to supply at different
prices, and the demand curve DD tells us how much
of the commodity, the consumers would be willing
to purchase at different prices. Graphically, an
equilibrium is a point where the market supply curve
intersects the market demand curve because this is
where the market demand equals market supply. At
any other point, either there is excess supply or there
is excess demand. if the prevailing price is p1, the
market demand is q1 whereas the market supply is
q1’ . Therefore, there is excess demand in the market
equal to q1’ q1. Some consumers who are either
unable to obtain the commodity at all or obtain it in
insufficient quantity will be willing to pay more than
p1. The market price would tend to increase. All other
things remaining the same as price rises, quantity
demanded falls and quantity supplied increases. The
market moves towards the point where the quantity
that the firms want to sell is equal to the quantity
that the consumers want to buy. This happens when
price is p* , the supply decisions of the firms only
match with the demand decisions of the consumers.
Similarly, if the prevailing price is p2, the market
supply (q2) will exceed the market demand ( q ‘2 ) at
that price giving rise to excess supply equal to q2 ‘ q2.
Some firms will not be then able to sell quantity they
want to sell; so, they will lower their price. All other
things remaining the same as price falls, quantity
demanded rises, quantity supplied falls, and at p*, the firms are able to sell their desired output
since market demand equals market supply at that
price. Therefore, p* is the equilibrium price and
the corresponding quantity q* is the equilibrium quantity.