Demand Schedule

A demand schedule is a tabular arrangement of different prices of a product or service and its quantity at various prices during a specific period. Examining the price and quantity demanded momentum in the table will reveal if demand is elastic or inelastic.

Plotting the data in the table on a graph depicts the demand curve, representing the connection between price and quantity desired. It frequently represents the law of demand, which asserts that demand rises when prices fall and vice versa if all other factors influencing demand stay constant.

• The demand schedule lists quantities at different price levels in a table. The first column lists the price, and the second column lists the quantity. 
• It helps in the visualization of the relationship between price and demand.  
• According to the law of demand, price and demand share an inverse relationship: if a price increases, demand decreases given the condition, all other factors determining the demand remain constant. 
• Economists often use this tool together with supply schedules. This way, they can compare how both supply and demand affect the prices of products.

The demand schedule in economics shows the correlation between price and demand. For elastic goods, the quantity demanded changes as the price changes, and the price and demand move in different directions at a significant pace. Compared to elastic goods, the change in demand in response to the price change will be gradual for inelastic goods. In the case of perfectly inelastic demand, the quantity sought does not vary in response to price changes; it remains constant.

The core of the schedule is two columns. The first column represents an asset's different prices, like the values during a whole year and the second column represents the quantity demanded corresponding to the listed prices. Altogether, the table presents a list of price and demand pairs disclosing the quantity preference in the market at a different price level. It is categorized into two types; Individual demand schedule representing the quantities demanded by a single entity at different prices, and market demand schedule representing the preferences of multiple entities or the total market.

Let’s look into a demand schedule example to understand how it works.

Corey works as a manager for a car rental firm in the United States. He wants to see the link between the price of car rental services and how much they sell. According to the schedule, when they provided a car rental package for $5 per day, 610 customers took advantage of the service. However, he did find that increasing the price reduces the number of people who use the service. Only 460 individuals will purchase if the service costs $10, and 270 if the company charges $20. Customers will explore alternatives if they perceive it as pricey, may be overpriced, and unappealing.

The following table shows the changes in price and demand:

These prices can be put into perspective using a demand curve: The Y-axis will represent the price, while the X-axis will represent the demand.

After visualizing the data, Corey can see that it’s not good to increase the price or continue the business after a certain point. Otherwise, he can use the information he organized to determine the best price. In the end, his decision will be based on which option is more profitable while still retaining enough demand. He will try to maximize the value of the service without losing the clients.

As the name signifies, the supply schedule portrays data in a table revealing how the supply of a product or service moves with changes in the price, unlike the demand schedule depicting the relationship between demand and price. Generally, a supply schedule indicates a positive correlation between price and supply. In contrast, a demand and price table reveals the inverse correlation between price and demand. Thus, it is easy to derive an upward sloping supply curve from the supply schedule. In the same way, the demand schedule yields a downward sloping demand curve.

A supply schedule shows how much a supplier can offer to the market at a specific price. The larger the production establishment is, the lower the price will be. When significant factors like the cost of inputs remain constant, large-scale production essentially makes the products cheaper to produce, so producers can sell them on the market for a lower value and beat competitors.

Limitations

While these demand and price representations are a handy guide, they have a few limitations. For instance, the law of demand focuses on price and demand. However, several other factors may cause changes in the demand, like weather patterns, supply issues, and even sudden societal changes such as a pandemic. For example, amid the Covid 19 outbreak, airlines' demand and supply historical data are drastically different. As a result, a demand schedule and demand curve based on past information is no longer applicable for future estimates to manage airline pricing.

Other factors may impact the consumers directly, too. They can include people's level of income, personal tastes, preference for luxury goods, the impact of advertising, age, etc. Therefore, if these factors are at play, the whole demand curve may shift, causing economists to calculate everything again because of the new circumstances.

This has been a guide to what is Demand Schedule is and its Definition. Here we discuss limitations and practical examples of demand schedules with detailed explanations. You may learn more about our articles below on accounting –

• Elastic Demand
• Determinants of Demand
• Non-Price Determinants of Demand