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Consider the market for
beef. If your local butcher thinks he will be able to sell beef at $10 per kilogram, he will
prepare 150 kg for sale in a given week. Those who supply goods and services can never be
sure of the level of demand.
Suppliers take risks.
Your butcher will carefully monitor
the level of his stocks of unsold beef. By Wednesday, your butcher notices his stocks
are much higher than usual. |
It looks like he will only sell 50 kg of beef (point K)
by the end of the
week, and not the 150 kg (point L) he had expected. What does your butcher do?
He lowers his price for
beef, in an attempt to get stock levels back to an acceptable level. If he does not lower his
price, he risks making a loss on the unsold stock.
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