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If the demand for insulin is highly inelastic, then the burden of a tax on insulin will be borne almost entirely by sellers.

Question

If the demand for insulin is highly inelastic, then the burden of a tax on insulin will be borne almost entirely by sellers.

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Solution

The statement is incorrect. If the demand for insulin is highly inelastic, then the burden of a tax on insulin will be borne almost entirely by the buyers, not the sellers.

Here's why:

  1. Inelastic demand means that the quantity demanded by consumers does not change significantly when the price changes. In other words, consumers will continue to buy roughly the same amount of insulin even if the price increases.

  2. If a tax is imposed on insulin, the sellers may initially bear the cost of the tax. However, because the demand is inelastic, they can pass the cost of the tax onto the buyers by increasing the price.

  3. Since the demand is inelastic, buyers will continue to buy insulin despite the price increase. Therefore, they end up bearing the burden of the tax.

  4. If the demand were elastic, the situation would be different. In that case, an increase in price would lead to a significant decrease in quantity demanded. Therefore, sellers would not be able to pass the entire tax burden onto buyers, as it would lead to a significant loss in sales. In such a case, sellers would bear a larger portion of the tax burden.

This problem has been solved

Similar Questions

If a tax is physically paid by sellers, then sellers will always bear the full burden of the tax

Which statement is true?Group of answer choicesThe economic incidence of taxation falls more heavily on the more inelastic side of the market.In general the burden of the tax falls on the more elastic side of the marketIn general the burden of the tax falls on the side of the market who is legally responsible for paying the tax.The economic incidence of taxation falls fully on the sellers if supply is perfectly elastic and/or if demand is perfectly inelastic.None of the statements are true.

The tax burden is mainly borne by the producers if the supply is more elastic than the demand.

Introducing a specific tax generates excess demand on the market.

6. The economic incidence of a tax is larger on consumers: (i) The larger is the elasticity of demand relative to the elasticity of supply. (ii) The more salient is the tax. (iii) The less salient is the tax. (iv) The more inelastic is supply.

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