Allocation of Resources · 4 question types
Past paper frequency (2018 to 2024)
This topic accounts for approximately 20% of your exam marks.
Demand is the single highest-frequency topic; demand definition, curve shifts, and factors appear on virtually every Paper 2, typically worth 10 to 18 marks.
Individual demand is the quantity of a good one consumer is willing and able to buy at each price. Market demand is the sum of all individual demands at each price.
To build the market demand curve, the demand from every consumer is added horizontally (i.e. quantities at each price are added together).
Example — At a price of £8 per haircut, the demand from four customers in a small town's barber shop is:
| Customer | Haircuts per month |
|---|---|
| A | 1 |
| B | 2 |
| C | 0 |
| D | 1 |
| Market demand | 4 |
At a different price, each customer's individual demand would be different and the market total would change too. Plotting the market totals for every price gives the market demand curve.