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Markets · 3 of 11

How a market finds its price

Explain how a market moves to its equilibrium price

Above the going price, sellers offer more than buyers will take

At any above-equilibrium price the quantity supplied exceeds the quantity demanded. Producers are willing to offer a lot at that price and buyers are willing to take only a little, so goods pile up unsold.

Unsold stock pushes the price down

Faced with stock they cannot sell, some producers and sellers will want to cut prices, because it is better to sell at a lower price than not to sell at all. As the price falls the quantity demanded rises and the quantity supplied falls, so the gap shrinks from both ends at once.

A price above equilibriumVertical axis: Price. Horizontal axis: Quantity. D: a downward-sloping line. S: an upward-sloping line. A point at price P1 and quantity Qd. A point at quantity Qs. D meets S, at price P* and quantity Q*.QdP1QsQ*P*DSunsold
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Price above equilibriumAt P1 sellers offer Qs but buyers take only Qd, so the gap between them is stock left unsold.