ECON 1002 Week 2 Supply and Demand Model Application Example

Microeconomics Walden University Free custom sample in 24 to 48h

This ECON 1002 Week 2 model application example points supply and demand at one local market, used commuter bicycles in a composite college town, in the late-summer weeks when about 6,000 students and staff arrive. Walden ECON 1002 asks students to predict how price and quantity move after a named change and to list the conditions that prediction needs, so the sample bounds the market, gives a starting schedule with equilibrium at $150 and forty sales a week and then assigns the arrivals to demand. It explains why supply barely moves in August, predicts a new equilibrium near $175 and about forty-five sales, and shows why quantity rises less than demand did. Marshall's scissors appear once, and three conditions plus a caution about the figures close the paper. OpenStax and Marshall are its sources in this BS in Business Administration course.

CourseECON 1002 Microeconomics
WeekWeek 2
Paper typeModel application
LengthAbout 780 words, 5 pages
FormatAPA 7 student paper
SchoolWalden University
ProgramBS in Business Administration
UpdatedOctober 2026

Free sample paper for ECON 1002 Week 2

1

Late-Summer Demand for Used Commuter Bicycles in a College Town: Predicting the Price and Quantity Change When New Residents Arrive and Naming the Conditions the Prediction Needs

Student Name

Walden University

ECON 1002: Microeconomics

Instructor Name

Month Day, Year

What this page is doingThe title names the market, the change and the two graded tasks, a prediction and its conditions.
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Late-Summer Demand for Used Commuter Bicycles in a College Town: Predicting the Price and Quantity Change When New Residents Arrive and Naming the Conditions the Prediction Needs

The Market

The market analyzed here is secondhand commuter bicycles sold between residents of one composite college town of about 40,000 people, through online classified listings and a single refurbishing shop. New bicycles sold by the two sporting goods stores, children's bicycles and the town's bike-share service are outside the boundary. Including new bicycles would blur two markets with different sellers and different prices, and the bike-share service rents rides rather than selling bicycles at all.

What this page is doingThe market is bounded before any curve is drawn, since a diagram means nothing for an undefined good.
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The Starting Point

In early July, before students and new staff arrive, the market is quiet. Using illustrative figures, the schedule below gives the weekly quantity demanded and supplied at five prices.

At $150 the quantity buyers want equals the quantity sellers offer, forty bicycles a week. That is the starting equilibrium. Above it, listings would sit unsold; below it, buyers would find too few bicycles.

Table 1

Illustrative Weekly Schedule for Used Commuter Bicycles in Early July

PriceQuantity demanded per weekQuantity supplied per week |
$1105228 |
$1304634 |
$1504040 |
$1703444 |
$1902847 |

Figures are illustrative and constructed for this application.

What this page is doingThe table carries the starting schedule only, so the reader sees the before state without the answer.
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The Change

In the last two weeks of August, about 6,000 students and new university staff arrive in town. Many need a cheap way to get to campus, and most did not bring a bicycle with them. This event raises the number of buyers in the market, so at every price more bicycles are wanted than before. It is a shift of the demand curve to the right, not a movement along it, because nothing about the price itself caused it (Greenlaw et al., 2022).

Supply barely moves. The people who might sell a used bicycle are current residents, and few of them sell in August; the main sellers, departing graduates, left in May. The refurbishing shop can add some bicycles by working longer hours, which is a movement along its supply curve rather than a shift. So the supply curve stays where it was.

What this page is doingThe change is described as an event first, and only then assigned to a curve.
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The Prediction

Suppose that at each price demand rises by twelve bicycles a week, so buyers now want 52 at $150. At $150 sellers still offer only forty, leaving a shortage of twelve. Buyers bid more, sellers raise their asking prices, and the shop sells out faster than it can refurbish. Price rises until the gap closes. With the illustrative schedule, the new equilibrium is about $175, where roughly 45 bicycles change hands each week.

The quantity sold rises by only about five, not twelve. That is because the higher price does two things at once. It persuades some residents and the shop to supply more, and it discourages some newcomers who decide to walk or wait. The final quantity reflects both responses. Mankiw (2021) makes the same point about steep supply curves. If supply were very steep, close to fixed, nearly all the adjustment would come through price; if it were flat, more through quantity.

What this page is doingThe paper explains why quantity rises less than demand did, which is the part students often miss.
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Both Blades

Alfred Marshall compared supply and demand to the two blades of a pair of scissors, arguing that it is as pointless to ask which one sets the price as to ask which blade cuts the paper (Marshall, 1890). The August market shows why. The arrivals moved demand, but how far the price rose depended on how little supply could respond. A student looking only at demand would predict a big price jump; one looking only at supply would predict nothing at all.

Conditions the Prediction Needs

The prediction holds only under several conditions:

1. Other things stay equal. If a new bike lane opens or the bus fare rises in the same weeks, demand would shift for reasons beyond the arrivals, and the size of the change could not be read from the newcomers alone.

2. Sellers do not change behavior. If residents learn that August prices are high and start listing their old bicycles then, supply would shift right and the price would rise less.

3. Newcomers buy locally. If many order cheap bicycles online or bring their own, the rightward shift in local demand would be smaller than assumed.

A fourth caution is the figures themselves. They are illustrative, and the direction of the prediction is more reliable than the exact $175.

What this page is doingEach condition is a place the prediction could fail, which is the second graded task.
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Conclusion

When new residents arrive in late August, demand for used commuter bicycles shifts right while supply stays close to fixed. The model's prediction is a higher price with a modestly larger number of sales, and the conditions above show where the prediction could break.

References

Greenlaw, S. A., Shapiro, D., & MacDonald, D. (2022). Principles of microeconomics (3rd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/details/books/principles-microeconomics-3e

Mankiw, N. G. (2021). Principles of microeconomics (9th ed.). Cengage Learning.

Marshall, A. (1890). Principles of economics. Macmillan.

What the ECON 1002 Week 2 instructions ask for

In Week 2 you apply the supply and demand model to a real or realistic market. Define the market narrowly: one good, one place, one period. Show the starting equilibrium with a diagram or schedule. Describe a change, then decide which curve it moves and why the other stays put. Predict the new price and quantity, in words first and then on the diagram, and explain the size of the change. Finish by listing the conditions your prediction depends on, each a point where it could fail. Two pages is usually enough. The conditions list is graded as heavily as the prediction.

Inside the ECON 1002 Week 2 example

The paper opens by defining the market as used commuter bicycles sold between residents, excluding new bicycles and bike-share. A five-row schedule shows equilibrium at $150 and forty a week. The arrivals are described as an event, then assigned to demand because they add buyers at every price. A paragraph explains that supply stays put because local sellers rarely sell in August. With demand up by twelve at each price, the paper finds a shortage at $150 and a new equilibrium around $175 and forty-five sales, explaining why quantity rises by only five. A section on Marshall's scissors follows. Three numbered conditions and a note on the illustrative figures end the paper.

Where the marks sit in the ECON 1002 Week 2 rubric

Model applications are assessed on whether the model is used correctly and the prediction is reasoned. A clearly bounded market comes first; a vague market makes any diagram meaningless. The change must be assigned to the right curve with a reason, and the student must explain why the other curve does not move. Predictions should state the direction of both price and quantity and explain the size of the quantity change. The conditions list earns credit when each condition names a specific way the prediction could fail in this market. Papers that confuse a shift with a movement along a curve lose significant credit. Illustrative figures should be labeled as such. Citing a classic source, such as Marshall, earns credit only when it explains a result the paper has just produced.

ECON 1002 Week 2 help from the desk

Choose a market you can picture, ideally one with a seasonal change you have seen. Define it narrowly enough that you can say who the buyers and sellers are. Ask what changed and whom it affected: buyers or sellers? That decides which curve moves. If the change does not alter the price itself, it is a shift, not a movement along the curve. Then think about what else would have to stay the same for your prediction to hold; those are your conditions. Common errors include shifting both curves without reason and listing conditions too general to test. Send your market and change, and a model application can be built around them.

Get a ECON 1002 Week 2 example written to your instructions

Name the market your section asks about, or the one you shop in, and send it with the prompt and rubric; the application is built on that market's own change; first one free, 24 to 48 hours. The college town and its bicycle listings are stand-ins, chosen to illustrate the model rather than observed anywhere.

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ECON 1002 Week 2 questions, answered

Where can I find a free ECON 1002 Week 2 sample paper?

The full bicycle application, schedule and conditions included, is on this page for free.

What change does the ECON 1002 Week 2 paper analyze?

About 6,000 students and staff arriving in late August, which raises demand for used commuter bicycles in the town.

Why does supply barely move?

Local residents rarely sell in August, and the main sellers, departing graduates, left in May; the refurbishing shop can add only a few bicycles.

What does the model predict?

A higher price, about $175, and a modest rise in sales to about forty-five a week.

Why does quantity rise less than demand?

The higher price persuades some sellers to supply more but discourages some newcomers, and the final quantity reflects both responses.