Meaning and definition of demand
Meaning of Demand
The term ‘demand’ implies desire for a commodity by the ability and willingness to pay for it. Unless a person has an adequate purchasing power or resources, his desire for a commodity would not be considered as his demand. For example if a person wants to buy a house but doesn’t have sufficient money to pay for it then his want is not considered as demand. If a rich person wants to buy a car but is not willing to pay for it then his desire too is not considered as demand for car. If a man has sufficient money to buy a phone and is willing to pay for it, then his desire to buy a phone is an effective demand. Demand in economics means effective demand. Therefore, a want with three attributes- desire to buy, willingness to pay and ability to pay becomes effective demand. The desire without adequate purchasing power and willingness to pay do not affect the market, nor do they generate production activity.
Definitions
- The demand for anything, at given price is the amount of it which will be bought per unit of time at the price.
-Prof. Benham
- Demand refers to the quantities of a commodity that the consumers are able and willing to buy at each possible price during a given period of time, other things being equal. -Ferguson
- Demand is the ability and willingness to buy specific quantity of a good at alternative prices in a given time period, ceteris paribus.
-B.R. Schiller
*ceteris paribus – it means with other conditions remaining the same.
- Demand means the various quantities of goods that would be purchased per time period at different prices in a given market.
-Prof. Hibdon
- The demand for goods is schedule of amounts that buyers would be willing to purchase at all possible prices at any instant of time.
-Prof. Mayers
