Aglets are the metal or plastic tips on shoelaces. The demand for aglets is probably:

Aglets are the metal or plastic tips on shoelaces. The demand for aglets is probably:

• A. perfectly elastic.
• B. inelastic.
• C. elastic but not perfectly elastic.
• D. unit elastic.

Answer: (B)

Demand for a small, inexpensive accessory like aglets tends to be inelastic. Since aglets are a tiny part of the overall cost of wearing shoes and have few close substitutes, a price increase generally causes only a small drop in the quantity purchased. People still need to replace worn ends to keep shoelaces functioning, and there aren’t readily available perfect substitutes that would let buyers easily switch away. As a result, the percentage change in quantity demanded is much smaller than the percentage change in price, which is the hallmark of inelastic demand. If demand were perfectly elastic, any price rise would drive demand to zero; if it were elastic but not perfectly elastic, quantity would fall more noticeably. Here, that stronger response isn’t observed, so inelastic demand best describes it.

Demand for a small, inexpensive accessory like aglets tends to be inelastic. Since aglets are a tiny part of the overall cost of wearing shoes and have few close substitutes, a price increase generally causes only a small drop in the quantity purchased. People still need to replace worn ends to keep shoelaces functioning, and there aren’t readily available perfect substitutes that would let buyers easily switch away. As a result, the percentage change in quantity demanded is much smaller than the percentage change in price, which is the hallmark of inelastic demand. If demand were perfectly elastic, any price rise would drive demand to zero; if it were elastic but not perfectly elastic, quantity would fall more noticeably. Here, that stronger response isn’t observed, so inelastic demand best describes it.