If the demand for insulin is highly inelastic, then the burden of a tax on insulin will be borne almost entirely by sellers.
Question
If the demand for insulin is highly inelastic, then the burden of a tax on insulin will be borne almost entirely by sellers.
Solution
The statement is incorrect. If the demand for insulin is highly inelastic, then the burden of a tax on insulin will be borne almost entirely by the buyers, not the sellers.
Here's why:
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Inelastic demand means that the quantity demanded by consumers does not change significantly when the price changes. In other words, consumers will continue to buy roughly the same amount of insulin even if the price increases.
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If a tax is imposed on insulin, the sellers may initially bear the cost of the tax. However, because the demand is inelastic, they can pass the cost of the tax onto the buyers by increasing the price.
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Since the demand is inelastic, buyers will continue to buy insulin despite the price increase. Therefore, they end up bearing the burden of the tax.
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If the demand were elastic, the situation would be different. In that case, an increase in price would lead to a significant decrease in quantity demanded. Therefore, sellers would not be able to pass the entire tax burden onto buyers, as it would lead to a significant loss in sales. In such a case, sellers would bear a larger portion of the tax burden.
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