An Alternative Approach to the Concept of Demand: Reply

world, but in terms of the goals of analysis, which are explanatory and predictive power. Although Awh suggests the contrary, economists do not concentrate on the pricequantity relationship because they believe a given percentage change in the price will have a greater impact on quantity than an equal percentage change in, for example, income; the concept of elasticity, with the possibility that the coefficient is close to zero, should suggest this. (Awh writes: "The conventional treatment of the concept of demand probably is supported by the tacit assumption of the predominant importance of price. Price is considered to be either the most readily manipulatable variable or the most significant affecting the quantity purchased" [1, p. 19].) The most compelling reason for the emphasis is that the law of demand is the strongest statement which economists can make concerning human behavior. Economists can say with an extremely high degree of confidence that consumers will buy more if the price is lowered. They do not hold to any other relationship with the same level of confidence. In addition, a function of microeconomic analysis is to demonstrate how the pricing system and a competitive market structure can lead to an efficient allocation of