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Tell a curve shift from a movement along a curve

ECON104 covers market analysis, consumer choice, firms and policy. In a supply-and-demand question, first identify what changed. That determines which curve moves and what the diagram can actually show.

Practice prompt: compare a rise in the price of coffee with a rise in the cost of coffee beans. Would you draw the same change on a coffee-market diagram?

1. Name the market and label the original supply and demand curves.
2. Decide whether the change is the price of coffee itself or a factor affecting supply.
3. Draw one change at a time and explain the new price and quantity in words.

Check your reasoning

A change in coffee’s own price is shown as a movement along a demand curve: at a higher price, buyers generally demand less, all else equal. Higher bean costs affect sellers, so the supply curve shifts left. With demand unchanged, that tends to raise the market price and reduce the quantity sold.

An original practice prompt, not a UC assessment question. Topics checked against the UC course description.