My Coffee Addiction Explains Demand Elasticity Better Than Any Textbook

 

My Coffee Addiction Explains Demand Elasticity Better Than Any Textbook

Let me confess something that might shock economists and baristas alike: I am a walking, talking case study in demand elasticity. Specifically, inelastic demand. And the culprit? Coffee.

Now, I’m not talking about the occasional cup to “kickstart the day.” I mean the kind of devotion where the local café staff knows my order, my name, and possibly my blood type (which, by the way, is 90% caffeine). So, when the price of my beloved brew went up by ₹20 last month, did I cut back? Did I switch to homemade filter coffee? Did I consider quitting?

Of course not. I grumbled, paid the extra ₹20, and even tipped the barista out of sheer loyalty (and caffeine-induced euphoria). And that, dear reader, is demand inelasticity in action.

When a good is so essential to your daily functioning (or your personality), your quantity demanded doesn’t budge much even if the price does. Why? Because the good is either a necessity, has no close substitutes, or—let’s be honest—has emotionally blackmailed you into dependence. Coffee checks all three boxes. It’s not a luxury—it’s a non-negotiable. Like oxygen. Or Wi-Fi.

Now, contrast that with, say, gourmet ice creams. If their price doubles, I’ll sigh wistfully and walk away. That’s elastic demand—where a price hike leads to a sharp drop in quantity demanded. Because while ice-creams are delightful, they don’t fuel my soul (or my 6 a.m. writing sessions).

Coffee stayed despite the price hike, ice cream didn’t—that’s inelastic vs elastic demand. Sometimes, a cup explains more than a chapter.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

India’s Population: An Unfulfilled Promise in the Noisiest Democracy

  India’s Population: An Unfulfilled Promise in the Noisiest Democracy India proudly advertises its demographic dividend, i.e., millions of young hands, ready to work. But size has not become strength. The problem isn’t population; it’s potential trapped in policy paralysis . The Education Illusion: India is populous but not yet skilled. China’s villagers in the 1980s could run factories because they could read manuals. India liberalized first and educated later. Underfunded schools, social hierarchies, and elite indifference produced a workforce ready to hustle, but not to build. Today’s youth scroll reels between rejection emails while AI, automation, and gig work quietly raise the entry bar. Democracy Without Delivery: India democratized before it developed state capacity. With loud participation but weak execution, every reform meets a protest, a court stay, or a committee. Bureaucrats are rewarded for caution, not innovation. Whil...
Read more

A Very Fairly Unfair Story

  A Very Fairly Unfair Story Development, we’re told, is about achievement. In reality, it’s often a story of inheritance—of who began life with a head start and who was asked to treat disadvantage as character-building. When a child’s future depends less on effort than on family, caste, gender, or postcode , inequality doesn’t emerge —it arrives fully unpacked, with a welcome mat, in early childhood. Some children begin life with good schools, healthcare, nutrition, stable homes, and the assurance that one setback will not become a life sentence. Others begin with patchy schooling, unfair incomes, and the kind of adversity that gets politely filed under ‘ background conditions. ’ That is where the deeper unfairness lies. Not simply in unequal incomes or unequal outcomes, but in inequality of opportunity itself: in the unequal distribution of the conditions that allow effort to count in the first place. By the time society begins m...
Read more