Price
Topic: Consumer Behaviour, Demand and Elasticity · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 12 "Understanding Markets"; Class 12, Ch 2 "Theory of Consumer Behaviour"
Meaning
Price is the amount of money a consumer pays for one unit of a good, such as ₹p per kg of bananas. This is the Class 12 definition. Class 7 looks at it from the market side: price is the amount at which a buyer is willing to buy and a seller is willing to sell. In that sense it is often settled by bargaining. Price matters because, together with income, it decides which bundles a consumer can afford. It also affects how much of a good she buys.
Example
At a local market, a seller asks ₹60 per kg for guavas. The buyer offers ₹40, and they settle at ₹50 per kg. If she buys 2 kg, she pays ₹100.
Don't confuse with
- Expenditure: expenditure is price × quantity, the total amount spent. Price is the amount paid for one unit only.