How Do You Calculate Cross Price Elasticity?
Cross-price elasticity of demand measures the responsiveness of the demand for a particular good to changes in the price of another good. Marketing professionals use cross-price elasticity of demand to estimate the impact that price changes in a variety of other goods will have on the demand for their own goods. One example is how changes in gasoline prices will impact the volume of cars sold. Cross-price elasticity of demand is relatively easy to calculate once you have the necessary data. Pull price data for the outside good you are interested in from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index website. The Consumer Price Index tracks pricing data for a wide range of goods as well as for broader industries (retail products, industrial goods, etc.). You should pull price data for two different periods (i.e. January 2008 and June 2008). Pull historical volume data for your company’s good for the same two periods as the pricing data you found in Step 1. The volume data should b
