Main menu For students For teachers Explore our subjects Student events & courses

Explore

More for students
Sign in

Teaching Economics

Teaching activity

Data Starter: The cross elasticity of demand for butter and margarine in the US

Elizabeth Veal

3rd March 2026

Share this content:

By how much does the demand for margarine change when the price of butter increases in the USA?

In the US butter and margarine markets, it is found that when the price of butter increased from $2.25 to $2.63, the quantity of margarine demanded increased from 310 thousand packs per week to 350 thousand packs per week.

Sources: https://www.statista.com/stati...;

Using this data, answer these calculation questions:

  1. Calculate the cross price elasticity of demand (XED) between butter and margarine in the USA.
  2. Explain what the sign and size of your answer indicate about the relationship between butter and margarine.

Download our suggested answers for this resource here

Sign in to download

or create a free account

Share this content:

Elizabeth Veal

Liz has taught Economics for over 25 years, including several years as Head of Economics at leading schools.

You might also like

Data Starter: Country shares of Men’s World Cup 2026 money

4th September 2026

Data Starter: Monthly salary in major cities, 2026

11th August 2026

Data Starter: UK international trade with EU and non-EU countries

14th July 2026

Data Starter: Emissions-weighted carbon price, 2025

9th July 2026

Data Starter: Tax revenue as a % of GDP, 2024 (OECD)

7th July 2026

Data Starter: The EU’s biggest trading-in-goods partners, Q1, 2026

3rd July 2026

Data Starter: UK business confidence 2021-2026

30th June 2026

Data Starter: UK GDP growth 2024-2026

26th June 2026