A Model Illustrating John M. Clark’s Consumer Inconstancy: Demand and Supply Sides

Abstract

The object of the study is to analyze the numerical results of a hypothetical model of John M. Clark’s consumer demand for inconstancy, both demand and supply sides. John M. Clark in his classic 1923 Economics of Overhead Costs asks “Do consumers demand irregularity, consciously or unconsciously? Do those who demand it pay what it cost?” Clark argues this is the nature of the human being and of the world God placed us in. Clark was concerned with the dynamics, the forces, of a market economy. The model here permits mathematical proofs and graphic demonstrations of the willingness to pay on the part of consumers for demand inconstancy and of the costs to society of supplying demand inconstancy. A graphic presentation of the model shows a huge willingness to pay on the part of consumers for demand inconstancy and a low cost on the part of suppliers to provide for the demand inconstancy. The model uses hypothetical numbers to make the points clear.