As we said, elasticity measures the strength of the relationship between demand or supply and market price or some other variable. One of the attractive aspects of elasticity as a measure of responsiveness or sensitivity is that it is a pure number. It is not measured in terms of any other quantities.

   This feature means that we can meaningfully compare the own price elasticity of demand for tomatoes and automobiles, or the income elasticity of yachts and pencils; something that would be impossible if the income elasticity of pencils was measured in terms of pencils.

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