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Suppose only the price of gasoline changes, with income, tastes, and every other factor held fixed. What happens to the demand curve for gasoline?
ANothing happens; buyers stay at exactly the same point
BThe demand curve itself shifts to a new position
CThere is a movement along the existing demand curve
DThe supply curve shifts in the opposite direction
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: C. There is a movement along the existing demand curve
1. A demand curve already shows how quantity demanded responds to every possible price of that good.
2. So when only the price of the good itself changes, the buyer simply moves to a different point on that same curve.
3. The curve as a whole does not move, because none of its underlying determinants changed.
4. Option B confuses a price-driven movement along the curve with a genuine shift of the curve.
5. Option D is wrong because a change in a good's own price does not shift its supply curve either.
_Source: OpenStax Principles of Macroeconomics for AP Courses (CC BY 4.0), Ch 3 "Demand and Supply", section 3.2 | Shifts in Demand and Supply for Goods and Services_
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