Price elasticity of demand
The negative sign shows that price and quantity demanded are inversely related, and the value (2) is greater than 1, which means the PED for smartphones is elastic.
Can a PED be negative?
The PED is the percentage change in quantity demanded in response to a one percent change in price. The PED coefficient is usually negative, although economists often ignore the sign. Demand for a good is relatively inelastic if the PED coefficient is less than one (in absolute value).
Is negative 0.5 elastic or inelastic?
A good with an elasticity of -2 has elastic demand because quantity falls twice as much as the price increase; an elasticity of -0.5 has inelastic demand because the quantity response is half the price increase.
