Q1.
Suppose essential goods like medicines become very expensive, will they be accessible to all?
Answer
No — and the reason is built into the definition of demand itself. Demand, the chapter insists, “is not just the desire to buy something; it is the willingness complemented by the ability or purchasing power to buy it.” A market therefore hands the good to whoever is willing and able to pay, and a household without the ability to pay simply does not appear in the market demand at all.
Market allocates by → willingness AND ability to pay
A poor household's need for medicine → real, and urgent
Its ability to pay a very high price → absent
So its need never becomes demand, and the medicine goes elsewhere
A poor household's need for medicine → real, and urgent
Its ability to pay a very high price → absent
So its need never becomes demand, and the medicine goes elsewhere
Why medicines are the hard case. With mangoes, a high price is a mild disappointment — Srivalli buys bananas instead. With medicine there is usually no substitute, the purchase cannot be postponed until the price falls, and the buyer is in no position to bargain. Every escape route that keeps an ordinary market fair is closed.
What follows from the answer: this is precisely why the chapter says “fairness and equity in allocation are required, particularly to ensure the welfare of vulnerable and low-income groups”, and why the government's first listed tool is a price ceiling on essential goods like medicines. The question is not rhetorical — it is the argument for the whole section that follows it.