In Economics, What Causes the Demand Curve to Shift to the Right?

A shift of the demand curve to the right represents any event, excluding a change in price, that increases the quantity of a good or service demanded by buyers in the marketplace. The demand curve is an economic model of buyer behavior showing how a change in the price of a good or service results in an inverse change in the quantity of that good or service demanded by buyers in the marketplace.

There are five factors, or types of events, that can cause a rightward shift of the demand curve. One is new information causes buyers to desire a good or service more than before. Another is a change in the price of a second related good or service that causes buyers to favor the first good or service more.

Third, an increase in the overall income of buyers in a market for a good or service results in greater demand for that product and a rightward shift of the demand curve. Information that suggests a higher future price for a good or service causes demand to increase in the present, and an increase in the overall number of buyers in a market causes the demand for a good or service to shift to the right as well.