Many important economic concepts—for example, deadweight losses, market surplus measures, and
concepts preceded by the word “total”—are graphically depicted as areas. Although many students can
identify areas like total surplus appropriately in simple circumstances such as when a market is in
equilibrium, many struggle to do so when the circumstances are even slightly more complex, such as
when a market is not in equilibrium. The reason may be that many students do not understand how
these areas are graphically derived. In this commentary, I discuss simple adjustments instructors can
make to emphasize the economic meaning of vertical distances and of their summation over quantities
so that students can better identify graphical representations of economic concepts even in more
complex circumstances.

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