1. In Economics, this is the measure of responsiveness to an increase or decrease in its price or capability of a good or service to demand and supply of a good or service. 2. In Engineering , it is the ability to recover to original dimensions, to original shape, following a situation of applied pressure and stress o a material. See also Hooke’s law . 3. In Statistics, it is the amount of response or change one variable has in relationship to another. To what degree does a dependent variable , such as spending, change when an independent , but associated variable, such as income, changes.