A supply shock is an event that suddenly changes the price of a commodity or service. It may be caused by a sudden increase or decrease in the supply of a particular good. This sudden change affects the equilibrium price.
A negative supply shock (sudden supply decrease) will raise prices and shift the aggregate supply curve to the left. A negative supply shock can cause stagflation due to a combination of raising prices and falling output.
A positive supply shock (an increase in supply) will lower the price of said good and shift the aggregate supply curve to the right. A positive supply shock could be an advance in technology (a technology shock) which makes production more efficient, thus increasing output.
An example of a negative supply shock is the increase in oil prices during the 1973 energy crisis.
Read more about Supply Shock: Technical Analysis
Famous quotes containing the words supply and/or shock:
“Has God’s supply of tolerable husbands
Fallen, in fact, so low?
Or do I always over-value woman
At the expense of man?
Do I?
It might be so.”
—Robert Graves (1895–1985)
“It is a great shock at the age of five or six to find that in a world of Gary Coopers you are the Indian.”
—James Baldwin (1924–1987)