Supply and demand is an economic model of price determination in a market. It concludes that in a competitive market, the unit price for a particular good will vary until it settles at a point where the quantity demanded by consumers (at current price) will equal the quantity supplied by producers (at current price), resulting in an economic equilibrium of price and quantity.
The four basic laws of supply and demand are:
- If demand increases and supply remains unchanged, a shortage altogether, thus leads to a higher equilibrium price.
- If demand decreases and supply remains unchanged, a surplus altogether, thus leads to a lower equilibrium price.
- If demand remains unchanged and supply increases, a surplus altogether, thus leads to a lower equilibrium price.
- If demand remains unchanged and supply decreases, a shortage altogether, thus leads to a higher equilibrium price.
Read more about Supply And Demand: Graphical Representation of Supply and Demand, Other Markets, Empirical Estimation, Macroeconomic Uses of Demand and Supply, History, Criticisms
Famous quotes containing the words supply and/or demand:
“The job of the press is to encourage debate, not to supply the public with information.”
—Christopher Lasch (b. 1932)
“The English masses are lovable: they are kind, decent, tolerant, practical and not stupid. The tragedy is that there are too many of them, and that they are aimless, having outgrown the servile functions for which they were encouraged to multiply. One day these huge crowds will have to seize power because there will be nothing else for them to do, and yet they neither demand power nor are ready to make use of it; they will learn only to be bored in a new way.”
—Cyril Connolly (19031974)