Supply (economics)

In <a href="/facts/Economics/HYctA2Dn">economics</a>, supply is the amount of a resource that <a href="/facts/Firm/psBVz9jr">firms</a>, producers, <a href="/facts/Labourer/MwFhKj2S">labourers</a>, providers of <a href="/facts/Financial_asset/9TJ3MK4u">financial assets</a>, or other <a href="/facts/Economic_agent/9dTPUnFk">economic agents</a> are willing and able to provide to the <a href="/facts/Market_(economics)/6RfCU3fH">marketplace</a> or to an individual. Supply can be in produced goods, labour time, raw materials, or any other scarce or valuable object. Supply is often plotted <a href="/facts/Graph_of_a_function/htYX0BGX">graphically</a> as a supply curve, with the <a href="/facts/Price/yWQ8edfN">price</a> per unit on the vertical axis and quantity supplied as a function of price on the horizontal axis. This reversal of the usual position of the <a href="/facts/Dependent_variable/dINfzIF2">dependent variable</a> and the <a href="/facts/Independent_variable/dINfzIF2">independent variable</a> is an unfortunate but standard convention.
The supply curve can be either for an individual seller or for the market as a whole, adding up the quantity supplied by all sellers. The quantity supplied is for a particular time period (e.g., the tons of steel a firm would supply in a year), but the units and time are often omitted in theoretical presentations.
In the <a href="/facts/Goods_market/6RfCU3fH">goods market</a>, supply is the amount of a <a href="/facts/Product_(business)/l9P9fUJa">product</a> per unit of time that producers are willing to sell at various given prices when all other factors are held constant. In the <a href="/facts/Labor_market/RRlxNx0u">labor market</a>, the <a href="/facts/Labor_supply/VBLXbbIl">supply of labor</a> is the amount of time per week, month, or year that individuals are willing to spend working, as a function of the <a href="/facts/Wage_rate/3fS9dRMf">wage rate</a>.
In the economic and financial field, the <a href="/facts/Money_supply/C2YcssMS">money supply</a> is the amount of highly liquid assets available in the <a href="/facts/Money_market/3rU2z9pm">money market</a>, which is either determined or influenced by a country's <a href="/facts/Monetary_authority/RDvNLfh7">monetary authority</a>. This can vary based on which type of money supply one is discussing. M1 for example is commonly used to refer to <a href="/facts/Narrow_money/TVpPHg4c">narrow money</a>, coins, cash, and other money equivalents that can be converted to currency nearly instantly. M2 by contrast includes all of M1 but also includes short-term deposits and certain types of market funds.

Supply (economics) open-in-new

Supply (economics)