So, elastic supply means that firms can and want to alter desired quantity supplied quickly and significantly when market price changes. What types of goods fit this description?
- Goods that are inexpensive and easy to store:
- If a product is inexpensive to store (which also means that it
doesn't perish easily), it can be taken off the market and stored
at modest cost when price falls, and put back on the market when
price rises again, leading to elastic supply.
- Goods for which production can be rapidly increased or decreased
at reasonable costs:
- If it is easy to increase production at modest costs, more of
the good can be rapidly produced as prices rise, and less produced
as prices fall. This means output can be easily adjusted when
market price changes, making supply elastic.
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