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Economics vocabulary · Markets, Supply and Demand

Supply

Meaning in economics, with examples

/səˈplaɪ/nounCore term

In economics, supply means: The amount of a good or service that producers are willing and able to sell at each possible price during a given period.

In Turkish: arz

How it is used

In theory, economists separate supply (the whole link between price and quantity, shown as the supply curve) from quantity supplied (the amount at one price). In the news, supply simply means how much is available: oil supply, housing supply.

Example sentences

  1. A rise in the price of steel shifts the supply curve for cars to the left.

  2. Housing supply has not kept up with population growth in the big cities.

Common collocations

  • supply curve
  • supply and demand
  • increase supply
  • supply shock
  • limited supply
  • demandThe amount of a good or service that buyers are willing and able to purchase at each possible price during a given period.
  • equilibriumA situation in which supply and demand are equal, so there is no pressure for the price or the quantity to change.
  • marketAny arrangement, physical or online, where buyers and sellers meet to exchange goods, services or assets, and where prices are formed.
  • shortageA situation in which buyers want more of a product than sellers offer at the current price, often because the price is held below equilibrium.
  • elasticityA measure of how strongly the quantity demanded or supplied responds to a change in price, income or another factor.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Markets, Supply and Demand

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not financial advice.