Explain the Law of Supply

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Explain the Law of Supply, the movements in supply, and assess why Businesses must utilize the elasticity of supply. Supply refers to the quantity of a good which producers are willing and able to offer for sale at a particular price. Individual supply discusses the quantity of a particular good offered for sale by a single seller, while market supply states the quantity of a particular good offered for sale by all sellers of a particular product. It is essential for businesses to utilize the elasticity of supply as it demonstrates how to increase output without a rise in cost or a time delay, whilst also highlighting the situations where it is difficult to change production in a given time period in response to a change in price of a particular product. The law of supply reflect the upward slopping movements along the supply curve due to a change in the price of the good. There is a direct relationship between price and the quantity supplied. The law of supply states that as price rises, the quantity supplied rises and vice versa; as price decreases, the quantity supplied falls. Expansions move up along the supply curve when supply is increased due to a price increase, and contractions move down along the curve when supply decreases due to a price fall. The law of supply assumes the Ceteris Paribus assumption, where all other factors other than the price of the good itself remain constant. This highlights the profit motive by businesses; an incentive to make a profit. A business takes into account the law of supply, and is driven to supply more products when the price is high, to obtain maximum profit. Also, a firm selling products at a high price will make other firms selling the same product more profitable; which in effect will attract new firms into the industry, thus increasing supply. For instance, if the price of Bruce Springsteen’s Live Concert CD’s rose,
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