What you’ll learn to do: explain the determinants of supply

So far you’ve learned about the role of demand in economics—which is the consumer side of the story. In this section, you’ll learn about the producer side of economics to see what factors impact the amount of goods supplied in a market. For example, suppose the global price of petroleum falls significantly. What do you think will happen to the supply of gasoline? How are supply and price connected? In this section you’ll examine the law of supply and see why this counterpart to “demand” is also essential to understanding economics.

The specific things you’ll learn in this section include the following:

• Explain the law of supply
• Explain a supply curve
• Create a supply curve using a data set
• Describe the differences between changes in supply and changes in quantity supplied
• Explain the impact of factors that change supply

Learning Activities

The learning activities for this section include the following:

• Video: The Law of Supply
• Reading: What Is Supply?
• Reading: Factors Affecting Supply
• Worked Example: Shift in Supply
• Reading: Summary of Factors That Change Supply
• Simulation: Supply of Food Trucks
• Self Check: Supply