Question

Can you think of an industry (or product) with near infinite elasticity of supply in the short term? That is, what is an industry that could increase Qs almost without limit in response to an increase in the price?

Answer 1

Supply price elasticity measures sellers' sensitivity to changes in price. When price changes have a large impact on supply, we say that supply is price elastic, with small price increases supply will increase considerably. We say that an offer is perfectly elastic when from a certain price level, suppliers have bid as much as possible. In the short term, however, firms bump into structural factors to deliberately increase their supply. For example, a factory has a short-run maximum production limitation. In the short term, the factory may grow its plant and buy more machines, but in the short term from one point the supply is more rigid.

There are, however, some exceptions. In the case of natural monopolies, such as water supply, the increase in price may increase supply indefinitely. This is a case where, in the short run, price elastic supply can be infinitely elastic. Thus, rising prices can increase the amount of water supplied as much as demanded by consumers. This is because the marginal cost of supplying more water is low for the firm.

Note: marginal cost is the cost of manufacturing one more unit of the product supplied. In the case of water, the marginal cost of providing 1 unit of water measurement is very low.