Question

The price elasticity of supply for basmati rice (an aromatic strain of rice) is likely to be which of the following?

Answer 1

Answer: D. Higher in the long run than the short run, because farmers cannot easily change their decisions about how much basmati rice to plant once the current crop has been planted.

Explanation:

Price Elasticity of Supply refers to how Supply changes in response to a change in price. Essentially, if the price of a good increases, will Supplier supply more or less of that good as a result and by how much will they do so.

In the short run, the farmers would have already planted the crops and so would be unable start changing the quantity that they expect from the harvest. They will therefore supply the amount they harvested regardless of a price change.

In the long run however, they can change the amount of rice planted depending on the price of the rice in the market. Price Elasticity is therefore higher in the long run than in the short run.