Supply and quality supplied both terms belong to one of the essential fields of economics. Both of these terms are related to the topic of supply and demand.
The amount of supply of a product in the market is an essential factor for the economic balance of an area. So there is a little difference between the vocabulary of the terms but a massive difference in the detailing of supply and quantity supplied.
Key Takeaways
- Supply refers to the total amount of a good or service available for sale in a market. In contrast, Quantity Supplied refers to the specific amount of a good or service a supplier is willing to sell at a particular price.
- Supply is affected by various factors such as production costs, technology, and government regulations, while Quantity Supplied is primarily determined by the price of the good or service.
- Changes in the price of a good or service will cause a movement along the supply curve, while changes in any other factor that affects supply will cause a shift in the supply curve.
Supply vs Quantity Supplied
Supply describes all the various characteristics offered at all conceivable price points. It is a measure of how much the market can provide at various prices. While the number of goods or services that providers will create and sell at a specific market price is referred to as the quantity supplied.
The term supply means the number of goods or services the provider makes available to the customers. It refers to taking into consideration the aspects of supply.
The supply curve is plotted based on all quantities and prices available in the market.
The term quantity supplied means the supply at a particular price and particular quantity. It can also be expressed as a particular point in the supply curve at a specific intersection between a certain price and quantity.
The quantity supply is just a factor determining the supply curve.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Supply | Quantity supplied |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | It is based on all the available quantities and market prices. | It considers a particular quantity and a specific price. |
| Effect on curve | Movement of the curve in rightward or leftward | The direction of the curve is upward or downward. |
| Effect on factors due to shifting of the curve | Abruptly affects the aspects. | Negligibly affects the factors. |
| Factors of dependence | Factors on which supply depend are technical problems, the price of raw materials, natural disasters, etc. | Factors on which quantity supplied depend are income, economic crisis, competition among similar products, etc. |
| Types | I. Increase in supply. II. Decrease in supply | I. Expansion of supply II. Contraction of supply |
What is Supply?
The word supply in economics means the services or items a firm or company provides customers.
Supply is one of the most complex parts of economics, filled with mathematical formulas, graphs, and equations. The collection can be any goods, services, or labour factors.
Supply is the graph plotted between quantity and price. The supply curve graph consists of different types of amounts and all prices available at that time in the market.
The supply curve is drawn by taking all the possible prices and may be available quantities in mind.
There is a fundamental concept of economics called The Law of Supply. It claims that if the price of a particular item increases, the production rate of that item also increases.
That is, its quantity increases. Similarly, if the price of that item decreases, the production of that item also decreases. That is, its quantity deteriorates.
For example, if the demand for a particular soap in the market increases, the firm will try to maximize the sale of that item to gain profit.
So, as a result, they will increase the production level of that particular soap in the firm rather than those less in demand.
With the increase in the supply concerning the regular supply, the curve shifts rightwards. This happens when the quantity supplied increases with the market prices as well.
On the other hand, the supply curve shifts towards the left when the market prices and quantity decrease.
What is the Quantity Supplied?
The term quantity supplied refers to a particular intersection point in the supply curve between a special price and a specific quantity. It also refers to the number of goods or services a provider wants at a particular market price.
For example, a ticket house wants to sell 1000 tickets for Rs.20/-. And the same place is also ready to sell 750 tickets for Rs.10/-. So here, the provider wants to provide a particular amount of tickets at a specific amount of rupees.
This process is called quantity supplied when a specific amount is provided at the amount the provider sets per their needs.
The quantity supply also differs from the total supply. Quantity supply is susceptible to market price rates. The quantity supplied is nearly the entire supply when the price is higher.
But when the prices are lower, the quantity supplied has a high range difference from the total supply.
It depends on the current economic situation. It can also be affected due to the competition of similar products in the market. A minimal difference in these factors affects the supply curve a lot.
Main Differences Between Supply and Quantity Supplied
- The supply considers all the prices and all the quantities available in the market, whereas the amount supplied depends on a particular quantity and a specific price.
- The supply results in the movement of the supply curve of a provider rightwards or leftwards, and the quantity supplied leads to the supply curve of a provider upwards or downwards.
- The shift in the supply curve affects all the factors abruptly, and the change in quantity supplied affects the supply negligibly.
- The types of supply are the increase in-store and the decrease in supply. The kinds of quantity supplied are the expansion of supply and contraction of supply.
- The factors on which supply depends are technical problems, natural disasters, the price of raw materials, etc. In contrast, the factors on which quantity supplied depends are the competition rate between similar products, economic crisis, income, etc.
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019850199001133
- https://www.webofproceedings.org/proceedings_series/ECOM/ICSM%202019/ICSM003.pdf
Last Updated : 11 June, 2023
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Chara Yadav holds MBA in Finance. Her goal is to simplify finance-related topics. She has worked in finance for about 25 years. She has held multiple finance and banking classes for business schools and communities. Read more at her bio page.
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