inelastic supply
- noun
- Specialized
:
oferta inelástica
- During the drought, farmers faced an inelastic supply of water for irrigation, leading to increased prices.
Examples
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The inelastic supply of essential goods means that even if prices rise, the quantity available does not change significantly.
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The only solution is that we go back to a system in which money is a commodity of inelastic supply.
Blog text (22) -
True, this was caused by high oil prices caused by inelastic supply.
Blog text (32) -
In markets where production is fixed, we often see an inelastic supply, meaning that price changes do not greatly affect the quantity supplied.
How Elastic
- Specialized
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is formed transparently from 'inelastic' (not flexible/not responsive) + 'supply' (the provision of goods), so a learner can plausibly infer it means supply that does not respond much to changes. However, the economic sense of 'elastic/inelastic' is a metaphorical extension of the physical adjective and is specialised jargon, so a B1 learner who knows only the basic word meanings may not fully predict the precise price-responsiveness sense without prior exposure.
Etymology
Inelastic supply comes from a simple picture: inelastic means not stretchy and supply means the goods sellers have. So, if the 'price' of something changes, the 'quantity' sellers can provide does not stretch much, which is why the phrase means there is only a small or no change in the amount offered.
