Supply and quality supplied both the terms belong to one of the important 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 bit of difference between the nomenclature of the terms but a huge difference in the detailing of supply and quantity supplied.
Supply vs Quantity Supplied
The main difference between supply and quantities supplied is that supply is the main basic topic of economics, whereas quantity supplied is a point in the field of supply. Supply covers all the prices and all the quantities available in the market, and quantity supplied refers to a specific price and quantity.
The term supply means that the number of goods or services that the provider is making available to the customers. It usually refers to taking into consideration the aspects of supply. The supply curve is plotted based on all quantities and all prices that are available in the market.
The term quantity supplied means that the supply at a particular price and particular quantity. It can also be expressed as it is a particular point in the supply curve at a specific intersection point between a certain price and quantity. The quantity supply is just the name of a factor determining the supply curve.
Comparison Table Between Supply and Quantity Supplied
| 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 | Movement of the curve upward or downward. |
| Effect on factors due to shifting of the curve | Abruptly affects the factors. | Negligibly affects the factors. |
| Factors of dependence | Factors on which supply depend are technical problems, 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 meaning of the word supply in economics is that the services or the items that are provided by a firm or company to the customers. Supply is one of the most complex parts of economics, filled with mathematical formulas, graphs, and equations. The supply can be meant to be any goods, services, labor factors.
Supply is the graph plotted between quantity and price. The graph called the supply curve consists of different types of quantity and all types of 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 basic concept of economics called The Law of Supply. It claims that if the price of a certain 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 certain 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 soaps which as less in demand.
With the increase in the supply in respect to the normal supply, the curve starts to shift rightwards. This happened 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, as well as the quantity, decreases.
What is Quantity Supplied?
The term quantity supplied refers to a particular intersection point in the supply curve between a particular price and a specific quantity. It also refers to the number of goods or services a provider wants to provide at a certain market price.
For example, a ticket house wants to sell 1000 tickets at a price of Rs.20/-. And the same house is also ready to sell 750 tickets for a price of 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 supplied at the amount set by the provider as per their own needs.
The quantity supply also differs from the total supply. Quantity supply is very sensitive to the market price rates. When the price rate is higher, the quantity supplied is nearly the total supply. But when the prices are lower, the quantity supplied has a high range difference with 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 quantity available in the market, whereas the quantity 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 supply and decrease in supply. The types of quantity supplied are the expansion of supply and contraction of supply.
- The factors on which supply depends are technical problems, natural disasters, price of raw materials, etc., whereas the factors on which quantity supplied depends are the competition rate between similar products, economic crisis, income, etc.
Conclusion
Both of these terms, supply and quantity supply, are interrelated. The quantity of supply is a factor of the supply curve, but the supply entirely means the relation between the quantity and prices. The supply is parallel to the word ‘demand,’ and quantity supply is parallel to the word ‘quantity demand.’ The supply also depends on the current economic situation of the society. The quantity supplied may differ in different situations of the provider. Therefore to understand the quantity supplied, it is important to have a knowledge of the supply.
References
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019850199001133
- https://www.webofproceedings.org/proceedings_series/ECOM/ICSM%202019/ICSM003.pdf