---

 

Basic Economics: Supply and Demand

More of this Feature

• Part 2: Supply Meets Demand

On This Site

• Basic Economics: Want vs. Need • Basic Economics: Scarcity and Choices • Basic Economics: Interdependence • Basic Economics: Inflation • Economics

Share This Page

Follow This Site

---

Part 1: Basic Supply and Demand

One of the most basic concepts of economics is Supply and Demand. These are really two separate things, but they are almost always talked about together.

Supply is how much of something is available. For example, if you have 9 baseball cards, then your supply of baseball cards is 9. If you have 6 apples, then your supply of apples is 6.

Demand is how much of something people want. It sounds a little bit harder to measure, but it really isn't. To measure demand, we can use a very simple numbering system, just like the supply one. If 8 people want baseball cards, then we can say that the demand for baseball cards is 8. If 6 people want apples, then we can say that the demand for apples is 6.

Did you notice that the baseball cards supplywas one more than the baseball cards demand? Did you also notice that the apples supply was equal to the apples demand? We'll get to that soon.

Next page > Supply Meets Demand > Page 1, 2