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supply and demand

Cultural  
  1. In classical economic theory, the relation between these two factors determines the price of a commodity. This relationship is thought to be the driving force in a free market. As demand for an item increases, prices rise. When manufacturers respond to the price increase by producing a larger supply of that item, this increases competition and drives the price down. Modern economic theory proposes that many other factors affect price, including government regulations, monopolies, and modern techniques of marketing and advertising.


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The gap between supply and demand for those long-dated bonds is helping drive the corporate bond market’s historically tight spreads, Sorid said.

From The Wall Street Journal

"Locally, the prices are very much linked to geopolitical instability, they're linked to supply and demand at global level... and money markets, currency exchange rates, which again there's no ability for people in Northern Ireland to control," explained Smyth.

From BBC

“Consumer price inflation eased on seasonal volatility and is likely to bounce back in February. Still, with the imbalances between supply and demand set to persist, we doubt China’s deflationary pressures will fade any time soon,” said Zichun Huang, an economist at Capital Economics.

From The Wall Street Journal

The main reason, he said, was "the imbalance between supply and demand".

From Barron's

“As a regulator, in some ways you never have enough people, but the supply and demand curve is getting a little askew here.”

From Barron's