Supply Shock

A supply shock is an event that suddenly changes the price of a commodity or service. It may be caused by a sudden increase or decrease in the supply of a particular good. This sudden change affects the equilibrium price.

A negative supply shock (sudden supply decrease) will raise prices and shift the aggregate supply curve to the left. A negative supply shock can cause stagflation due to a combination of raising prices and falling output.

A positive supply shock (an increase in supply) will lower the price of said good and shift the aggregate supply curve to the right. A positive supply shock could be an advance in technology (a technology shock) which makes production more efficient, thus increasing output.

An example of a negative supply shock is the increase in oil prices during the 1973 energy crisis.

Read more about Supply Shock:  Technical Analysis

Famous quotes containing the words supply and/or shock:

    With girls, everything looks great on the surface. But beware of drawers that won’t open. They contain a three-month supply of dirty underwear, unwashed hose, and rubber bands with blobs of hair in them.
    Erma Bombeck (20th century)

    I was not long since in a company where I wot not who of my fraternity brought news of a kind of pills, by true account, composed of a hundred and odd several ingredients; whereat we laughed very heartily, and made ourselves good sport; for what rock so hard were able to resist the shock or withstand the force of so thick and numerous a battery?
    Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)