SUPPLY AND VALUE 49

concerned with the product under discussion, as a whole.
The value of the product will be related to the aggregate
supply from the entire industry, and the aggregate demand.
The stimulus to change of the rate of production is found in
operation in the individual establishment. When constant
costs prevail in the separate establishments, it is clear that
no establishment can permanently contribute to the aggregate
 supply, unless its costs per unit are not greater than the
value of the goods when produced. When increasing costs
are found, each establishment will be able to contribute to
the supply, with profit to itself, only to the extent to which
its marginal costs are not in excess of the value of the goods,
The aggregate supply may be maintained while great
changes take place in the distribution of the production
among the various producers. Some may increase their
output while others decrease theirs, new producers may enter,
while bankruptcy and other causes lead to the cessation of
supply from some of the older producers. These changes
may be accompanied by temporary disturbances of the
balance of supply and demand, but may or may not disturb
the general conditions determining the volume of supply and
the intensity of demand.
In this chapter we are contemplating a supply by
numerous competitors, striving to secure a share in the
market for their product. If each contribute but a small
fraction of the aggregate supply, the variations of that supply
will be due to the efforts of producers to secure all the
advantage which can be obtained from any changes in their
share of the supply, but we need not assume that any of
them deliberately aims at affecting the market price by
changes in his own share of the supply. The total supply
will affect the price, but, as it is not under any unity of
control, it cannot be considered as adjusted to some desired
level of price and of profits. If individual producers anticipate
 changes’ in the aggregate supply, they will adjust their
output to the conditions of price likely to arise from such
changes. Practically, therefore, where numerous competitors
are in view, the feature of importance is the adjustment by
each of his own production in view of the value which it