ELASTICITY OF SUPPLY AS A DETERMINANT OF DISTRIBUTION 111 
would otherwise be the case, and consequently would cause the 
supply of this other factor to be produced more abundantly. This 
in turn would raise the marginal productivity of the larger’ 
factor more than under the condition of equal sharing in the 
product. Where, however, the smaller factor successfully takes 
the aggressive, the unit loss to the larger factor is of a smaller 
relative magnitude than its own gain, and consequently the 
quantity of the other and larger factor will expand less than 
would be the case where equal sharing prevailed, and a one per- 
cent increase to one factor was accompanied by a one percent 
loss to the other. Hence the ultimate marginal productivity of 
the smaller factor will be less than it otherwise would be and it 
would profit less from an increase in the effectiveness of its 
bargaining power. 
The matter may indeed be summed up by saying that it is to 
the advantage of the factor which improves its bargaining power 
to expand as little as possible in quantity, and indeed to decrease 
as rapidly as possible, while the less the other factor decreases 
and indeed the more it increases, the greater will be the perma- 
nent gain secured by the factor which has advanced its bargain- 
ing power. But such movements in the relative quantities of the 
factors are not only caused by (a) the relative elasticities of the 
supply of the factors as analyzed in the sections five, six and 
seven, but also (b) the relative proportions of the total product 
obtained originally by the two factors. 
(1) When both factors have positively inclined supply curves, 
the smaller the share enjoyed by the factor which improves its 
position, the more it can gain, and the larger its share the less 
it can gain. (2) When both factors have negative supply curves, 
the larger the share of the factor which improves its position 
the more it can gain, and the smaller its share, the smaller will be 
its ultimate increased return per unit. (3) When one factor is 
negative and the other is positive, both will gain more if, when 
they improve their bargaining strength, the positive factor has 
the larger share while both would lose more than they would 
otherwise do if the negative factor were to have the larger share. 
With regard to the quantity of a factor supplied the combined 
* By the large factor is meant the factor enjoying the greater share of 
the product,