Answer :
For the question, ' the general willingness of firms to produce and sell a product at various prices is ............', the correct option is supply. Supply is defined as the quantity of a particular good or service that is available to consumers at a particular purchase price. Diverse factors determine the quantity of goods that a company is willing to supply at a particular point in time. The most important of these factors is quantity demanded. The price of a particular substance has a direct relationship wiht the quantity supplied for that product. That is, the higher the price of the product, the higher will be the quantity that the company will be willing to supply, this is because higher prices means more profits for the company. This is the main concept in the law of supply which stated that 'all else been equal, an increase in price will result in quantity supplied. Other factors that affect the quantityfor a particular product are: price of related goods, cost of production, production conditions, expectations of the supplier, number of competitors and government policies. The quantity of product that each firm will be willing to produce under different circumstances vary widely. The supply schedule is a table that normally show the quantity of product that a firm is willing to supply at a particular price under a prevailing condition. The mathematical expression that show the relationship between existing conditions and the quantity that a firm is willing to supply is called a supply function. A supply curve is a graph that is usually used to show the relatiionship between the price and the quantity supplied. Supply curves usually slope up from left to right but each curve often vary in accordance with the nature of product involved. The law of supply together with the law of demand are the basis for market condition, resulting in equilibrum price. The equilibrium price is the point on the demand - supply curve at which the demand and supply cureve intersect. At the equilibrum price, quantity supply is equal to quantity demanded, that is, there is no shortage and there is no surplus of the product in the market.
