ABSTRACT
Great difficulties are met with in stating a clear and straightforward exposition of price theory because of the fact that the given conditions or data of the problem are so different according to the length of the time period which the explanation takes into account. The most familiar device for separating certain short-time and longtime aspects of economic problems is the fiction of the "static state", and our first critical duty is to raise serious question as to this conception in its current form. The costs of production are ancient history. All of this reasoning relates to the ultimate goal of the competitive tendencies, with unlimited time allowed for the adjustment of production to given conditions of demand. The foregoing discussion is all relative to an expanding demand. The chapter establishes that decreasing cost with increasing output is a condition incompatible with stable competition in the industry.
