ABSTRACT
We have just gone through in a formal way the various types of supply con ditions that may obtain. We have seen that the supply conditions depend on the cost curves of the individual firm. We now turn to the firm, to ex amine the conditions underlying its cost curves. Our interest here is, of course, not in the firm per se but rather in a fuller understanding of the factors determining the supply conditions i n an industry. We must re member that a supply curve is a meaningful concept only for a competitive industry. Otherwise, price alone does not describe completely the condi tions of demand facing the individual firm. We must also remember that i n going from cost curves to supply curves we have to be on the lookout for the possible existence of external economies or diseconomies-econo mies or diseconomies external to the firm but internal to the industry and hence affecting the supply curve of that industry.
