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Economics
Supply and Demand
The foundational economic model describing how the price and quantity of goods are determined by the interaction between sellers and buyers.
The law of demand: as price rises, the quantity demanded falls (people buy less of something when it's more expensive). The law of supply: as price rises, the quantity supplied increases (producers are willing to make more when they can sell at higher prices). Where supply and demand curves cross is the equilibrium price — the market-clearing price where the amount produced equals the amount consumers want to buy.
Markets are in constant motion as supply and demand shift: new technology, changing tastes, regulatory changes, weather events, global crises. When equilibrium is disrupted (a sudden shortage or glut), prices signal producers and consumers to adjust behavior — the market's self-correcting mechanism. This is what Adam Smith meant by the "invisible hand" — prices coordinate millions of individual decisions without any central controller.