Pet Supply: 4. The rising MC curve of each firm is its supply curve. To obtain the supply curve of a group of independent compet supplyitive firms, we add horizontally their separate supply curves. The supply curve of thlFTndustry Hence also represents the marginal cost curve for the compet supplyitive industry as a whole. We now move from the firm to the industry, beginning with a description of how the supply decisions of individual firms are added together to get total industry supply. We then proceed to a discussion of long-run supply and examine the implications of decreasing costs. The discussion concludes with an analysis of the efficiency of compet supplyitive markets. Summing All Firms' Supply Curves to Get Market Supply Figure 19-2 showed how we add horizontally all individual demand curves to get the market demand curve. The same horizontal addition also applies to supply. Suppose we are dealing with a compet supplyitive market for fish. How much of this commodity will be brought to market at each different level of market price? Firm A will bring so much to market at a particular price. Firm B will bring so much at this price. Firms C, D, and so forth will also bring quantities of fish as shown by their supply curves. The total quantity that will be brought to market at a given market price will be the sum of the individual quantities that firms supply at that price. This reasoning leads to the following relationship between individual and market supplies: To get the market supply curve for a good, we must add horizontally the supply curves of the independent producers of that good.

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