One expects prices to always rise in response to increased demand in the short term. One might call that the short term inelasticity of supply due to economic i

One expects prices to always rise in response to increased demand in the short term. One might call that the short term inelasticity of supply due to economic inertia; it simply takes time to ramp up production. But what of the long term? With products such as food, one expects that the best land is already in production, so increasing supply will require bringing marginal land into use, at higher cost. Supply is inelastic and prices rise. Similarly for minerals. One is usually mining the richest ores. To increase supply one has to spend more freely refining lower grade ores. There are no such constraints for producing insulin in medicinal quantities. The supply should be completely elastic, with the result that prices do not rise.