Question: Circa 1200 bce, a decreasing supply of tin due to wars and the breakdown of trade led to a drastic increase in the price of bronze in the Middle East and Greece (tin being necessary for its production). It is around this time that blacksmiths developed iron- and steel-making techniques (as substitutes for bronze).
a. How is the increasing price of bronze a signal?
b. How is the increasing price an incentive?
c. How do your answers in parts a and b help explain why iron and steel became more common around the same time as the increase in price?
d. After the development of iron, did the supply or demand for bronze shift? Which way did it shift? Why?