Rare earths are a series of chemical elements found in the Earth’s crust that are vital to many modern technologies, including consumer electronics, computers and networks, communications, clean energy, advanced transportation, health care, environmental mitigation, natural defense, and many others. Assume that the rare earth market is perfectly competitive.

If the price of a particular rare earth were to drop below its original level following entry of new firms even as market demand continued to increase, would the rare earth industry be constant-cost, increasing-cost, or decreasing-cost?