Stages of production are the consequences of:

Option 1 -> This law relates to the production possibility frontier and trade-offs between two goods, not stages of production.

Option 2 -> This is a consumption-side concept dealing with consumer satisfaction, not production theory.

Option 3 -> This law explains how output changes when one input varies while others remain fixed, creating three distinct stages of production.

Option 4 -> This law applies to long-run production when all inputs change proportionately, not short-run stages.

Hence, Option 3: Law of Variable Proportions -> The three stages of production (Stage I: Increasing Returns, Stage II: Diminishing Returns, Stage III: Negative Returns) are direct consequences of the Law of Variable Proportions. This law operates in the short run when at least one factor is fixed while another is variable. As we increase the variable input, Total Product (TP) initially increases at an increasing rate (Stage I), then at a decreasing rate (Stage II), and eventually declines (Stage III). These stages are determined by the behavior of Marginal Product (MP) and Average Product (AP), which result from varying input proportions. -> correct