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The transforming growth factor-\u03b2 (TGF-\u03b2) pathway produces context-specific responses. Here, we combined modeling and experimental analysis to study the dependence of the output of the TGF-\u03b2 pathway on the abundance of signaling molecules in the pathway. We showed that the TGF-\u03b2 pathway processes the variation of TGF-\u03b2 receptor abundance using Liebig\u2019s law of the minimum, meaning that the output-modifying factor is the signaling protein that is most limited, to determine signaling responses across cell types and in single cells. We found that the abundance of either the type I (TGFBR1) or type II (TGFBR2) TGF-\u03b2 receptor determined the responses of cancer cell lines, such that the receptor with relatively low abundance dictates the response. Furthermore, nuclear SMAD2 signaling correlated with the abundance of TGF-\u03b2 receptor in single cells depending on the relative expression levels of TGFBR1 and TGFBR2. 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