  Although it is often asserted that, in view of their reduced length, axially
compressible beams have a higher buckling load than their inextensible
counterpart, a detailed analysis demnstrates that this is not necessarily the
case. The argument to arrive at this conclusion is made in terms of relatively
straightforward concepts of elasticity and structural mechanics. It is shown
that for certain classes of materials the reduced pre-buckling length is more
than compensated by a softening of the elastic response, leading to a reduction
of the Euler critical load.
