Marginalinkomst

Marginalinkomst refers to the additional income generated from selling one more unit of a good or service. It is a fundamental concept in economics, particularly in microeconomics and the study of firm behavior. To calculate marginalinkomst, one takes the change in total revenue that results from selling one additional unit. This can be expressed as the change in total revenue divided by the change in quantity sold.

In a perfectly competitive market, where firms are price takers, the marginalinkomst is equal to the market price. This is because the firm can sell as much as it wants at the prevailing market price, so each additional unit sold adds exactly the market price to its total revenue. However, in markets with imperfect competition, such as monopolies or oligopolies, firms are often price setters and face a downward-sloping demand curve. In these scenarios, to sell an additional unit, the firm may have to lower the price on all units sold, not just the last one. Consequently, the marginalinkomst will be less than the price and will decrease as output increases.

Firms utilize the concept of marginalinkomst in conjunction with marginalkostnad (marginal cost) to determine the profit-maximizing level of output. The general rule is that a firm maximizes its profits by producing at the output level where marginalinkomst equals marginalkostnad. If marginalinkomst exceeds marginalkostnad, the firm can increase profits by producing more. Conversely, if marginalkostnad exceeds marginalinkomst, the firm should reduce its output to increase profits.