marginalistista

Marginalist economics is a microeconomic school of thought that focuses on the marginal analysis of economic decisions. It originated in the late 19th century with the work of Austrian economists Carl Menger, William Stanley Jevons, and Léon Walras. The marginalist economists sought to understand how consumers and producers make decisions about how much of a good or service to buy or produce, based on the costs and benefits of those decisions.

At the heart of marginalist economics is the concept of the margin. The margin represents the difference between the benefits and costs of a decision. For example, if a consumer is deciding whether to buy an additional unit of a good, the marginal benefit is the benefit of that additional unit, while the marginal cost is the cost of acquiring that additional unit. The consumer will continue to buy the good as long as the marginal benefit exceeds the marginal cost.

Marginalist economics emphasizes the importance of subjective values in decision-making. Consumers and producers are seen as making decisions based on their own individual preferences and values, rather than on objective criteria. This approach is often contrasted with classical economics, which emphasizes objective value and the law of supply and demand.

The marginalist approach has had a significant impact on modern economics. It has been used to explain various economic phenomena, including consumer behavior, production decisions, and the determination of prices. Marginalist economics has also been influential in the development of other economic schools of thought, including neoclassical economics.