Quantified Marginal Utility
Under the special case in which usefulness can be quantified, the change in utility of moving from state to state is
Moreover, if and are distinguishable by values of just one variable which is itself quantified, then it becomes possible to speak of the ratio of the marginal utility of the change in to the size of that change:
(where “c.p.” indicates that the only independent variable to change is ).
Mainstream neoclassical economics will typically assume that
is well defined, and use “marginal utility” to refer to a partial derivative
and diminishing marginal utility is similarly taken to correspond to
- .
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Famous quotes containing the words marginal and/or utility:
“Most works of art are effectively treated as commodities and most artists, even when they justly claim quite other intentions, are effectively treated as a category of independent craftsmen or skilled workers producing a certain kind of marginal commodity.”
—Raymond Williams (1921–1988)
“Moral sensibilities are nowadays at such cross-purposes that to one man a morality is proved by its utility, while to another its utility refutes it.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)