Transcript The Forerunners of Marginalism

Group 11:
4/13/2015
刘玮晔 郝玉婷
杨文静 肖文彦
2012.9.27
Introduction
 Antoine Augustin Cournot
 Jules Dupuit
 Johann Heinrich von Thünen

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刘玮晔
郝玉婷
杨文静
肖文彦
Presenter: 刘玮晔
4/13/2015
MARGINALISM
Defination: In economics，marginalism as a kind of
economic theory stems from marginal utility and
marginal cost
Main originators:
William Stanley Jevons(杰文斯)
Carl Menger (门格尔)
Leon Walras (瓦尔拉斯)
Develop different schools
In common: put forward marginal utility theory of value
使用价值作为商品的一种品质，是商品拥有交换价值必不可少的特征与先决
条件但是由于使用价值是一个被认为无法测度的特征因而未被用于解释交换
Innovation:
价值
Use of commodity use value to explain the exchange
value
边际理论的关键是商品的使用价值不仅是可以被测度的而且随商品消费数量
利用商品的使用价值来解释交换价值
的增加而递减。商品的交换价值取决于所消费的最后一个单位带来的使用价
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值也就是边际效用
BACKGROUND
◆
economic and social problems cropped up in the
wake of the industrial revolution
Poverty is common though labor productivity developed
Unfair distribution of income and wealth
Economic fluctuation caused by unstable life
◆
Solutions to the problem in Europe
尽管古典经济学家的价值和分配理论不准确，政策
The development of the socialist
主张正确
Support for trade unionism
Strengthen government management
捍卫市场配置和分配
反对政府干预、谴责社会主义、试图阻止劳动者工
会主义
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METHODOLOGY
注重边际量与理性经济行为
以微观经济（individual）分析为重点
Inheritance and supplement
使用抽象、演绎的方法，拒绝历史方法
强调完全竞争
Completely free competition
需求导向的价格理论
强调主观效用和均衡分析方法
Theory of factor of production
融合土地与资本品，将地主所得的报酬与利息理论放
在一起
The liberal economy policy
主张最小政府干预
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CONTRIBUTION
Use mathematical tools to analysis economic problems
Demand factor and individual decision making
Clearly define the foundation of economic analysis of the
basic assumptions
Through the partial equilibrium analysis to simplify
analysis and do further research
 Micro economic analysis is an important supplement for
macro analysis
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MARGINALISM
伯努利
（Daniel Bernoulli）
加里阿尼
（Ferdinando Galiani）
安德森
（James Anderson）
威斯特
（Edward West）
李嘉图
（David Ricardo）
马尔萨斯
（Thomas Robert Malthus）
安东尼·奥古斯丁·古诺
（Antoine Augustin Cournot）
朱尔·杜皮特
（Jules Dupuit）
杜能
（Johann Heinrich von
Thünen）
门格尔
瓦尔拉斯
杰文斯
Marginalism
1970s
Marginal analysis
价值利息与边际分析
伯努利（Daniel Bernoulli，1700-1782）在1738年发表的题
为“测定风险新理论之解说”的论文中提出了风险厌恶、边际
效用以及边际效用递减的思想，所说的风险包括在赌博、保险
业和投资等各项事业在内。
加里阿尼（Ferdinando Galiani）在其名著《货币论》中最早
提出了效用和稀缺性共同决定价值的原理，以及把资本利息归
结为不同时间和地点的货币价值的差额。
Marginal analysis
级差地租论与边际分析
同劳
动价
值论
相结
合的
方向
安德森（James Anderson）最先提出了级差地租基
本原理，从而把边际分析引进了地租学说，但其分析
缺乏必要的价值理论基础。
威斯特（Edward West）在他的地租论中提出了“最
后的或获利最少的资本部分”，即边际资本的概念，
以之作为级差地租论的一个前提，但其分析仍缺乏必
要的价值理论基础。
李嘉图是把地租论中的边际分析与劳动价值论联系起
来的第一人
马尔萨斯的《地租的性质与发展》把安德森的边际分
析原理纳入地租理论，并同供求价值论联系起来，但
他的目的与安德森却截然相反。
Exponents & Contribution
Cournot
用数学方法研究和表述了在不
同条件下价格决定的条件
《财富理论的数学原理之研究》
Jules Dupuit
研究实际经济问题和政策抉择
中运用了边际效用原理和方法
《公共工程效用的测量》
《论通行税和运输费用》
Johann Heinrich
von Thünen
用边际分析的方法分析了分配
问题，最先把边际原理广大到
包括地租、利润和工资理论在
内的全部分配理论
《孤立国》
Presenter: 郝玉婷
4/13/2015
Antoine Augustin Cournot (1801-1877)
安东尼•奥古斯丁•古诺
 French mathematicians and
economist
 The first economist to apply
mathematics effectively to
the treatment of economic
questions
 Made important contributions
with his discussion of supply
and demand functions
 Best known for his work in
the field of oligopoly theory

Antoine Augustin Cournot was
born at Gray in 1801. In 1821 he
entered one of the most
prestigious local school, and in
1829 he had earned a doctoral
degree in mathematics, with
mechanics as his main thesis
supplemented by astronomy.
After graduation, Cournot held
many positions as professor of
analysis and mechanics, chief
examiner for undergraduate
students, and rector of Dijon
Academy.
Researches into the Mathematical Principles of the
Theory of Wealth, 1838

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
Used the application of the formulas and symbols of
mathematics in economic analysis
Highly criticized and not very successful during
Cournot's lifetime
Recognized as the point of departure for modern
economic analysis today

Mathematical Methods

Supply and Demand

Equilibrium Under Conditions of Monopoly,
Duopoly, and Perfect Competition

He introduced differential calculus and the associated
mathematics of maximization into economic analysis.

Cournot believed that economic relationships can be
treated mathematically with functions that are relatively
general and subject to mostly qualitative restrictions.

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He was the first economist to define and draw a
demand curve to illustrate the relationship between
price and demand.
He proceeded to show that the profit-maximizing
output for a producer is reached when the marginal
cost equals the marginal revenue.
He introduced the idea of elasticity of demand,
though he did not use that phrase.
The concept of the demand function was not clearly
formulated.

Cournot derived the familiar profit-maximization
condition:
Price = Marginal Cost


Cournot derived the rule that a profit-maximizing
monopolist would follow in deciding what price to
charge.
 This one-good-at-a-time approach is called partial
equilibrium analysis.
 Assume that changes in that particular market will
have no effect outside of that market.
The monopoly pricing rule is the familiar condition
that the price must be such that
Marginal Revenue = Marginal Cost
Profit Maximization by a Monopoly
Costs and
Revenue
Price
Marginal
cost
Marginal
revenue
0
Monopoly
quantity
Competitive
quantity
Demand
Quantity

A form of imperfect competition where all firms
simultaneously decide how much to produce.

If there are only two firms, it is known as Cournot
duopoly.

Cournot competition produces an equilibrium with
price greater than the competitive price and lower
than the monopoly price.
Assumptions

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
homogeneous product
No collusion
Firms have market power
The number of firms is fixed
Firms compete in quantities, and choose quantities
simultaneously;
The firms are economically rational, seeking to
maximize profit given their competitors' decisions.
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Profit Maximizing Duopolists
There are two firms: A and B. This
picture shows Firm A.
Costs and
Revenue
If Firm B produces nothing, Firm A’s
demand is Demand1. It produces the
monopoly output.
If Firm B begins to produce, Firm A
will respond by producing less.
If Firm B produces even more, Firm
A will produce even less.
Price
The bigger is Firm B’s output, the
smaller is Firm A’s production.
Marginal
cost
Demand3
0
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Monopoly
quantity
Demand1
Marginal
revenue Demand2
Quantity
Duopoly
Firm B’s production
Firm A’s reaction curve
Firm B’s
monopoly
output
Firm B’s
duopoly
output
Firm B’s reaction curve
Firm A’s production
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
Cournot showed that the output will be higher and the
price will be lower in duopoly than in monopoly.

A Cournot equilibrium becomes more similar to the
competitive equilibrium the more firms there are, and the
better substitutes their products are for one another.

Cournot’s solution to this duopoly problem is the same
as the solution now called Nash Equilibrium in modern
game theory.
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
“Seeing Cournot as a precursor, and Nash as a
successor, required that both be interpreted in a
manner that rendered them consonant, so that,
even though Nash had never read Cournot, we
could still thereafter speak of the Cournot-Nash
equilibrium.”
----Robert Leonard
Presenter: 杨文静
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He was born in Fossano, Italy
he studied in Versailles - winning a Physics prize at
graduation.
He then studied in the Ecole Polytechnic as a civil
engineer.
He received a Légion d'honneur in 1843 for his work on
the French road system, and shortly after moved to Paris.
He also studied flood management in 1848 and
supervised the construction of the Paris sewer system.
He died in Paris.
Works:
On Tolls and Transport Charges
On the Measure of the Utility of Public
Works
 Ideas:
Demand Derived From Marginal Utility
Relative Utility - Consumer Surplus
Price Discrimination

His 1844 article was concerned with
deciding the optimum toll for a bridge.
 It was here that he introduced his curve of
diminishing marginal utility.

•
•
•
Thus, the concept of diminishing marginal
utility should translate itself into a downwardsloping demand function. In this way he
identified the demand curve as the marginal
utility curve.
This was the first time an economist had put
forward a theory of demand derived from
marginal utility.
Although not the first time that the demand
curve had been drawn, it was the first time
that it had been proved rather than asserted.

Dupuit went on to define "relative utility" as
the area under the demand/marginal utility
curve above the price.

A measure of the welfare effects of
different prices – concluding that public
welfare is maximized when the price (or
bridge toll) is zero. This was later known
as Marshall's "consumer surplus".
EE
Presenter: 肖文彦
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(24 June 1783, – 22 September 1850)
• German
agriculturalist best
known for his work on the
relationship between the costs of
commodity transportation and
the location of production.
• Main Contribution:
The Isolated State in Relation to
Agriculture
and
Political
Economy.(1826)
孤立国和农业同国民经济的关系
•
In 1803, Thünen met the famous agricultural
theorists Ritter, who had a great effect on his
research of whole agriculture.
•
Then he ran the manor himself, and he later
wrote the “isolated state” based on this
experience.
•
In 1810 Thünen began gathering data for the
book for which he is remembered, "The isolated
state”(1826). In it he imagined an isolated city.

Agriculture Location Theory

Income Distribution Theory
Assumptions:
•
•
•
•
•
•
The city is located centrally within an "Isolated
State."
The Isolated State is surrounded by wilderness.
The land is completely flat and has no rivers or
mountains.
Soil quality and climate are consistent.
Farmers in the Isolated State transport their own
goods to market via oxcart（牛车）, across land,
directly to the central city. There are no roads.
Farmers behave rationally to maximize profits.
L = Y * (P – C)- Y * DF
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
L: Locational rent ( in DM/km2 )
Y: Yield ( in t/km2)
P: Market price of the agricultural product (in DM/t )
C: Production cost of the agriculture product (in DM/t )
D: Distance from the market ( in km)
F: transport cost ( in DM/t * km)
Transportation cost ---- distance & kind of products
“Economic man”(Adam Smith)
L = Y * (P – C)- Y * DF


Land surfaces
Transport costs
“Economic man”(Adam Smith)
L = Y * (P – C)- Y * DF
•
•
•
•
•
•
L: Locational rent
Y: Yield
P: Market price
C: Production cost
D: Distance from the market
F: transport cost
50,000 DM/km2
1000 t/km2
100 DM/t
50 DM/t
0 km
1 DM/(t * km)
“Economic man”(Adam Smith)
L = Y * (P – C)- Y * DF
•
•
•
•
•
•
L: Locational rent
Y: Yield
P: Market price
C: Production cost
D: Distance from the market
F: transport cost
40,000 DM/km2
1000 t/km2
100 DM/t
50 DM/t
10 km
1 DM/(t * km)
“Economic man”(Adam Smith)
L = Y * (P – C)- Y * DF
•
•
•
•
•
•
L: Locational rent
Y: Yield
P: Market price
C: Production cost
D: Distance from the market
F: transport cost
20,000 DM/km2
1000 t/km2
100 DM/t
50 DM/t
30 km
1 DM/(t * km)
“Economic man”(Adam Smith)
L = Y * (P – C)- Y * DF
•
•
•
•
•
•
L: Locational rent
Y: Yield
P: Market price
C: Production cost
D: Distance from the market
F: transport cost
DM/km2
1000 t/km2
100 DM/t
50 DM/t
km
1 DM/(t * km)
The amount each farmer is willing to pay for
agricultural land will shrink and the price will
eventually decline.
L = Y * (P – C)- Y * DF


The cultivation of one kind of agricultural product
is only worthwhile within certain distances from
the city.
For each product there is a certain distance from
the city where its production would be worthwhile.
1: Diary and
intensive farming
2: Firewood and
timber(燃料)
3:Crops
4:Tanching(畜牧)
5: Wilderness
•
•
•
•
•
In the second volume of his great work, Von
Thunen developed some of the mathematical
foundations of marginal productivity theory and
wrote about the Natural Wage.
Previous finding：Diminishing marginal utility
Thunen:
Max condition : W=MR=MC
W: the last worker’s marginal productivity


The model was developed in an isolated state
and did not take into consideration differences in
sites(local physical conditions), the changes in
demand or price of the commodity, the
difference in transportation costs.
Like many other models in geography, von
Thünen's model was criticized frequently due to
its restrictive nature. If several markets were
present, groups of zones would be formed
around each market.
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