What you’ll learn to do: define marginal analysis

Economists recognize that very few choices in the real world are “all or nothing.” Most of the time, people have the choice to do a little more or a little less of something: Should you eat one more muffin? Should you study economics for another hour? Should you spend a little less money on gas? Economists use the word marginal to mean “additional” or “extra,” and they use the term marginal analysis to describe how people make choices by comparing the benefits and costs of doing a bit more or a bit less.

The specific things you’ll learn in this section include the following:

• Define marginal cost
• Define marginal benefit

Learning Activities

The learning activities for this section include the following:

• Reading: Marginal Analysis
• Self Check: Marginal Analysis