A Short Biography on Alfred Marshall

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September 17, 2013 A Short Biography on Alfred Marshall Grantham University BA201 June Longdin September 17, 2013 A Short Biography on Alfred Marshall June Longdin A Short Biography on Alfred Marshall Alfred Marshall was born on July 26, 1842 in a London suburb called Bermondsey. He was educated at the Merchant Taylor’s School. Marshall showed academic promise and a particular knack for mathematics. Marshall was a powerful figure in British economics from about 1890 until his death in 1924. His area of expertise was microeconomics the study of individual markets and industries, as opposed to the study of the whole economy. Alfred Marshall’s most important book was “Principles of Economics”, which was first published in 1890 and went through eight editions in his lifetime. Marshall’s best known contribution to economics is the familiar model of supply and demand, sometimes referred to as the “Marshallian Cross”. He also articulated the law of demand, and justified the marginal utility and development of the income and substitution effects. Marshall established his own set of rules for the use of mathematics in economic theorizing: 1. Use mathematics as a shorthand language, rather than as an engine of inquiry. 2. Keep to them till you have done. 3. Translate into English. 4. Then illustrate by examples that are important in real life. 5. Burn the mathematics. 6. If you can’t succeed in (4), burn (3). Alfred Marshall also was the first to articulate the substitution effect. He was the leading figure in neoclassical economics, as part of his explanation for the law of demand. Marshall recognized that changes in relative prices would lead consumers to substitute in consumption, but he failed to recognize that price changes would affect overall purchasing power which is called the income effect. REFERENCES

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