Alfred Marshall
Alfred Marshall and the Principles of Economics
Intro
Alfred Marshall was one of the most influential economists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His book, Principles of Economics, was published in 1890 and quickly became a dominant economic and mathematical textbook in England. It is still used today in classrooms around the world.1 Marshall is viewed as the founder of the neoclassical school of thought in economics and was the first to introduce many now-standard principles of the field. Neoclassical economists were interested in how agents, consumers, and producers maximize the function of scarce resources in a given market.2 Marshall’s articulation of the relationship between supply and demand was central to neoclassical economist foundations and his concepts endure today in many economic models and theories.1
Alfred Marshall originally studied as a mathematician but understood that economic principles were vital to everyone’s livelihood and that it was important that it could be understood by the general population.3 Alfred Marshall sought to bring economics to the layman so that everyone could better understand their decision-making habits. In Principles of Economics, he was careful to always try and contextualize economic principles through real-life examples to ground his abstract theories. He wanted people to understand how economics applied to their daily habits.3
Alfred Marshall was a jack-of-all-trades. He studied mathematics, philosophy and ethics, and metaphysics, although his most notable contributions to our times were in the field of economics.4 He specifically was interested in microeconomics. He studied the way individuals make decisions, which is crucial for applied science. He not only had a brilliant mind but was a brilliant teacher and changed the way that economics was taught by appealing to a more general population. Marshall wanted to humanize economics because he believed that every man sought his own, or at least his children’s best interest.5 Two of his most important contributions to economics include introducing time into the conversation about supply and demand and the idea of consumer surplus.
He understood the ways in which people derived from rational economic principles:
the laws of economics are to be compared by the laws of the tides, rather than with the simple and exact law of gravitation. For the actions of men are so various and uncertain, that the best statement of tendencies, which we can make in a science of human conduct, must needs be inexact and faulty.
About the Authors
Dan Pilat
Dan is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. Dan has a background in organizational decision making, with a BComm in Decision & Information Systems from McGill University. He has worked on enterprise-level behavioral architecture at TD Securities and BMO Capital Markets, where he advised management on the implementation of systems processing billions of dollars per week. Driven by an appetite for the latest in technology, Dan created a course on business intelligence and lectured at McGill University, and has applied behavioral science to topics such as augmented and virtual reality.
Dr. Sekoul Krastev
Sekoul is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. A decision scientist with a PhD in Decision Neuroscience from McGill University, Sekoul's work has been featured in peer-reviewed journals and has been presented at conferences around the world. Sekoul previously advised management on innovation and engagement strategy at The Boston Consulting Group as well as on online media strategy at Google. He has a deep interest in the applications of behavioral science to new technology and has published on these topics in places such as the Huffington Post and Strategy & Business.
