Consumer surplus is the monetary gain a buyer receives when the price actually paid for a good is lower than the highest price the buyer would have been willing to pay for it, measured as the area beneath the demand curve and above the market price. Alfred Marshall popularized the concept in his Principles of Economics, building on earlier work by the engineer Jules Dupuit, and it remains the standard measure economists use to express how much value a market delivers to buyers rather than sellers.
Facts
Proposed ByThe engineer Jules Dupuit first proposed the underlying idea in the mid-1840s; Marshall's 1890 Principles of Economics gave it the name and the fame it carries in economics. Origin YearYear of Marshall's Principles of Economics, which named and popularized the concept; Dupuit's own priority dates to the 1840s. Classification
Concept FormEmpirical Measure or Indicator 1 Connections
Attributed To
Source Principles of EconomicsAlfred Marshall
Sources
1. Economic surplus (Wikipedia)
Economic surplus
Consumer surplus...is the monetary gain obtained by consumers
Lead section
In mainstream economics, economic surplus, also known as total welfare or total social welfare or Marshallian surplus (after Alfred Marshall), is either of two related quantities: Consumer surplus, or consumers' surplus, is the monetary gain obtained by consumers because they are able to purchase a product for a price that is less than the highest price that they would be willing to pay.
In Group: Demand, Supply and Cost Concepts, Lead
In mainstream economics, economic surplus, also known as total welfare or total social welfare or Marshallian surplus (after Alfred Marshall), is either of two related quantities: Consumer surplus, or consumers' surplus, is the monetary gain obtained by consumers because they are able to purchase a product for a price that is less than the highest price that they would be willing to pay.
View the Source2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationOverview sectionQuote, Overview section
In the mid-19th century, engineer Jules Dupuit first propounded the concept of economic surplus, but it was the economist Alfred Marshall who gave the concept its fame in the field of economics.
Principles of Economics
Alfred Marshall, Macmillan, 1890Attributed To: Alfred Marshall, Book III, Chapter VIQuote, Attributed To: Alfred Marshall, Book III, Chapter VI
Marshall popularized consumer surplus in his Principles of Economics, building on the engineer Jules Dupuit's earlier work.
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