What does the adjective marginal mean in economics??

Question

A. incremental, additional, or extra of some action.

B.buying something that is illegal

none of these illustrate how the word marginal is used in economics.

Which of the following is a normative statement?

A. the price of gasoline is too high.

B. The current high price of gas is the result of strong world wide demand.

C. All of these.

Answer 1

A) marginal means the additional cost/price/utility/etc. of producing/consuming and additional unit

A) a normative statement is one of opinion.  since gas prices in the US are much lower than western europe, A sounds like an opinion and B sounds like a statement of cause and effect (which is a positive statement, the alternative to normative)

Answer 2

The answers are A and A.  

Marginal does in fact mean exactly what is stated in answer A.  Let me try to give you some examples.  If I am discussing the marginal utility of a slice of pizza, then I am referring to the utility of the last slice of pizza consumed...that is to say the incremental, additional, or extra slice of pizza.  For example, if you are very hungry and have not had pizza in a long time, you will get a lot of utility out of your first slice.  After about 8 slices, you will get very little utility and eventually it won't be worth it to you to have any more pizza.  If I am discussing the marginal cost of the slice of pizza, then I am referring to the cost of the last slice of pizza produced...again the incremental, additional or extra cost.  For example, producting one slice of pizza might be very costly, since you have to go to the same amount of trouble to make a slice as to make a whole pizza...thus the marginal cost of one slice might be high.  But once you have made a single slice, you've already made a whole pizza, so the marginal cost of the next 7 slices is pretty low (might be almost zero).

You said in your question that this is not how "marginal" is used in Economics, but I promise it is exactly how it is used.  Marginal utility, marginal cost, marginal price, whatever, is always talking about the last unit produced or consumed.  Not an average, not cumulative, the last one.

Normative means you are making a value judgement.  The cost of gas is what it is.  Whether it is too high or not is your opinion.  Option B could be an opinion too, but it is most likely based on some kind of factual analysis rather than a value judgement.

Answer 3

A

A