Marginalism and Utility Theory

This chapter examines the contributions of Carl Menger, William Stanley Jevons and Leon Walras to economic theory. Their work brought about a significant change in economic methodology and theory. Marginalism gained importance as a methodology, and there was a shift in the explanatory principle in the field of value and distribution theory. As is common in scientific development, some authors had hinted at this paradigm shift, but their ideas were considered “too early” and had not yet gained traction. One example of this was the treatise by H.H. Gossen, which was virtually lost and rediscovered by Jevons.