Editing Marginalism (section)

=== Marginalists before the Revolution ===
The first unambiguous published statement of any sort of theory of marginal utility was by [[Daniel Bernoulli]], in "Specimen theoriae novae de mensura sortis".<ref>Bernoulli, Daniel; "Specimen theoriae novae de mensura sortis" in ''Commentarii Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanae'' 5 (1738); reprinted in translation as "Exposition of a new theory on the measurement of risk" in ''Econometrica'' 22 (1954).</ref> This paper appeared in 1738, but a draft had been written in 1731 or in 1732.<ref>Bernoulli, Daniel; letter of 4 July 1731 to Nicolas Bernoulli ([http://www.cs.xu.edu/math/Sources/Montmort/stpetersburg.pdf#search=%22Nicolas%20Bernoulli%22 excerpted in PDF] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080909221757/http://www.cs.xu.edu/math/Sources/Montmort/stpetersburg.pdf |date=9 September 2008 }}).</ref><ref>Bernoulli, Nicolas; letter of 5 April 1732, acknowledging receipt of "Specimen theoriae novae metiendi sortem pecuniariam" ([http://www.cs.xu.edu/math/Sources/Montmort/stpetersburg.pdf#search=%22Nicolas%20Bernoulli%22 excerpted in PDF] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080909221757/http://www.cs.xu.edu/math/Sources/Montmort/stpetersburg.pdf |date=9 September 2008 }}).</ref> In 1728, [[Gabriel Cramer]] produced fundamentally the same theory in a private letter.<ref>Cramer, Garbriel; letter of 21 May 1728 to [[Nicolaus I Bernoulli|Nicolaus Bernoulli]] ([http://www.cs.xu.edu/math/Sources/Montmort/stpetersburg.pdf#search=%22Nicolas%20Bernoulli%22 excerpted in PDF] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080909221757/http://www.cs.xu.edu/math/Sources/Montmort/stpetersburg.pdf |date=9 September 2008 }}).</ref> Each had sought to resolve the [[St. Petersburg paradox]], and had concluded that the marginal desirability of money decreased as it was accumulated, more specifically such that the desirability of a sum were the [[natural logarithm]] (Bernoulli) or [[square root]] (Cramer) thereof. However, the more general implications of this hypothesis were not explicated, and the work fell into obscurity.

In "A Lecture on the Notion of Value as Distinguished Not Only from Utility, but also from Value in Exchange",<ref>Finally some recognition that the guidance isn't clear.</ref> delivered in 1833 and included in ''Lectures on Population, Value, Poor Laws and Rent'' (1837), [[William Forster Lloyd]] explicitly offered a general marginal utility theory, but did not offer its derivation nor elaborate its implications.  The importance of his statement seems to have been lost on everyone (including Lloyd) until the early 20th century, by which time others had independently developed and popularized the same insight.<ref>[[Edwin Robert Anderson Seligman|Seligman, Edwin Robert Anderson]]; "On some neglected British economists", ''Economic Journal'' v. 13 (September 1903).</ref>

In ''An Outline of the Science of Political Economy'' (1836), [[Nassau William Senior]] asserted that marginal utilities were the ultimate determinant of demand, yet apparently did not pursue implications, though some interpret his work as indeed doing just that.<ref>White, Michael V; "Diamonds Are Forever(?): Nassau Senior and Utility Theory" in ''The Manchester School of Economic &amp; Social Studies'' 60 (1992) #1 (March).</ref>

In "De la mesure de l'utilité des travaux publics" (1844), [[Jules Dupuit]] applied a conception of marginal utility to the problem of determining bridge tolls.<ref>Dupuit, Jules; "De la mesure de l'utilité des travaux publics", ''Annales des ponts et chaussées'', Second series, 8 (1844).</ref>

In 1854, [[Hermann Heinrich Gossen]] published ''Die Entwicklung der Gesetze des menschlichen Verkehrs und der daraus fließenden Regeln für menschliches Handeln'', which presented a marginal utility theory and to a very large extent worked-out its implications for the behavior of a market economy.  However, Gossen's work was not well received in the Germany of his time, most copies were destroyed unsold, and he was virtually forgotten until rediscovered after the so-called Marginal Revolution.