Teaching Marginal Analysis: On the importance of emphasising the second-order condition

Akihito Asano

International Review of Economic Education, 2006, vol. 5, issue 1, pages 46-59

Abstract: Students employ marginal analysis in investigating various problems regarding resource allocation. The majority of first-year students, however, seem to struggle in applying it to a firm's profit maximisation problem. Their confusion appears to stem from textbooks for introductory microeconomics courses oversimplifying some subtle points regarding the profit maximisation problem. This paper (1) points out how oversimplification may impede students' understanding, contrary to the instructors' pedagogical intent, and (2) suggests a complementary method to enhance their understanding of marginal analysis in the course of teaching a firm's profit maximisation problem.

Date: 2006
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations Track citations by RSS feed

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.economicsnetwork.ac.uk/iree/v5n1/asano.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:che:ireepp:v:5:y:2006:i:1:p:46-59

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Review of Economic Education from Economics Network, University of Bristol
Address: University of Bristol, BS8 1HH, United Kingdom
Contact information at EDIRC.
Series data maintained by Martin Poulter ().