The Law of Demand versus Diminishing Marginal Utility

Bruce R. Beattie and Jeffrey LaFrance ()

Review of Agricultural Economics, 2006, vol. 28, issue 2, 263-271

Abstract: Diminishing marginal utility (DMU) is neither necessary nor sufficient for downward-sloping demand. Yet, upper-division undergraduate and beginning graduate students often presume otherwise. This paper provides two simple counter-examples that can be used to help students understand that the Law of Demand does not depend on DMU. The examples are accompanied with the geometry and basic mathematics of the utility functions and the implied ordinary/Marshallian demands. Copyright 2006, Oxford University Press.

Date: 2006
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/j.1467-9353.2006.00286.x (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
Journal Article: The Law of Demand versus Diminishing Marginal Utility (2006)
Working Paper: The Law of Demand Versus Diminishing Marginal Utility (2006)
Working Paper: The law of demand versus diminishing marginal utility (2006)
Working Paper: The Law of Demand Versus Diminishing Marginal Utility (2005)
Working Paper: The law of demand versus diminishing marginal utility (2005)
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: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:revage:v:28:y:2006:i:2:p:263-271

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Review of Agricultural Economics from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ) and Christopher F. Baum ().