Abstract
The simplest case of balance or equilibrium between desire and effort is found when a person satisfies one of his wants by his own direct work. When a boy picks blackberries for his own eating, the action of picking is probably itself pleasurable for a while; and for some time longer the pleasure of eating is more than enough to repay the trouble of picking. But after he has eaten a good deal, the desire for more diminishes; while the task of picking begins to cause weariness, which may indeed be a feeling of monotony rather than of fatigue. Equilibrium is reached when at last his eagerness to play and his disinclination for the work of picking counterbalance the desire for eating. The satisfaction which he can get from picking fruit has arrived at its maximum: for up to that time every fresh picking has added more to his pleasure than it has taken away; and after that time any further picking would take away from his pleasure more than it would add.1
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© 2013 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Marshall, A. (2013). Temporary Equilibrium of Demand and Supply. In: Principles of Economics. Palgrave Classics in Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137375261_29
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137375261_29
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-230-24929-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-37526-1
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