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Hicksian and Marshallian Demands

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Abstract

Soon after the presentation of demand in Alfred Marshall’s Principles of Economics in 1890, a debate ensued concerning whether money income or some sort of real income should be held constant as the price of the good changed. By the mid-20th century, these two conceptions of a demand function became known as the Marshallian and Hicksian functions, respectively. The issue is critical to the interpretation of the area to the left of the demand curve between two prices as some sort of consumer surplus, that is, the gain from purchasing a good at the lower price.

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Silberberg, E. (2018). Hicksian and Marshallian Demands. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_2702

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