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November 8, 2025 

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LAW OF DIMINISHING MARGINAL UTILITY: The principle stating that as more of a good is consumed, eventually each additional unit of the good provides less additional utility--that is, marginal utility decreases. Each subsequent unit of a good is valued less than the previous one. The law of diminishing marginal utility helps explain the negative slope of the demand curve and the law of demand.

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PUBLIC GOOD: A good that's difficult to keep nonpayers from consuming (excludability), and use of the good by one person doesn't prevent use by others (rival consumption). Examples include national defense, a clean environment, and any fourth of July fireworks display. Public goods are invariably provided by government because there's no way a private business can profitably produce them. Private businesses can't sell public goods in markets, because they can't charge a price and keep nonpaying people away. Moreover, businesses shouldn't charge a price, because there's no opportunity cost for extra consumers. For efficiency, government needs to pay for public goods through taxes.

     See also | good types | excludability | rival consumption | efficiency | market | exchange | market failure | common-property good | near-public good | private good | free-rider problem |


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FIXED INPUT

An input whose quantity cannot be changed in the time period under consideration. The relevant time period is usually termed the short run. The most common example of a fixed input is capital. The alternative to fixed input is variable input. A fixed input, such as capital, provides the "capacity" constraint for the short-run production of a firm. A variable input, such as labor, provides the means of changing short-run production. As larger quantities of a variable input are added to a fixed input, the variable input becomes less productive, which is the law of diminishing marginal returns.

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Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time driving to a factory outlet hoping to buy either a graduation present for your niece or nephew or a toaster oven that has convection cooking. Be on the lookout for cardboard boxes.
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Paper money used by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts prior to the U.S. Revolutionary War, which was issued against the dictates of Britain, was designed by patriot and silversmith, Paul Revere.
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