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William Stanley Jevons: 2 ideas worth knowing

2 ideas from William Stanley Jevons, each explained in a minute and credited to the original work. Free on Savvy.

• Making engines more efficient made Britain burn more coal, not less

  In 1865, William Stanley Jevons noticed something backwards: as steam engines got better at converting coal into useful work, Britain's total coal consumption went up, not down. Ch…

  — William Stanley Jevons, The Coal Question

• Three economists redefined economic value the same year, unaware of each other

  In 1871, William Stanley Jevons in England and Carl Menger in Austria independently argued that value comes from marginal utility — the satisfaction gained from one more unit — not…

  — William Stanley Jevons, The Theory of Political Economy

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