marginal analysis
Definitions
Accounting
- noun an assessment of the impact of minor changes on a company, industry or economy
- noun analysis of the changes in costs and revenues that occur when business activity changes
Economics
- noun the analysis of the effect of adding one extra unit to a variable
Health Economics
- (written as Marginal Analysis)An approach to decision-making that focuses on small changes (up or down) in outcomes and the changes in other outcomes, resource use or costs that may cause them or be a consequence of them. It is sometimes called 'incremental' analysis but that term suffers from the disadvantage of appearing not to be applicable to decrements (decreases), disinvestments, etc. It is also sometime misleadingly described as relating to the 'last' unit of something, which suggests that the idea relates to sequential use or consumption (which it does not). Mathematically it is the first derivative of the consequence with respect to the (continuous) determining variable in question.
- synonymIncremental Analysis
- The differences in costs or outcomes between two or more technologies or solutions.
