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DIAMOND-WATER PARADOX: The perplexing observation that water, which is more useful than diamonds, has a lower price. If price is related to utility, how can this occur? This paradox was first proposed by classical economists in the 19th century and was subsequently used as a stepping stone for developing the notion of marginal utility and the role it plays in the demand price of a good. The paradox is magically cleared up with an understanding of marginal utility and total utility. People are willing to pay a higher price for goods with greater marginal utility. As such, water which is plentiful has enormous total utility, but a low price because of a low marginal utility. Diamonds, however, have less total utility because they are less plentiful, but a high price because of a high marginal utility.
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UTILITARIANISM A philosophical view that the value or worth of an action depends on the amount of pleasure it generates or the amount of pain it prevents, or in economic terms, the amount of utility generated. Utilitarianism, although dating back to the early Greek philosophers, is largely attributable to the work of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. This philosophy played a major role in the development of modern consumer demand theory and utility analysis.
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Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time at a flea market looking to buy either a T-shirt commemorating Thor Heyerdahl's Pacific crossing aboard the Kon-Tiki or a wall poster commemorating the 2000 Olympics. Be on the lookout for a thesaurus filled with typos.
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North Carolina supplied all the domestic gold coined for currency by the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia until 1828.
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"Many people think that if they were only in some other place, or had some other job, they would be happy. Well, that is doubtful. So get as much happiness out of what you are doing as you can and don't put off being happy until some future date. " -- Dale Carnegie
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