arbiter
JournalsPricingAccount

The economic surplus: A history of an eventually problematic idea

Evan Osborne

Economic Affairs2025https://doi.org/10.1111/ecaf.12691article
ABDC C
Weight
0.37

What the paper says

Abstract The economy‐wide economic surplus, defined as output beyond what is needed to sustain the labouring workforce, is one of the oldest ideas in Western political economy. Marx permanently changed economic thinking by characterising it as exploitation. As confidence in government management of economic affairs grew in the twentieth century, how to spend the surplus better than free individuals would spend it themselves became a growing theme among economists and among the broader public. While the role of the surplus in economic theory today is modest, its vibrancy in the public conversation remains.

1 citation

Open paper page →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/ecaf.12691

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{evan2025,
  title        = {{The economic surplus: A history of an eventually problematic idea}},
  author       = {Evan Osborne},
  journal      = {Economic Affairs},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/ecaf.12691},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

The economic surplus: A history of an eventually problematic idea

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.37

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.16 × 0.4 = 0.06
M · momentum0.53 × 0.15 = 0.08
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.