Johann Heinrich von ThünenDied 22 Sep 1850 at age 67 (born 24 Jun 1783).German agriculturalist best known for his work on the relationship of the costs of commodity transportation to the location of production. He used his farm as a source of facts for his theoretical work in agricultural economics. He built a theoretical model which he used to find the important factors that determined the most profitable location of various branches of agriculture in relation to their sources of demand. His theory of rent was similar to that of Ricardo. He set out a theory of distribution based on marginal productivity, using calculus, and he could be considered one of the founders of marginal analysis. Nearing his death, he asked that his famous equation for the marginal product of labor be carved into his tombstone. |