How Does Henry Spearman Use Economics In Murder At The Margin

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How Economics Can Solve a Murder

Murder at the Margin, a novel written by Marshall Jevons, is a comprehensive murder mystery using economic theory to solve a collection of murders on a tropical island resort. The book really appeals to me because not only is the mystery a good one with an unexpected twist, but the main character, Professor Henry Spearman, is able to keep the reader on their toes about their suspicions throughout the book by using his knowledge and analysis of the economics observed in his everyday life. For one thing, I never imagined how the laws of economics could solve a murder. Frankly, I never caught on to who the real killer(s) could be until the big reveal at the end, and it is easy to be suspicious of the wrong people. Henry Spearman uses a multitude of economic concepts including: the law of demand, utility maximization, opportunity cost, and game theory to discover the identity of the murderer(s). However, to the untrained eye, these concepts may go unnoticed …show more content…

Further explanation and analysis of how Henry Spearman uses economics to solve a murder will convince you that understanding these topics can be critical and applicable to things far beyond the traditional market place. In order to reasonably deduce who the murderer is we first need to use economic reasoning to understand who it is not. Spearman manages to use the economic concept of game theory to explain why two of the most incentivized characters in the novel and the confessors of the crimes, Ricky LeMans and Vernon Harbley, indeed admit to a crime they never actually commit. Game theory as explained by Eric P. Chiang in CoreMicreconomics is, “the study of strategy and strategic behavior and is used in any situation in which one must predict the actions of others and respond by choosing among more than one strategy, each resulting in a potentially

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