ABSTRACT
John Bates Clark was one of several people who independently discovered the ideas of marginal utility and marginal productivity in the late nineteenth century. Clark also used the notion of marginal productivity to develop a theory of income distribution. He then used this theory to justify the existing income distribution as fair and equitable. In addition, Clark studied the impact of large monopolistic firms and powerful labor unions on the US economy; he argued that, whenever such economic power existed, it needed to be restrained.
