Marginalism refers to the economic theory that emphasizes the value of small, incremental changes in production and consumption. Synonyms for marginalism include marginal analysis, incrementalism, and the marginal principle. Marginal analysis involves the evaluation of the benefits and costs of additional or incremental units of a product or service. Essentially, it calculates the change in the total benefit or cost of an action when one unit is added or subtracted. Incrementalism suggests that progress should be made through gradual and small changes rather than sudden, drastic measures. The marginal principle is based on the idea that the value of something depends on the marginal (or additional) unit of that thing.