st effort. In this theory, self-interest is the basis on which individuals and businesses behave. According to Spearman, individuals operate according to economics, just as businesses do. Based on this idea, Spearman employs economic decision rules (Lichtenberg, 1990) to decide whether choices made are rational or irrational. When irrational choices are made, then Spearman seeks the reasons behind those choices. The reasons lead to his theory of the murders in Murder at the Margin.
In economic capitalism, human behavior involves the individual's decision in possession, use, and disposal of value or utility. It also involves a freedom of individual initiative to seek out profits and rewards, or maximum utility, for risks that are taken. That basic capitalist concept is the main one that Professor Spearman uses to solve the murder. He also uses concepts such as the law of demand, opportunity cost, use value, exchange value, and the principle of marginal utility. Something has utility because it has value. The utility or value can be for practical use. Or it can be an exchange value or purchasing power, such as money. Either way, this concept is connected with the power to provide satisfaction. When people buy something, they buy the things that satisfy them the most (i.e., give them the highest utility). The concept of the marginal utility is the extra satisfaction obtained from getting extra units of a good product or service. Obtaining extra units gives satisfaction of utility more than previous units did. The idea is to balance goods obtained so that the opportunity cost (what is not obtained when another thing is
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