Economic surplus

monetary benefit that accrues to parties to an economic transaction

An economic surplus is when you have more of something in the economy than people demand. There are two types:

Graph illustrating consumer (red) and producer (blue) surpluses on a supply and demand chart

Consumers' surplus is the gain by consumers who can buy a product for less than the highest price that they would be willing to pay.

Producers' surplus is the amount got by producers who sell at a market price higher than the least they would be willing to sell for.[1][2]

References

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  1. Boulding, Kenneth E. (1945). "The Concept of Economic Surplus". The American Economic Review. 35 (5): 851–869. JSTOR 1812599.
  2. "Consumer and producer surplus|Microeconomics|Khan Academy". Khan Academy.