In
mainstream economics,
economic surplus, also known as
total welfare or
Marshallian surplus (named after
Alfred Marshall), refers to two related quantities.
Consumer surplus or
consumers' surplus is the monetary gain obtained by consumers because they are able to purchase a product for a price that is less than the highest price that they would be willing to pay.
Producer surplus or
producers' surplus is the amount that producers benefit by selling at a market price that is higher than the least that they would be willing to sell for; this is roughly equal to
profit (since producers are not normally willing to sell at a loss, and are normally indifferent to selling at a breakeven price).