Rebeca Martín Lorenzo (asker) Apr 13, 2018:

@All contributors Thank you for your discussion entries. The translation was urgent, so I had to take a decision quickly. I did however send a Translator's note about this phrase, along with the article's translation. Best regards.

Rebeca Martín Lorenzo (asker) Apr 13, 2018:

@Charles Davis - In marginal cases/circumstances Thanks for sheding light on this. I find your hints very useful, as on previous occasions :-). Have a good day!

Charles Davis Apr 13, 2018:

In marginal cases/circumstances? From what I have been able to understand, I believe "at the margin" refers to economic circumstances in which people might or might not make a decision or take an action. Very approximately, the idea might be something like "other things being equal". So it's saying that the consequences of inequality can affect marginal productivity: the point at which people might or might not buy more, work harder, produce more. So I think it might be paraphrased as "in marginal cases" and translated into Spanish as "en casos marginales". But this is too much of a guess for me to post it.

Charles Davis Apr 13, 2018:

I am sure the writer knew what he/she meant by "at the margin". The fact that I don't is simply because I'm not an economist. But marginality is evidently basic to modern economic thought and it's quite obvious that economists understand it.

Charles Davis Apr 13, 2018:

Translated? I don't think so. "At the margin" and "dampen the trajectory" are both standard EN economist-speak, and "societal mistrust" is pretty widespread; it's used in a novel by Howard Jacobson, I notice.

Tina Vonhof (X) Apr 12, 2018:

Statistically In terms of statistics it means that there is some room for error, or to put it simply, the influence on productivity is there but they cannot put an exact number on it.

philgoddard Apr 12, 2018:

Could your article itself be translated? Maybe it's just me, but it has a slightly foreign-sounding ring: "societal mistrust", "at the margin", "dampen the trajectory".

I have no idea what "at the margin" means, and I'm not sure the writer did either.

Björn Vrooman Apr 12, 2018:

One thing... ...that may be worth considering, though, is that we're talking about correlation, i.e., statistics. I know that we have some people well versed in statistics and statistical distribution here; maybe someone could add something. I don't see why this necessarily has to mean "extreme."

Björn Vrooman Apr 12, 2018:

@Rebeca I really think you should listen to Charles here. I don't know how you came to the conclusion that one German translation is enough to figure out what this means. That translator might as well have been wrong or didn't know what to do with it. You will need a "peer review" consisting of several translations instead. Likewise, while Henry did not claim that the expression doesn't exist, I don't agree with his dictionary post and I don't know why it is so difficult to google the phrase--took me less than a minute to see that Charles was nudging you in the right direction.

Here are two links that may help:
https://sciencing.com/make-decision-margin-economics-7946029...
http://www.econlib.org/library/Topics/College/margins.html

And here's even a Forbes article saying "All economics happens at the margin." I don't think the author is talking about "extreme cases":
https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2016/05/15/the-mini...

Best

Charles Davis Apr 12, 2018:

Economists use the expression "at the margin" very frequently and they're referring to economic marginality.

Charles Davis Apr 11, 2018:

If you know something about economics you may be able to work it out. Here's the Spanish Wikipedia on marginalismo:
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marginalismo

Obviously we're not talking about marginal utility here; it's closer to marginal costs, I would presume.

Charles Davis Apr 11, 2018:

I believe that "at the margin" relates to economic marginalism and is referring to the marginal impact of these factors on productivity. In other words, it means "in marginal terms".

Unfortunately my understanding of economic theory is very limited. However, although it is unsettling to translate a source text you don't fully understand into a target text you don't fully understand either, it can probably be done. I think that if you're translating this into Spanish you could put "en el margen" or "en términos marginales", and leave the reader with the problem. I hope colleagues will excuse me for quoting a Spanish reference:

"Es frecuente escuchar la expresión de que los economistas piensan o razonan “en el margen”, o en términos marginales, especialmente cuando analizan una medida o política económica, o intentan interpretar un evento o shock externo. La expresión hace referencia a que el impacto de un cambio en el entorno depende de la situación en el margen de indiferencia. Como esto suena un poco críptico, vamos a poner dos ejemplos, uno a nivel micro y otro a nivel macro."
https://www.sintetia.com/pensando-en-terminos-marginales/

Charles Davis Apr 11, 2018:

@Rebeca I think that the French translator didn't understand what it meant and was therefore unable to translate it, and simply put something that seemed to make sense in the context. I can't see how it could mean either of those things.

Rebeca Martín Lorenzo (asker) Apr 11, 2018:

"To a certain extent", "At times"...? Dear colleagues, I have found it translated to French as "to a certain extent" and "at times/ocassionally"... A different meaning that however would also fit this context. What do you think?