Among the Anglo-Saxon neo-classical pioneers, Alfred Marshall was a giant without rival.
An examination of his analysis - despite noteworthy distinctive features - is appropriate for the purposes of setting out the central properties of neo-classicism. Though his thought was organized around a tight theoretical core, he chose to present it in a deceptively simple style.
He held economics to be the study of man 'in the ordinary business of life' and that its findings should be accessible to a wide public audience. This attitude largely explains the consignment of his subtler contributions to theory to the obscurity of footnotes and appendices. Unlike most of his neo-classical contemporaries he maintained that mathematical expositions, though invaluable aids to the economist in the clarification of his own thought, were unnecessary to - and might even hinder - the communication of his findings.11.