ECON 100A Lecture Notes - Lecture 25: Peanut Butter, Budget Constraint, Indifference Curve

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10 Apr 2020

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What is true at an optimum: on the budget constraint, mrs = p1 / p2. Preferences meet constraints simplest case: 2 goods x1, x2. Consumers have preferences, which we represent by indifference curves and/or utility function u(x1, x2) (indiff. curves = contours of u) consumers also face constraints: budget constraint: p1x1+ p2x2 m (total budget m) We try to maximize u subject to this constraint above. Optimal choice: maximize utility subject to the budget constraint. He is going to buy wasabi covered peanuts (x1) and peanut butter cups (x2). His goal is to maximize his utility subject to the fact that he only has ten dollars and has no control over prices. Or he is trying to get on the highest point on his utility function, that still shares a point with his budget constraint. 3 steps: graph budget constraint, feasible bundles, graph indifference curves. Mrs(x1, x2) at every point: combine and look for u-maximizing choice.

Related Questions

Suppose a caffeine-deprived man needs to wake up. Suppose his preferences on a day can be described by U=3*coffee+2*tea. If the price of coffee is $4 and the price of tea is $1. He has $12 to spend on these drinks on a day.
A. Find his utility for the following consumption combinations:
3 coffee, 0 tea.
1 coffee, 3 tea.
2 coffee, 1.5 tea.
0 coffee, 4.5 tea.
0 coffee, 12 tea.
4 coffee, 6 tea.
8 coffee, 0 tea.
B. Show his budget constraint, indifference curves, and optimal consumption choice in a graph. Use the horizontal axis for coffee and vertical axis for tea.
C. How many cups of coffee does he drink? How many cups of tea? What is his utility?

roseplatypus774

Suppose that there are two goods (X and Y). The price of X is $2 per unitu, and the price of Y is $1 per unit. There are two consumers ( A and B). The utility functions for the consumers are: for consumer A: U (X,Y)= X^.5Y^.5 and for consumer B: U(X,Y)=X^.8Y^.2

Consumer A has an income of $100, and Consumer B has an income of $300.

1. Derive the marginal utlities of goods X and Y for consumer A

2. Derive the marginal utilities of goods X and Y for consumer B

3. Set consumer A's MRS equal to the price ratio. Then use the budget constraint to solve for her optimal bundle

4. Set consumer B's MRS equal to the price ratio. Then use the budget contraint to solve for his optimal consumption bundle.

5. Calculate the MRS for each consumer at their optimal consumption bundles.

6. Suppose that there is another conusmer (let's call her C). You don't know anything about her utility function or her income. All you know is that she consumes both goods. What do you know about C's MRS at her optimal consumption bundle? Why?

crimsonbat715

1. Suppose that the total utility from consuming one unit of good X is 54 utils, the total utility of two units of good X is 74 utils, and the total utility of three units of good X is 84 utils. The marginal utility of the third unit is

a.70.67 utils.

b.10 utils.

c.12.25 utils.

d.20 utils.

2. If income rises, the budget constraint

a. Moves outward away from the origin

b. Does not move

c. Moves inward toward the origin

d. Moves farther down the vertical axis

3. Economists assume that the goal of consumers is to maximize total utility.

true/false

4. The budget constraint cuts the horizontal axis at 12 units of good X and it cuts the vertical axis at 20 units of good Y. If the price of good X is $20 and the price of good Y is $12, then what does income equal?

a. $200

b. $240

c. $520

d. $280

e. not enough information to answer this question

5. Consumer equilibrium exists when an individual

a. can be made better off by buying more of a normal good and less of an inferior good.

b. is receiving the same total utility from each of the goods he or she purchases.

c. is receiving the same marginal utility from each of the goods he or she purchases.

d. has the same MU/P ratio for each of the goods he or she purchases.

e. none of the above

6. Suppose you are eating buffalo wings at a local happy hour. The total utils from doing so after the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh wings are 30, 50, 65, 72, respectively. In this situation we have __________ marginal utility, which is generally __________ in the analysis of consumer choice.

a. diminishing; not assumed

b. increasing; assumed

c. diminishing; assumed

d. increasing; not assumed

7. Which of the following best describes an interpersonal utility comparison?

a. Usually, Smith seems a lot happier than Jones.

b. Smith gets more utility from working on his computer than Jones gets from working on his computer.

c. Smith usually eats more in a day than Jones eats in a day.

d. ones likes computers produced by Dell Computer Corporation and Smith likes computers produced by Apple Computer Inc

e. Smith got less utility from eating the 30th cookie than eating the 29th cookie, and the same holds for Jones.

8. We would expect the total utility of water to be high but its marginal utility to be low. Why?

a. Because we need water to live and there is so much of it.

b. Because we need water to live and there is very little of it.

c. Because water is a fluid and we don't need fluids to live as much as we need food

d. Because water's price is low.

9.The marginal utility curve for units 6 through 8 of good Z lies below the horizontal axis. What does this imply must be true about the total utility curve for units 6 through 8 of good Z?

a. That portion of good Zâs total utility curve must also lie below the horizontal axis.

b. That portion of good Zâs total utility curve must be upward sloping.

c. That portion of good Zâs total utility curve must be horizontal.

d. That portion of good Zâs total utility curve must be downward sloping.

10. Research presented in the text shows that people are more concerned with their absolute income position in a group than their relative income position in the group.

true/false

ECON 100A Lecture Notes - Lecture 25: Peanut Butter, Budget Constraint, Indifference Curve

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