ECON 304 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Perfect Competition, Marginal Cost, Reservation Price

6 views2 pages

beigewhale811

2 Oct 2020

School

American River College

Department

Economics

Course

ECON 304

Professor

Rosario

For unlimited access to Class Notes, a Class+ subscription is required.

Document Summary

Definition: the tendency for marginal utility to decline as consumption increases beyond some point. Rule: continue to consume the product until marginal benefit = marginal cost. Cost of consuming additional units of each good will generally not be 0. Law of diminishing marginal utility suggests that spending everything on a single good isn"t a good strategy. We generally do better to spend that money on other goods we don"t have much of, whose marginal utility is likely to be higher. (see lecture slides about alice"s beef and venison) Optimal combination of goods: affordable combination of goods and services that yields the highest total utility. Definition: spending should be allocated across goods and services so that the marginal utility per dollar is the same for each good. If the ratio were higher for one good than for another, the consumer could always increase her total utility by buying more of the first good than the second.

Related Questions

When deciding consumption levels of more than one good, the utility-maximizing rule states that you are maximizing utility when

		the marginal utility o two goods are equal
		the marginal utility of two goods are zero
		the ratio of marginal utility to price of two goods is zero
		the ratio of marginal utility to price for the two goods are equal

10 points

QUESTION 2

My brother says the law of diminishing marginal utility is nonsense because he is way happier after his sixth beer than after his first one. Pick the best response.

		He has a point, maybe this is something behavioral economists should take a look at.
		True, but marginal utility refers only to the utility gained (or lost) by drinking that last beer, not to his total utility
		There are always exceptions, but in general this law will hold.
		True, but the law of diminishing marginal utility is really just saying that eventually he will prefer a glass of wine to another beer.

10 points

QUESTION 3

Frank spends $75 on 10 magazines and 25 newspapers. The magazines cost $5 each and the newspapers cost $2.50 each. Suppose that his marginal utility from the final magazine is 10 utils while his marginal utility from the final newspaper is also 10 utils. According to the utility-maximizing rule, Frank should:

		Reallocate spending from magazines to newspapers
		Reallocate spending from newspapers to magazines
		Be satisfied because he is already maximizing his total utility
		None of the above

10 points

QUESTION 4

Marginal utility can be:

		Positive, negative, or zero
		Decreasing but not negative
		Positive or negative, but not zero
		Positive, but not negative

10 points

QUESTION 5

In economics, a product provides utility if it:

is useful

violates the law of demand

takes more and more resources to produce successive units of it

satisfies consumer wants

Which of the following is true of an indifference curve?

		Along an indifference curve utility is fixed.
		If a consumer is rational then indifference curves may cross.
		Indifference curves further from the origin are associated with lower levels of utility than those that are closer to the origin.
		Because they are indifference curves, microeconomics students should be indifferent towards them.

115. the market demand curve can be considered to be a ___ curve.a) marginal benefit b) marginal cost c) total benefit d) totalcost.

135. Common property resources tend to be ___ through market. a)overpriced b) efficiently priced c) overconsumed. d)underconsumed.

136. the amount by which total utility increases when an additionalunit of a good is consumed is called _____ utility. a) average. b)additional c) maximum d) marginal

137. The utility of a good is determined by how much ___ aparticular consumer obtains from it. a) satisfaction b) usefulness.c) cost d) need fulfillment.

145. Assume that the total utilities corresponding to the firstfive units of a product consumed are 14, 20, 25, 29, 32,respectively. The marginal utility of the thrid unit is
a) 5 b) 6 c) 20 d)25

149. The law of diminishing marginal utility exists for the firstthree units of a good if htey have total utilities of: a) 8, 17,27. b) 9,17, 27. c) 9, 19, 30 d) 10, 19, 27

151. In dealing with utility, we assume that the ability ofconsumers to purchase goods and services is
a) infinite b) irrelevant c) limited d) infinitesimal

152. Which of the following statements is/ are true?
a) consumers are constrained by a budget
b) if a consumer decides to spend more on one good, he or she mustdecide tospend less on another good to satisfy the budgetconstraint.
c) the marginal decision rule states that an activity should beexpanded if its marginal benefit exceeds its marginal cost.
d) all of the above statements are true.

Thank u for ur help

ECON 304 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Perfect Competition, Marginal Cost, Reservation Price

Document Summary

Get access

Related Documents

ECON 304 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Demand Curve, Inferior Good, Normal Good

ECON 304 Lecture Notes - Lecture 27: Private Good, Marginal Cost, W. M. Keck Observatory

ECON 304 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Lemonade Stand, Ticket Resale, Flea Market

Related Questions