ECO100Y5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Inferior Good, Indifference Curve

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For each point on an indifference curve, utility is indifferent. A consumer will always prefer a bundle of items on a higher indifference curve. More stuff is better, increased total utility. Slope of ic is marginal rate of substitution (mrs) As you have less of good a, the some change of good a requires a larger change in good b in comparison. If i have 1 apple and you want it, you"re going to need to give me a lot of oranges because my last apple is valuable to me. If i have 14000 apples and you want it, you don"t need to give me many oranges, one of my 14000 apples isn"t that valuable to me. As we have less of something, we value it more, known as diminishing. Budget line represents all bundles that exhaust the budget. First we pick two extremes (x and y intercepts) then we connect a line between the extremes.

Related Questions

Suppose all consumers are maximizing utility with convex indifference curves. All face the same prices, and are perfectly rational. According to microeconomic models, at the maximization bundle they should

A. All have the same marginal rate of substitution

B. All buy more of the least expensive good

C. All end up with the same bundle of goods

D. All have the same level of satisfaction

Consider an indifference map with food on the vertical axis and shelter on the horizontal axis.

If a consumer is willing to give up 3 units of food in exchange for 1 unit of shelter and food is priced at $5 per unit and shelter at $10 per unit, then the consumer is:

A. Purchasing too much food for utility maximization

B. Purchasing too much shelter for utility maximization

C. Purchasing just the right amount of each good for utility maximization

D. Purchasing less than the budget would allow

If a consumer with convex indifference curves moves along her budget line, closer and closer to the horizontal axis, as she is moving:

		A. The marginal utility she gets from good Y declines.
		B. The marginal utility she gets from good X declines.
		C. The marginal utility she gets from good X increases.
		D. The price ratio of the two goods changes.

Microeconomics Four-part multiple choice question with an explanation. Give a short explanation for each part regarding how your answer is computed or why your answer is correct.

Part A.

Para mi volunteers at a homeless shelter. It takes a lot of her time, and thus she sometimes takes off time from her job to do the volunteer work. Parami's behavior can be explained by:

	overconfidence.
	a framing bias.
	altruism.
	overvaluing the present relative to the future.

Part B.

Indifference curves cannot be concave to the origin because:

	consumers generally will prefer to have more of a good than less of a good.
	the satisfaction consumers get from consuming additional units of a good decline.
	the substitution effect holds across indifference curves.
	consumers must give up more of one good to obtain more of another good.

Part C.

Marginal utility analysis and indifference curve analysis are both used to:

	compute comparative advantage.
	derive supply curves.
	derive demand curves.
	analyze the total revenue.

Part D.

Indifference curves:

	represent a set of product bundles to which a consumer is indifferent.
	slope up and to the right.
	show the difference between the marginal utilities of two different goods.
	are concave to the origin.

limecod304

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.

ECO100Y5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Inferior Good, Indifference Curve

ECO100Y5 Full Course Notes

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