Learning Materials
Features
Discover
Chapter 6: Q. 8 (page 152)
Is it possible for the total utility to increase while marginal utility diminishes? Explain.
Yes, the marginal utility is falling. Each new utility provides a smaller benefit than the one before it, but the total utility grows.
Over 30 million students worldwide already upgrade their learning with Vaia!
All the tools & learning materials you need for study success - in one app.
Get started for free
As a college student you work at a part-time job, but your parents also send you a monthly “allowance.” Suppose one month your parents forgot to send the check. Show graphically how your budget constraint is affected. Assuming you only buy normal goods, what would happen to your purchases of goods?
Pick a point on an indifference curve for wine and cheese and show the marginal rate of substitution. What does the marginal rate of substitution tell us?
Show a consumer’s budget constraint and indifference curves for wine and cheese. Show the optimal consumption choice. If the price of wine is \(3 per glass and the price of cheese is \)6 per pound, what is the marginal rate of substitution at this optimum?
As a general rule, is it safe to assume that a change in the price of good will always has its most significant impact on the quantity demanded of that good, rather than on the quantity demanded of other goods? Explain
Praxilla, who lived in ancient Greece, derives utility from reading poems and from eating cucumbers. Praxilla gets 30 units of marginal utility from her first poem, 27 units of marginal utility from her second poem, 24 units of marginal utility from her third poem, and so on, with marginal utility declining by three units for each additional poem. Praxilla gets six units of marginal utility for each of her first three cucumbers consumed, five units of marginal utility for each of her next three cucumbers consumed, four units of marginal utility for each of the following three cucumbers consumed, and so on, with marginal utility declining by one for every three cucumbers consumed. A poem costs three bronze coins but a cucumber costs only one bronze coin. Praxilla has 18 bronze coins. Sketch Praxilla’s budget set between poems and cucumbers, placing poems on the vertical axis and cucumbers on the horizontal axis. Start off with the choice of zero poems and 18 cucumbers, and calculate the changes in the marginal utility of moving along the budget line to the next choice of one poem and 15 cucumbers. Using this step-by-step process based on marginal utility, create a table and identify Praxilla’s utility-maximizing choice. Compare the marginal utility of the two goods and the relative prices at the optimal choice to see if the expected relationship holds. Hint: Label the table columns: 1) Choice, 2) Marginal Gain from More Poems, 3) Marginal Loss from Fewer Cucumbers, 4) Overall Gain or Loss, 5) Is the previous choice optimal? Label the table rows: 1) 0 Poems and 18 Cucumbers, 2) 1 Poem and 15 Cucumbers, 3) 2 Poems and 12 Cucumbers, 4) 3 Poems and 9 Cucumbers, 5) 4 Poems and 6 Cucumbers, 6) 5 Poems and 3 Cucumbers, 7) 6 Poems and 0 Cucumbers
What do you think about this solution?
We value your feedback to improve our textbook solutions.
Explanations 
Textbooks 
Exams 
GCSE 
IGCSE 
AS 
A Level 
International A Level 
University Admissions Tests 
Flashcards 
Vaia AI 
Notes 
Study Plans 
Study Sets 
Find a job 
Find a degree 
Student Deals 
Magazine 
Mobile App