Two students, Nick and Sofia, are discussing normal and inferior goods. Nick says that if Frodo buys more beer when the price of beer goes up, then beer must be an inferior good for Frodo. If, on the other hand, he buys less beer when the price of beer goes up, then beer must be a normal good for Frodo. Sofia disagrees: "Normal and inferior goods are about income changes, not price changes. Therefore, we do not have enough information: beer could be an inferior or normal good in either of these cases." Do you agree or disagree? Carefully explain your point of view. Support your argument with graphs of income, substitution and total effects (please put beer on the horizontal axis and the other goods on the vertical axis). Please assume that Frodo's preferences over beer and other goods are strictly convex and satisfy "more is better" assumption

Microeconomics: Principles & Policy
14th Edition
ISBN:9781337794992
Author:William J. Baumol, Alan S. Blinder, John L. Solow
Publisher:William J. Baumol, Alan S. Blinder, John L. Solow
Chapter5: Consumer Choice: Individual And Market Demand
Section: Chapter Questions
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Two students, Nick and Sofia, are discussing normal and inferior goods. Nick says that if Frodo buys more beer when the price of beer goes up, then beer must be an inferior good for Frodo. If, on the other hand, he buys less beer when the price of beer goes up, then beer must be a normal good for Frodo. Sofia disagrees: "Normal and inferior goods are about income changes, not price changes. Therefore, we do not have enough information: beer could be an inferior or normal good in either of these cases."

Do you agree or disagree? Carefully explain your point of view. Support your argument with graphs of income, substitution and total effects (please put beer on the horizontal axis and the other goods on the vertical axis).

Please assume that Frodo's preferences over beer and other goods are strictly convex and satisfy "more is better" assumption.

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