Andrew is a deeply committed lover of croissants. Assume his preferences are Cobb-Douglas over croissants (denoted by D on the x-axis) and a numeraire good (note: we use the notion of a numeraire good to represent spending on all other consumption goods - in this example, that means everything other than croissants - its price is normalized such that PN = $1). Assuming Andrew's utility function is given by U(C, N) = C/N and his income is $64 a year, his Marshallian demand for croissants will be Dc (PC, PN,Y)= The expenditure minimization problem yields his compensated (Hicksian) demand for croissants, his compensated (Hicksian) demand for the numeraire good, and his expenditure function: Y 2PC ¹/2 Hc = 0 (PN)" 1/2 H₂ = U (PC) HN E (Pc, PN,U) = Pc * Hc + PN * Hn = 2Ū(Pc * PN)¹/2 a. You've been hired by a government official considering a proposed piece of legislation that would increase the price of croissants from $1 to $4 while leaving incomes unchanged. Find the original level of utility Andrew achieved before the price increase, then compute the Compensating Variation for this price

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Please explain in detail part a to d. 

1. Andrew is a deeply committed lover of croissants. Assume his preferences are Cobb-Douglas over croissants
(denoted by D on the x-axis) and a numeraire good (note: we use the notion of a numeraire good to represent
spending on all other consumption goods - in this example, that means everything other than croissants - its
price is normalized such that P₁ = $1). Assuming Andrew's utility function is given by U(C, N) = C21N1 and his
income is $64 a year, his Marshallian demand for croissants will be Dc (PC, PN, Y) = The expenditure
2PC
minimization problem yields his compensated (Hicksian) demand for croissants, his compensated (Hicksian)
demand for the numeraire good, and his expenditure function:
Y
H₂ = U (PN) ²
Hc
HN
C.
1/2
= U
(1)
E (Pc, Pn, Ū) = Pc * Hc + Pn * Hn = 2Ū(Pc * Pn)¹/²
1/2
a. You've been hired by a government official considering a proposed piece of legislation that would increase
the price of croissants from $1 to $4 while leaving incomes unchanged. Find the original level of utility
Andrew achieved before the price increase, then compute the Compensating Variation for this price
increase, that is, the minimum amount that Andrew would need to be paid so that he's no worse off after
the price for a box of croissants rises to $4.
b. Draw a rough graph of the Marshallian demand and show the loss of Consumer Surplus that would be
associated with this price increase? Set up the integral that you would use to calculate the loss (no need to
actually solve for the area).
Now redraw your graph from part (b) and add the compensated demand function for boxes of croissants.
Denote both CV and ACS on the graph Identify the difference between CV and ACS and clearly label it.
d. What factor causes the divergence between CV and ACS to be large or small? Is the divergence between the
two significant in this situation? Support your answer with, at most, two sentences and the numerical values
of the elasticity version of the Slutsky equation (ɛ = ɛ* — §0).
Transcribed Image Text:1. Andrew is a deeply committed lover of croissants. Assume his preferences are Cobb-Douglas over croissants (denoted by D on the x-axis) and a numeraire good (note: we use the notion of a numeraire good to represent spending on all other consumption goods - in this example, that means everything other than croissants - its price is normalized such that P₁ = $1). Assuming Andrew's utility function is given by U(C, N) = C21N1 and his income is $64 a year, his Marshallian demand for croissants will be Dc (PC, PN, Y) = The expenditure 2PC minimization problem yields his compensated (Hicksian) demand for croissants, his compensated (Hicksian) demand for the numeraire good, and his expenditure function: Y H₂ = U (PN) ² Hc HN C. 1/2 = U (1) E (Pc, Pn, Ū) = Pc * Hc + Pn * Hn = 2Ū(Pc * Pn)¹/² 1/2 a. You've been hired by a government official considering a proposed piece of legislation that would increase the price of croissants from $1 to $4 while leaving incomes unchanged. Find the original level of utility Andrew achieved before the price increase, then compute the Compensating Variation for this price increase, that is, the minimum amount that Andrew would need to be paid so that he's no worse off after the price for a box of croissants rises to $4. b. Draw a rough graph of the Marshallian demand and show the loss of Consumer Surplus that would be associated with this price increase? Set up the integral that you would use to calculate the loss (no need to actually solve for the area). Now redraw your graph from part (b) and add the compensated demand function for boxes of croissants. Denote both CV and ACS on the graph Identify the difference between CV and ACS and clearly label it. d. What factor causes the divergence between CV and ACS to be large or small? Is the divergence between the two significant in this situation? Support your answer with, at most, two sentences and the numerical values of the elasticity version of the Slutsky equation (ɛ = ɛ* — §0).
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