Reagan spends more time doing research regarding which car she is going to purchase than she does regarding which coffee maker to purchase. This illustrates the consumer choice principle that: the marginal utility derived from coffee is higher than a car. consumers ignore opportunity cost when doing research. consumers make decisions as if they have unlimited resources and income. the time and effort consumers spend in acquiring information is directly related to the potential value derived from the information.

You have an income of $100,000. You can buy an electric car (which costs $60,000) or an internal- combustion car (which costs $30,000). The electric car has a lower mileage than an internal-combustion car: it costs you $1/km if you drive an electric car, but it costs you $2/km if you drive an internal- combustion car. You enjoy driving (measured in kilometers driven) and spending on other goods ( measured in dollars). Draw your budget line (in a diagram measuring all other goods on the vertical axis) if you buy an electric car. What is its slope and what is the economic meaning of its value?

Every month, a family of three spends $2,000 on food (F) and other items (O). The family’s preferences are represented by the utility function U(F,O) = F1/5O4/5. The unit price of food and the unit price of other items are both $1. Find this family’s monthly food expenditure.The family could join a consumers’ club. At the club, food costs 20% less than in other stores (i.e., at the food club PF = $0.8)

Another instance when people are likely not to spend a dime (or a minute) on an item is when they have a dislike for mixing the item with other items available. In this case, we say the consumer has ‘non-convex preferences’ and indifference curves are bowed out from the origin. In plain language, the consumer has a preference for binging. We often feel this way towards our favorite social media app. Consider a kid who has four hours a day to spend on social media. They enjoy spending time on Snapchat (x) or spending time on Twitter (y).   a) Write the kid’s time constraint and illustrate it in a graph where you measure time spent on Snapchat along the horizontal axis and time spent on Twitter along the vertical axis. This kid’s utility from time spent on Snapchat and time spent on Twitter is U(x,y) = 4x2+ y2.   b) In your graph, draw a couple of the kid’s indifference curves. Notice how the kid’s |MRSY,X| increases along each curve as he spends more time on Snapchat and less time on…

Optimal consumption refers to   Multiple Choice   the mix of products that maximizes total utility for the limited amount of income consumers have to spend.   the total number of products that maximizes total utility for consumers.   the maximum total utility a consumer receives by the consumption of one more item.   the amount demanded that will create the strongest economy.

Alex, who was convinced that "Football is coming home", was very excited for the World Cup last year. Unfortunately, he realized that his favourite Paul Gascoigne jersey from Euro 1996 was getting old, so he wanted to buy a new one before England's first game the following week. He could either buy a 2014 James Milner shirt from retailer A, which would make him totally happy (utility=1), or a 2006 David Beckham shirt from retailer B, which gives him a utility of 0.8. However, the shirts are not available today. There is a 50% chance that retailer A will have the shirt on the week-end, and 70% chance that retailer B will have theirs on the week-end. Due to time and work constraints, Alex can only visit one of these retailers before the tournament starts, otherwise he will have to keep his old 1996 shirt, which gives him a utility of 0.5. He can also ask his friend Nathan to check both places in the morning. But being a Welsh supporter, Nathan will not do it for free and wants some money…

You like candy and cake. After using your entire $30 budget at the sugar store, you find that the marginal utility from the last candy you consumed was 60 and the last piece of cake was 30. Assuming you have maximized your utility and the price of a piece of candy is $4, calculate the price of cake? Do not enter dollar signs. Answer:

Use the following information to answer questions 1 through 8: A student has a monthly budget of $120 to spend on either burritos, which cost $6 each, or sodas, which cost $4 each. What is the largest number of burritos that the student could afford to purchase in one month? What is the largest number of sodas the student could afford to purchase in one month?

Fang likes playing badminton with her friends. Her utility function for playing badminton every week is given by       U(t) = 11t – 2t2, where t is measured in hours. They play on a badminton court, which they can rent per hour. Suppose the current price to play on the badminton court is £2.50 per hour. How many hours should Fang play if she wishes to maximise her utility? Explain what we mean by the principle of diminishing marginal utility. Does the principle apply in Fang’s case? Explain why. In a diagram with income in pound sterling on the horizontal axis and quantity on the vertical axis, show the relationship between Fang’s budget and the number of hours that would maximise her consumer surplus.

A consumer currently spends a given budget on two goods, X and Y, in such quantities that the marginal utility of X is 15 and the marginal utility of Y is 8. The unit price of X is $3 and the unit price of Y is $2. The utility-maximizing rule suggests that this consumer should Multiple Choice a. decrease consumption of product X and increase consumption of product Y. b. increase consumption of product X and increase consumption of product Y. c. decrease consumption of product Y and increase consumption of product X. d. stick with the current consumption mix because it yields maximum utility.