Negative Marginal Utility

Using more shampoo than necessary does not make a person's hair

cleaner; the excess shampoo is simply washed away and wasted.

Antibiotics in the right dosage can kill harmful bacteria in a person's

body. However, taking more antibiotics does not necessarily mean

getting better faster or to a better extent. Taking more than necessary

may not be useful, and could eventually harm a person's body.

Lathering sunscreen on more often than recommended does not

necessarily give you better protection from the sun; it may be wasted.

Cheerios boxes cost $5, but if you buy 100 boxes, the price drops to $3

per box. However, if you cannot eat 100 boxes before they expire, there

is less satisfaction in having so many boxes.

Positive Marginal Utility

 One haircut at a salon costs $40. However, customers can pay up front for
five haircuts, totaling $200, and receive a coupon for a sixth cut free. If a person
would eventually purchase six cuts, there can be great satisfaction in paying for the
greater number of cuts up front because the cost of each hair cut is reduced in the
end.
 Zero Marginal Utility
 When you put your money into a machine to purchase a newspaper, the
door opens, and you could presumably take more than one newspaper. However,
there is typically little to no satisfaction in having more than one edition of the
same newspaper.
 If you have several coupons for the same item but only plan to purchase one
of that item, there is zero marginal utility in having those extra coupons.
 A family of five purchases tickets to an amusement park, and is told there is a
"buy five, get the sixth one free" sale. However, there is no additional happiness
from that sixth ticket because they only need five tickets. If, however, they had a
friend or relative they wanted to take with them, the sixth ticket would have
positive marginal utility.

A person may win two airline tickets, but if he or

she does not have someone to travel with to that
particular destination on those particular dates,
there is no additional satisfaction to having that
second ticket.

Increasing Marginal Utility

 When building a stool, the first two legs appear to have little value because
the stool cannot stand. However, there is great value placed on the third leg,
because it is needed for the stool to stand up.
 There is greater satisfaction in finding the 52nd card of a deck of cards than
in finding the first 51, because it completes the deck.
 There is greater satisfaction in finding the second shoe than there was in
finding the first, since the second shoe gives you a complete pair of shoes.


Diminishing Marginal Utility

 After holding your breath under water, coming up for air and taking that first
breath feels wonderful. The second breath may bring satisfaction as well, but the
satisfaction will decrease as more breaths are taken.

Marginal utility tells how much marginal value or satisfaction a consumer gets from

consuming an additional unit of good. ... A consumer buys goods as long as
the marginal utility for each additional unit exceeds its price. A consumer stops
consuming additional goods as soon as the price exceeds the marginal utility.
Za end set sengurniihaa jisheeg oruulay
Marginal utility undurtei buteegdehuun/branduud jishee
if one good has a better marginal utility, then you would buy more of that good,
In economics, the standard rule is that marginal utility is equal to the total utility change
divided by the change in amount of goods. The formula appears as follows: Marginal utility =
total utility difference / quantity of goods difference.