Consumer Choice and

Utility Maximization

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The Law of Diminishing “ADDITIONAL”
“SATISFACTION”(a.k.a. MARGINAL UTILITY)

Today’s lesson is focused on examining why a demand curve

is downward sloping and why consumers buy more at lower
prices and less at higher prices.
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 Thinking at the Margin
# Times Marginal Price
Watching Movie
Utility
1st $30 $10
2nd $15 $10
3rd $5 $10
Total $50 $30
Would you see the movie three times?
Notice that the total benefit is more than the
total cost but you would NOT watch the movie
the 3rd time.
 Calculate Marginal Utility
# of Slices of Total Utility Marginal
Pizza (in utils) Utility/Benefit
0 0
1 8
2 14
3 19
4 23
5 25
6 26
7 26
8 24
How many pizzas would you buy if the price
per slice was $2? 4
 Calculate Marginal Utility
# of Slices of Total Utility Marginal Marginal Cost
Pizza (in dollars) Utility/Benefit
0 0 0 $2
1 8 8 $2
2 14 6 $2
3 19 5 $2
4 23 4 $2
5 25 2 $2
6 26 1 $2
7 26 0 $2
8 24 -2 $2
How many pizzas would you buy if the price
per slice was $2? 5
 Calculate Marginal Utility
# of Slices of Total Utility Marginal Marginal Cost
Pizza (in dollars) Utility/Benefit
0 0 0 2
1 You will
8 continue
8 to 2
2 14 6 2
3
consume
19
until
5 2
4 Marginal
23 Benefit
4 = 2
5
6
Marginal
25
26
Cost
2
1
2
2
7 26 0 2
8 24 -2 2
How many pizzas would you buy if the price
per slice was $2? 6
 CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
You plan to take a vacation and want to maximize
your utility. Based on the info below, which
should you choose? ( MU/PRICE = MU Per
Dollar )
Destination Marginal Utility Price Marginal Utility
(In Utils) Per Dollar
Tahiti 3000 $3,000 1 Util
Chicago 1000 $500 2 Utils

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 CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
You plan to take a vacation and want to maximize
your utility. Based on the info below, which
should you choose? ( MU/PRICE = MU Per
Dollar )
Destination Marginal Utility Price Marginal Utility
(In Utils) Per Dollar
Tahiti 3000 $3,000 1 Util
Chicago 1000 $500 2 Utils

Calculating Marginal Utility Per Dollar allows

you to compare products with different prices.

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$10 $5
Utility Maximization

# Times Marginal MU/P Marginal MU/P

Utility Utility
Going (Price (Price =$5)
(Movies) =$10) (Go Carts)

1st 30 10
2nd 20 5
3rd 10 2
4th 5 1
If you only have $25, what combination of
movies and go carts maximizes your utility?
$10 $5
Utility Maximization

# Times Marginal MU/P Marginal MU/P

Utility Utility
Going (Price (Price =$5)
(Movies) =$10) (Go Carts)

1st 30 3 10 $2
2nd 20 $2 5 $1
3rd 10 $1 2 $.40
4th 5 $.50 1 $.20
If you only have $25, what combination of
movies and go carts maximizes your utility?
$10 $5
Utility Maximization

# Times Marginal MU/P Marginal MU/P

Utility Utility
Going (Price (Price =$5)
(Movies) =$10) (Go Carts)

1st 30 3 10 2
2nd 20 $2 5 $1
3rd 10 $1 2 $.40
4th 5 $.50 1 $.20
If you only have $25, what combination of
movies and go carts maximizes your utility?
$10 $5
Utility Maximization

# Times Marginal MU/P Marginal MU/P

Utility Utility
Going (Price (Price =$5)
(Movies) =$10) (Go Carts)

1st 30 3 10 2
2nd 20 2 5 1
3rd 10 1 2 .40
4th 5 .50 1 .20
If you only have $25, what combination of
movies and go carts maximizes your utility?
 Utility Maximizing Rule
The consumer’s money should be spent so that the
marginal utility per dollar of each goods equal each
other.
MUx = MUy
Px Py

Assume apples cost $1 each and oranges cost $2 each. If the

consumer has $7, identify the combination that maximizes utility. 13
 Utility Maximizing Rule
The utility maximizing rule assumes that you always
consume where MU/P for each product is equal

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