PROBLEM (2) Ice cream and cakes are perfect substitutes for a child, and 2 units of ice cream is always worth 3 units of cakes (however many ice creams or cakes she might have, she would be willing to give up 2 ice creams to get 3 more cakes to keep the same utility level). (a) Write down a utility function u(x,y) that represents the child's preferences, where x is the number of ice creams and y is the number of cakes she has. (b) If the prices are px = 8 and px=5, and she has $140 to spend on the two goods this summer, what is her optimal bundle? (c) If the price of ice creams decreases slightly, down to px = 7, what happens to her optimal bundle in this case? Did it change "slightly" compared to (b)?

PROBLEM (2) Ice cream and cakes are perfect substitutes for a child, and 2 units of ice cream is always worth 3 units of cakes (however many ice creams or cakes she might have, she would be willing to give up 2 ice creams to get 3 more cakes to keep the same utility level). (a) Write down a utility function u(x,y) that represents the child's preferences, where x is the number of ice creams and y is the number of cakes she has. (b) If the prices are px = 8 and px=5, and she has $140 to spend on the two goods this summer, what is her optimal bundle? (c) If the price of ice creams decreases slightly, down to px = 7, what happens to her optimal bundle in this case? Did it change "slightly" compared to (b)?

Economics (MindTap Course List)

13th Edition

ISBN:9781337617383

Author:Roger A. Arnold

Publisher:Roger A. Arnold

Chapter20: Consumer Choice: Maximizing Utility And Behavioral Economics

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 5WNG

See similar textbooks

Similar questions

Ice cream and cakes are perfect substitutes for a child, and 2 units of ice cream is always worth 3 units of cakes (however many ice creams or cakes she might have, she would be willing to give up 2 ice creams to get 3 more cakes to keep the same utility level) . (a) Write down a utility function u(x,y) that represents the child's preferences, where x is the number of ice creams and y is the number of cakes she has. (b) If the prices are px= 8 and py =5, and she has $140 to spend on the two goods this summer, what is her optimal bundle? (c) If the price of ice creams decreases slightly, down to px = 7, what happens to her optimal bundle in this case? Did it change "slightly" compared to (b)?
2) Which of the following utility functions represent the same preferences? Explain. a) U (x₁, x₂) = X₁ X₂ b) W (x₁, x₂) = 5lnx₁ +5lnx₂ c) V (x₁, x₂) = x₁¹/3x₂ ¹/3 - 0.8 d) Z(x₁, x₂) = 0.5x₁ + 0.5x₂
Kate’s utility function includes coffee (c) and sugar (s). She only consumes coffee and sugar together, and she only consumes in the ratio of one unit (cup) of coffee with two units (spoons) of sugar. Her utility function is What is her marginal utility of sugar if she has 4 cups of coffee and 6 spoons of sugar? Remember that unit are infinitely divisible (you can have parts of units). (a) 0 (b) 1 (c) ½ (d) 2
If the utility function of an individual takes the form: U = U ( x 1, x2) = (x1 + 2) 2 (x2 + 3) 3 Where U is total utility, and x1 and x2 are the quantities of two commoditiies consumed: (a) Find the marginal-utility function of each of the two commodities (b) Find the value of the marginal utility of the first commodity when 3 units of each commodity are consumed.
Donald likes fishing (X1) and hanging out in his hammock (X2). His utility function for these two activities is u(x1, x2) = 3X12X24. (A) Calculate MU1, the marginal utility of fishing. (B) Calculate MU2, the marginal utility of hanging out in his hammock. (C) Calculate MRS, the rate at which he is willing to substitute hanging out in his hammock for fishing. (D)Last week, Donald fished 2 hours a day, and hung out in his hammock 4 hours a day. Using your formula for MRS from (c) find his MRS last week. (E) This week, Donald is fishing eight hours a day, and hanging out in his ham mock two hours a day. Calculate his MRS this week. Has his MRS increased or decreased? Explain why? (F) Is Donald happier or sadder this week compared to last week? Explain.
Julio loves gardening. His favourite plants are tulips and hydrangeas. His utility function is ' u(t,h)= t +100h -h^2 where t is the number of tulipsin his garden and h is the number of hydrangeas in his garden. suppose he has a 500 square feet for his garden. each tulip takes up 1 square foot of space and each hydrangeas takes up 4 square feet. he gets both plants for free.If he wanted to maximize his utility, how many tulips should he plant, what about hydrangeas? b) if his yard was only 144 square feet, how many tulips would he plant? How many hydrangeas? C) In order to plant both tulips and hydrangeas, how big does his garden need to be. carfeully explain.
Abigail, Bernard, Cornwallis, and Douglas each derive a distinct amount of utility from consuming apples and bananas. Initially, apples cost $2, bananas cost $1, and each person receives a weekly allowance of $20 to spend. For each of the four sets of preferences described below, calculate the compensating variation if the price of apples rises to $5. (a) (4) Abigail: U(a,b) = a + 2b (b) (4) Bernard: U(a,b) = 2a + b (c) (4) Cornwallis: U(a,b) = b −a (d) (4) Douglas: U(a,b) = min(a,3b)
For each of the following utility functions get the marginal utility of consumption of each of the goods. 1/2 1/2 (a) u(a,b) = a b (b) u(x, y) = x³/4y1/4 (c) u(a, b) = n(a) + In(x) (d) u(x, y) = ln(x) + ln(y) (e) u(a, b) = 2xa +Xb
(Review Question) Sarah consumes both wine ) and cheese (y) and considers them perfect substitutes. She always gets twice as much utility from consuming wine as she does cheese. What equation would represent her utility function? U-(2xy) U=x+2y U=2x+y U=min(x,2y)
EXERCISE 6 If Ginna spends her entire budget, she could buy a chosen set of groceries and also buy 10 notebooks. If she spends only half of her budget, she could only buy a set of groceries and could not afford any notebooks. Suppose Ginna's budget is £150. Her preferences for groceries (G) and notebooks (N) can be described by the following utility function: U(G, N) = 30G + 2N (MUG = 30, MUN = 2). a) Find Ginna's optimal consumption bundle. Provide both algebraic and graphical solution. Explain your reasoning. b) Discuss how the price of a notebook should change for Ginna to change her optimal consumption choice. c) If the price of a notebook increases by 50%, how should the price of the groceries drop so that Ginna can be as well off as before this change in prices? d) Discuss the implications of the price change from c) on Ginna's optimal choice. In your discussion, include the analysis of the substitution and income effects as well as Ginna's demand for groceries and/or notebooks.
What kind of preferences are represented by a utility function of theform u(x1, x2) = √x1 + x2? What about the utility function v(x1, x2) =13x1 + 13x2?
A consumer finds only three products, X, Y, and Z, are for sale. The amount of utility yielded by their consumption is shown in the table below. Assume that the prices of X, Y, and Z are $10, $2, and $8, respectively, and that the consumer has an income of $74 to spend. (a) Complete the following table by computing the marginal utility per dollar for successive units of X, Y, and Z to one or two decimal places. (b) How many units of X, Y, and Z will the consumer buy when maximizing utility and spending all income? Show this result using the utility maximization formula. (c) Why would the consumer not be maximizing utility by purchasing 2 units of X, 4 units of Y, and 1 unit of Z? Product X Product Y Quantity Utility Marginal Quantity Utility Marginal Utility Utility per$ per$ 1 23 4567 42 82 118 148 170 182 182 1 23 4 5 6 7 14 26 36 44 50 54 56.4 Product Z Quantity Utility Marginal Utility per$ 1 23456 7 32 60 84 100 110 116 120 3..