Ch. 7 Outline the Fundamentals of Consumer Choice the Focus of This
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Demand Curve
Econ 201: Introduction to Economics Analysis September 4 Lecture: Supply and Demand Jeffrey Parker Reed College Daily dose of The Far Side Keeping with the vegetable theme from Wednesday… www.thefarside.com 2 Preview of this class session • Basic principles of market analysis using supply and demand curves are central to economics • Formal conditions for “perfectly competitive” markets are strict and rarely satisfied • We discuss what supply curves and demand curves are • We define market equilibrium and why we expect markets to move there • We consider effects of shifts in curves on equilibrium price and quantity 3 “Two-curve” analysis • Why is it useful? • Two key variables (price, quantity) • One curve slopes up and the other down • Some exogenous variables affect one curve, others the other • Few affect both • Change in any exogenous variable affects one curve in predictable way: • Intersection moves SE, NE, NW, or SE • Predictable changes in price and quantity exchanged https://www.econgraphs.org/graphs/micro/supply_and_demand/supply_and_demand?textbook=varian 4 Demand function • Relates quantity of good demanded to its relative price • Quantity demanded = amount buyers are willing and able to purchase • Relative price is price of good holding all other goods constant • Reflects decision-making by potential buyers • Demand function: QD = D (P ) • Negative relationship • Downward-sloping curve • Need not be straight line https://www.econgraphs.org/graphs/micro/supply_and_demand/supply_and_demand?textbook=varian 5 Demand curves 6 Demand -
Theory of Public Goods
Public Goods Private versus Public Goods A private good (bread) exhibits the following two properties: exclusive: A good is exclusive if once you have purchased a good, then you can exclude others from consuming it. rival: A good is rival in consumption, in the sense that once someone buys a loaf of bread and consumes it, then that precludes you from consuming that same loaf of bread. • A rival good is depletable. A technical consequence of depletability is that consumption of additional amounts of rival goods involve some marginal costs of production. A public good (air quality) may exhibit the following two properties: nonexclusive: A good is nonexclusive if no one can be excluded from benefiting from or consuming the good once it is produced. An implication of nonexclusivity is that goods can be enjoyed without direct payment. nonrivalrous: One person's consumption of a good does not diminish the amount or quality available for others. • A nonrival good is nondepletable. A technical consequence of nondepletability is that the marginal cost of providing a nonrival good to an additional consumer is zero. • All public goods exhibit the nonexcludability property but they do not necessarily exhibit the nonrivalrous property. nonrival rival • water pollution in small body of private good excludable water, indoor air pollution pure public good/bad congestible public good/bad • users neither interfere with each • users affect good's usefulness to other nor increase good's others — mutual interference usefulness to each other of users creates negative nonexcludable (free–rider problem) externality (free–access • biodiversity, greenhouse gases problem) • noise, defence, radio signal • ocean fishery, parks • bridge, highway Aggregate Demand Curves for Private and Public Goods 1. -
CONSUMER CHOICE 1.1. Unit of Analysis and Preferences. The
CONSUMER CHOICE 1. THE CONSUMER CHOICE PROBLEM 1.1. Unit of analysis and preferences. The fundamental unit of analysis in economics is the economic agent. Typically this agent is an individual consumer or a firm. The agent might also be the manager of a public utility, the stockholders of a corporation, a government policymaker and so on. The underlying assumption in economic analysis is that all economic agents possess a preference ordering which allows them to rank alternative states of the world. The behavioral assumption in economics is that all agents make choices consistent with these underlying preferences. 1.2. Definition of a competitive agent. A buyer or seller (agent) is said to be competitive if the agent assumes or believes that the market price of a product is given and that the agent’s actions do not influence the market price or opportunities for exchange. 1.3. Commodities. Commodities are the objects of choice available to an individual in the economic sys- tem. Assume that these are the various products and services available for purchase in the market. Assume that the number of products is finite and equal to L ( =1, ..., L). A product vector is a list of the amounts of the various products: ⎡ ⎤ x1 ⎢ ⎥ ⎢x2 ⎥ x = ⎢ . ⎥ ⎣ . ⎦ xL The product bundle x can be viewed as a point in RL. 1.4. Consumption sets. The consumption set is a subset of the product space RL, denoted by XL ⊂ RL, whose elements are the consumption bundles that the individual can conceivably consume given the phys- L ical constraints imposed by the environment. -
CHOICE – a NEW STANDARD for COMPETITION LAW ANALYSIS? a Choice — a New Standard for Competition Law Analysis?
GO TO TABLE OF CONTENTS GO TO TABLE OF CONTENTS CHOICE – A NEW STANDARD FOR COMPETITION LAW ANALYSIS? a Choice — A New Standard for Competition Law Analysis? Editors Paul Nihoul Nicolas Charbit Elisa Ramundo Associate Editor Duy D. Pham © Concurrences Review, 2016 GO TO TABLE OF CONTENTS All rights reserved. No photocopying: copyright licenses do not apply. The information provided in this publication is general and may not apply in a specifc situation. Legal advice should always be sought before taking any legal action based on the information provided. The publisher accepts no responsibility for any acts or omissions contained herein. Enquiries concerning reproduction should be sent to the Institute of Competition Law, at the address below. Copyright © 2016 by Institute of Competition Law 60 Broad Street, Suite 3502, NY 10004 www.concurrences.com [email protected] Printed in the United States of America First Printing, 2016 Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication (Provided by Quality Books, Inc.) Choice—a new standard for competition law analysis? Editors, Paul Nihoul, Nicolas Charbit, Elisa Ramundo. pages cm LCCN 2016939447 ISBN 978-1-939007-51-3 ISBN 978-1-939007-54-4 ISBN 978-1-939007-55-1 1. Antitrust law. 2. Antitrust law—Europe. 3. Antitrust law—United States. 4. European Union. 5. Consumer behavior. 6. Consumers—Attitudes. 7. Consumption (Economics) I. Nihoul, Paul, editor. II. Charbit, Nicolas, editor. III. Ramundo, Elisa, editor. K3850.C485 2016 343.07’21 QBI16-600070 Cover and book design: Yves Buliard, www.yvesbuliard.fr Layout implementation: Darlene Swanson, www.van-garde.com GO TO TABLE OF CONTENTS ii CHOICE – A NEW STANDARD FOR COMPETITION LAW ANALYSIS? Editors’ Note PAUL NIHOUL NICOLAS CHARBIT ELISA RAMUNDO In this book, ten prominent authors offer eleven contributions that provide their varying perspectives on the subject of consumer choice: Paul Nihoul discusses how freedom of choice has emerged as a crucial concept in the application of EU competition law; Neil W. -
Lecture Notes General Equilibrium Theory: Ss205
LECTURE NOTES GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM THEORY: SS205 FEDERICO ECHENIQUE CALTECH 1 2 Contents 0. Disclaimer 4 1. Preliminary definitions 5 1.1. Binary relations 5 1.2. Preferences in Euclidean space 5 2. Consumer Theory 6 2.1. Digression: upper hemi continuity 7 2.2. Properties of demand 7 3. Economies 8 3.1. Exchange economies 8 3.2. Economies with production 11 4. Welfare Theorems 13 4.1. First Welfare Theorem 13 4.2. Second Welfare Theorem 14 5. Scitovsky Contours and cost-benefit analysis 20 6. Excess demand functions 22 6.1. Notation 22 6.2. Aggregate excess demand in an exchange economy 22 6.3. Aggregate excess demand 25 7. Existence of competitive equilibria 26 7.1. The Negishi approach 28 8. Uniqueness 32 9. Representative Consumer 34 9.1. Samuelsonian Aggregation 37 9.2. Eisenberg's Theorem 39 10. Determinacy 39 GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM THEORY 3 10.1. Digression: Implicit Function Theorem 40 10.2. Regular and Critical Economies 41 10.3. Digression: Measure Zero Sets and Transversality 44 10.4. Genericity of regular economies 45 11. Observable Consequences of Competitive Equilibrium 46 11.1. Digression on Afriat's Theorem 46 11.2. Sonnenschein-Mantel-Debreu Theorem: Anything goes 47 11.3. Brown and Matzkin: Testable Restrictions On Competitve Equilibrium 48 12. The Core 49 12.1. Pareto Optimality, The Core and Walrasian Equiilbria 51 12.2. Debreu-Scarf Core Convergence Theorem 51 13. Partial equilibrium 58 13.1. Aggregate demand and welfare 60 13.2. Production 61 13.3. Public goods 62 13.4. Lindahl equilibrium 63 14. -
The Demand Curve
Introduction to Supply and Demand Markets are … Consumers and producers Exchange goods/services for payment Most basic is a COMPETITIVE MARKET 5 Elements of S&D Model Demand curve 5 Elements of S&D Model Demand curve Supply curve 5 Elements of S&D Model Demand curve Supply curve Equilibrium 5 Elements of S&D Model Demand curve Supply curve Equilibrium Demand and Supply factors Changes in equilibrium The Demand Curve Chapter 3: Supply and Demand (pages 62-71) Think for a minute… How do we calculate the amount of coffee demanded in a given year? We need a DEMAND SCHEDULE… Demand Schedule and Curve Price Quantity Law of Demand ⇑ Price=⇓ Quantity Demanded Downward-sloping curves Change in quantity demanded Caused by a ∆ in PRICE Demand schedule unchanged Movement along curve Determinants of Demand M.E.R.I.T. shifts the curve Market size (# consumers) Expectations Related prices Income Tastes and preferences Shifts in Demand Demand shifts with ∆ M.E.R.I.T. Increase = shift to right Decrease = shift to left Market Size Amount of goods demanded at a given price will change More buyers = ⇑ Demand Fewer buyers = ⇓ Demand Example: Cost of prescription drugs as the population gets older Expectations Future prices, product availability, and income can shift demand Example: What do you do if the price of gas is expected to fall next week? Example: If the iPhone 5 will be released in October what happens to demand for iPhone 4? Related prices Depends on whether the good is a SUBSTITUTE ⇑P for good 1 ⇑D for good 2 Example: Coffee and Tea COMPLEMENT ⇑P for good 1 ⇓D for good 2 Example: Peanut butter and jelly Income ⇑Income = ⇑Demand (usually…) True for NORMAL goods INFERIOR goods are different ⇑ Income = ⇓ Demand Example: Bus vs. -
1 Unit 4. Consumer Choice Learning Objectives to Gain an Understanding of the Basic Postulates Underlying Consumer Choice: U
Unit 4. Consumer choice Learning objectives to gain an understanding of the basic postulates underlying consumer choice: utility, the law of diminishing marginal utility and utility- maximizing conditions, and their application in consumer decision- making and in explaining the law of demand; by examining the demand side of the product market, to learn how incomes, prices and tastes affect consumer purchases; to understand how to derive an individual’s demand curve; to understand how individual and market demand curves are related; to understand how the income and substitution effects explain the shape of the demand curve. Questions for revision: Opportunity cost; Marginal analysis; Demand schedule, own and cross-price elasticities of demand; Law of demand and Giffen good; Factors of demand: tastes and incomes; Normal and inferior goods. 4.1. Total and marginal utility. Preferences: main assumptions. Indifference curves. Marginal rate of substitution Tastes (preferences) of a consumer reveal, which of the bundles X=(x1, x2) and Y=(y1, y2) is better, or gives higher utility. Utility is a correspondence between the quantities of goods consumed and the level of satisfaction of a person: U(x1,x2). Marginal utility of a good shows an increase in total utility due to infinitesimal increase in consumption of the good, provided that consumption of other goods is kept unchanged. and are marginal utilities of the first and the second good correspondingly. Marginal utility shows the slope of a utility curve (see the figure below). The law of diminishing marginal utility (the first Gossen law) states that each extra unit of a good consumed, holding constant consumption of other goods, adds successively less to utility. -
ELASTICITY Principles of Economics in Context (Goodwin, Et Al.), 2Nd Edition
Chapter 5 ELASTICITY Principles of Economics in Context (Goodwin, et al.), 2nd Edition Chapter Overview This chapter continues dealing with the demand and supply curves we learned about in Chapter 3. You will learn about the notion of elasticity of demand and supply, the way in which demand is affected by income, and how a price change has both income and substitution effects on the quantity demanded. Objectives After reading and reviewing this chapter, you should be able to: 1. Define elasticity of demand and differentiate between elastic and inelastic demand. 2. Calculate the elasticity of demand. 3. Understand how to apply an elasticity of demand to a business seeking to maximize revenues as well as to a policy situation. 4. Define elasticity of supply and differentiate between elastic and inelastic supply. 5. Understand the income and substitution effects of a price change. 6. Discuss the differences between short-run and long-run elasticities. Key Terms elasticity price elasticity of demand price-inelastic demand price-elastic demand price-inelastic demand (technical definition) price-elastic demand (technical definition) perfectly inelastic demand perfectly elastic demand unit-elastic demand price elasticity of supply income elasticity of demand normal goods inferior goods substitution effect of a price change income effect of a price change short-run elasticity long-run elasticity Chapter 5 – Elasticity 1 Active Review Questions Fill in the blank 1. When you drop by the only coffee shop in your neighborhood, you notice that the price of a cup of coffee has increased considerably since last week. You decide it’s not a big deal, since coffee isn’t a big part of your overall budget, and you buy a cup of coffee anyway. -
Consumer Choice in Health Care: a Literature Review
Possibility or Utopia? Consumer Choice in Health Care: A Literature Review INEKE VAN BEUSEKOM, SILKE TÖNSHOFF, HAN DE VRIES, CONNOR SPRENG, EMMETT B. KEELER TR-105-BF March 2004 Prepared for the Bertelsmann Foundation The research described in this report was prepared for the Bertelsmann Foundation. The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world. RAND’s publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors. R® is a registered trademark. © Copyright 2004 RAND Corporation All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from RAND. Published 2004 by the RAND Corporation 1700 Main Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138 1200 South Hayes Street, Arlington, VA 22202-5050 201 North Craig Street, Suite 202, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-1516 RAND URL: http://www.rand.org/ To order RAND documents or to obtain additional information, contact Distribution Services: Telephone: (310) 451-7002; Fax: (310) 451-6915; Email: [email protected] Table of Contents 1. Introduction ..........................................................................................11 2. Theoretical framework ............................................................................14 3. Methodology .........................................................................................19 -
Lecture 4 - Utility Maximization
Lecture 4 - Utility Maximization David Autor, MIT and NBER 1 1 Roadmap: Theory of consumer choice This figure shows you each of the building blocks of consumer theory that we’ll explore in the next few lectures. This entire apparatus stands entirely on the five axioms of consumer theory that we laid out in Lecture Note 3. It is an amazing edifice, when you think about it. 2 Utility maximization subject to budget constraint Ingredients • Utility function (preferences) • Budget constraint • Price vector Consumer’s problem • Maximize utility subject to budget constraint. 2 • Characteristics of solution: – Budget exhaustion (non-satiation) – For most solutions: psychic trade-off = market trade-off – Psychic trade-off is MRS – Market trade-off is the price ratio • From a visual point of view utility maximization corresponds to point A in the diagram below – The slope of the budget set is equal to − px py – The slope of each indifference curve is given by the MRS at that point • We can see that A P B, A I D, C P A. Why might we expect someone to choose A? 3 2.1 Interior and corner solutions There are two types of solution to this problem, interior solutions and corner solutions • The figure below depicts an interior solution • The next figure depicts a corner solution. In this specific example the shape of the indifference curves means that the consumer is indifferent to the consumption of good y. Utility increases only with consumption of x. Thus, the consumer purchases x exclusively. 4 • In the following figure, the consumer’s preference for y is sufficiently strong relative to x that the the psychic trade-off is always lower than the monetary trade-off. -
IB Economics HL Study Guide
S T U D Y G UID E HL www.ib.academy IB Academy Economics Study Guide Available on learn.ib.academy Author: Joule Painter Contributing Authors: William van Leeuwenkamp, Lotte Muller, Carlijn Straathof Design Typesetting Special thanks: Andjela Triˇckovi´c This work may be shared digitally and in printed form, but it may not be changed and then redistributed in any form. Copyright © 2018, IB Academy Version: EcoHL.1.2.181211 This work is published under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 This work may not used for commercial purposes other than by IB Academy, or parties directly licenced by IB Academy. If you acquired this guide by paying for it, or if you have received this guide as part of a paid service or product, directly or indirectly, we kindly ask that you contact us immediately. Laan van Puntenburg 2a ib.academy 3511ER, Utrecht [email protected] The Netherlands +31 (0) 30 4300 430 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 5 1. Microeconomics 7 – Demand and supply – Externalities – Government intervention – The theory of the firm – Market structures – Price discrimination 2. Macroeconomics 51 – Overall economic activity – Aggregate demand and aggregate supply – Macroeconomic objectives – Government Intervention 3. International Economics 77 – Trade – Exchange rates – The balance of payments – Terms of trade 4. Development Economics 93 – Economic development – Measuring development – Contributions and barriers to development – Evaluation of development policies 5. Definitions 105 – Microeconomics – Macroeconomics – International Economics – Development Economics 6. Abbreviations 125 7. Essay guide 129 – Time Management – Understanding the question – Essay writing style – Worked example 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 INTRODUCTION The foundations of economics Before we start this course, we must first look at the foundations of economics. -
Mathematical Economics
Mathematical Economics Dr Wioletta Nowak, room 205 C [email protected] http://prawo.uni.wroc.pl/user/12141/students-resources Syllabus Mathematical Theory of Demand Utility Maximization Problem Expenditure Minimization Problem Mathematical Theory of Production Profit Maximization Problem Cost Minimization Problem General Equilibrium Theory Neoclassical Growth Models Models of Endogenous Growth Theory Dynamic Optimization Syllabus Mathematical Theory of Demand • Budget Constraint • Consumer Preferences • Utility Function • Utility Maximization Problem • Optimal Choice • Properties of Demand Function • Indirect Utility Function and its Properties • Roy’s Identity Syllabus Mathematical Theory of Demand • Expenditure Minimization Problem • Expenditure Function and its Properties • Shephard's Lemma • Properties of Hicksian Demand Function • The Compensated Law of Demand • Relationship between Utility Maximization and Expenditure Minimization Problem Syllabus Mathematical Theory of Production • Production Functions and Their Properties • Perfectly Competitive Firms • Profit Function and Profit Maximization Problem • Properties of Input Demand and Output Supply Syllabus Mathematical Theory of Production • Cost Minimization Problem • Definition and Properties of Conditional Factor Demand and Cost Function • Profit Maximization with Cost Function • Long and Short Run Equilibrium • Total Costs, Average Costs, Marginal Costs, Long-run Costs, Short-run Costs, Cost Curves, Long-run and Short-run Cost Curves Syllabus Mathematical Theory of Production Monopoly Oligopoly • Cournot Equilibrium • Quantity Leadership – Slackelberg Model Syllabus General Equilibrium Theory • Exchange • Market Equilibrium Syllabus Neoclassical Growth Model • The Solow Growth Model • Introduction to Dynamic Optimization • The Ramsey-Cass-Koopmans Growth Model Models of Endogenous Growth Theory Convergence to the Balance Growth Path Recommended Reading • Chiang A.C., Wainwright K., Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, Boston, Mass., (4th edition) 2005.