Evaluate the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility
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Notes for Econ202a: Consumption
Notes for Econ202A: Consumption Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas UC Berkeley Fall 2014 c Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, 2014, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Disclaimer: These notes are riddled with inconsistencies, typos and omissions. Use at your own peril. 1 Introduction Where the second part of econ202A fits? • Change in focus: the first part of the course focused on the big picture: long run growth, what drives improvements in standards of living. • This part of the course looks more closely at pieces of models. We will focus on four pieces: – consumption-saving. Large part of national output. – investment. Most volatile part of national output. – open economy. Difference between S and I is the current account. – financial markets (and crises). Because we learned the hard way that it matters a lot! 2 Consumption under Certainty 2.1 A Canonical Model A Canonical Model of Consumption under Certainty • A household (of size 1!) lives T periods (from t = 0 to t = T − 1). Lifetime T preferences defined over consumption sequences fctgt=1: T −1 X t U = β u(ct) (1) t=0 where 0 < β < 1 is the discount factor, ct is the household’s consumption in period t and u(c) measures the utility the household derives from consuming ct in period t. u(c) satisfies the ‘usual’ conditions: – u0(c) > 0, – u00(c) < 0, 0 – limc!0 u (c) = 1 0 – limc!1 u (c) = 0 • Seems like a reasonable problem to analyze. 2 2.2 Questioning the Assumptions Yet, this representation of preferences embeds a number of assumptions. Some of these assumptions have some micro-foundations, but to be honest, the main advantage of this representation is its convenience and tractability. -
Three Dimensions of Classical Utilitarian Economic Thought ––Bentham, J.S
July 2012 Three Dimensions of Classical Utilitarian Economic Thought ––Bentham, J.S. Mill, and Sidgwick–– Daisuke Nakai∗ 1. Utilitarianism in the History of Economic Ideas Utilitarianism is a many-sided conception, in which we can discern various aspects: hedonistic, consequentialistic, aggregation or maximization-oriented, and so forth.1 While we see its impact in several academic fields, such as ethics, economics, and political philosophy, it is often dragged out as a problematic or negative idea. Aside from its essential and imperative nature, one reason might be in the fact that utilitarianism has been only vaguely understood, and has been given different roles, “on the one hand as a theory of personal morality, and on the other as a theory of public choice, or of the criteria applicable to public policy” (Sen and Williams 1982, 1-2). In this context, if we turn our eyes on economics, we can find intimate but subtle connections with utilitarian ideas. In 1938, Samuelson described the formulation of utility analysis in economic theory since Jevons, Menger, and Walras, and the controversies following upon it, as follows: First, there has been a steady tendency toward the removal of moral, utilitarian, welfare connotations from the concept. Secondly, there has been a progressive movement toward the rejection of hedonistic, introspective, psychological elements. These tendencies are evidenced by the names suggested to replace utility and satisfaction––ophélimité, desirability, wantability, etc. (Samuelson 1938) Thus, Samuelson felt the need of “squeezing out of the utility analysis its empirical implications”. In any case, it is somewhat unusual for economists to regard themselves as utilitarians, even if their theories are relying on utility analysis. -
Intertemporal Consumption-Saving Problem in Discrete and Continuous Time
Chapter 9 The intertemporal consumption-saving problem in discrete and continuous time In the next two chapters we shall discuss and apply the continuous-time version of the basic representative agent model, the Ramsey model. As a prepa- ration for this, the present chapter gives an account of the transition from discrete time to continuous time analysis and of the application of optimal control theory to set up and solve the household’s consumption/saving problem in continuous time. There are many fields in economics where a setup in continuous time is prefer- able to one in discrete time. One reason is that continuous time formulations expose the important distinction in dynamic theory between stock and flows in a much clearer way. A second reason is that continuous time opens up for appli- cation of the mathematical apparatus of differential equations; this apparatus is more powerful than the corresponding apparatus of difference equations. Simi- larly, optimal control theory is more developed and potent in its continuous time version than in its discrete time version, considered in Chapter 8. In addition, many formulas in continuous time are simpler than the corresponding ones in discrete time (cf. the growth formulas in Appendix A). As a vehicle for comparing continuous time modeling with discrete time mod- eling we consider a standard household consumption/saving problem. How does the household assess the choice between consumption today and consumption in the future? In contrast to the preceding chapters we allow for an arbitrary num- ber of periods within the time horizon of the household. The period length may thus be much shorter than in the previous models. -
The Consumption Response to Coronavirus Stimulus Checks
NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES MODELING THE CONSUMPTION RESPONSE TO THE CARES ACT Christopher D. Carroll Edmund Crawley Jiri Slacalek Matthew N. White Working Paper 27876 http://www.nber.org/papers/w27876 NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 September 2020 Forthcoming, International Journal of Central Banking. Thanks to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for funding the original creation of the Econ-ARK toolkit, whose latest version we used to produce all the results in this paper; and to the Sloan Foundation for funding Econ- ARK’s extensive further development that brought it to the point where it could be used for this project. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. https://sloan.org/grant-detail/8071 NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications. © 2020 by Christopher D. Carroll, Edmund Crawley, Jiri Slacalek, and Matthew N. White. All rights reserved. Short sections of text, not to exceed two paragraphs, may be quoted without explicit permission provided that full credit, including © notice, is given to the source. Modeling the Consumption Response to the CARES Act Christopher D. Carroll, Edmund Crawley, Jiri Slacalek, and Matthew N. White NBER Working Paper No. 27876 September 2020 JEL No. D14,D83,D84,E21,E32 ABSTRACT To predict the effects of the 2020 U.S. CARES Act on consumption, we extend a model that matches responses to past consumption stimulus packages. -
Externality in the Theory of International Trade: Some Basic Concepts
Externality in the Theory of International Trade: Some Basic Concepts Kar-yiu Wong1 University of Washington August 7, 2000 1Department of Economics, Box 353330, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195- 3330, U. S. A.; Tel. 1-206-685-1859; Fax: 1-206-685-7477; e-mail: [email protected]; http://faculty.washington.edu/karyiu/ Abstract This paper introduces some basic features of externality. Emphasis is given to the analysis of externality in the theory of international. It also discusses about the right government policies to correct externality. This paper and three accompanying papers are prepared for a monograph to be published by Tamkang University, Taiwan. c Kar-yiu Wong ° 1 Introduction Externality has long been a very important topic in the economics literature. In the theory of international trade, a lot of work has been given to the analysis of closed and open economies with externality. In this short note, we provide a discussion of the nature of externality and examine some of its implications, with an emphasis on how it is treated in the theory of international trade. This note also helps clarify some of the argument in the three accompanying papers, Wong (2000a, 2000b, and 2000c). However, this note is not meant to be an extensive survey of the theories and results. For more discussion of the fundamental concepts of externality, see a recent survey in Cornes and Sandler (1996). What is externality? Quite a number of concepts have been suggested in the literature, and some have argued about when and where externality exists. Here, we use an concept that is common in the trade literature. -
Utilitarianism and Wealth Transfer Taxation
Utilitarianism and Wealth Transfer Taxation Jennifer Bird-Pollan* This article is the third in a series examining the continued relevance and philosophical legitimacy of the United States wealth transfer tax system from within a particular philosophical perspective. The article examines the utilitarianism of John Stuart Mill and his philosophical progeny and distinguishes the philosophical approach of utilitarianism from contemporary welfare economics, primarily on the basis of the concept of “utility” in each approach. After explicating the utilitarian criteria for ethical action, the article goes on to think through what Mill’s utilitarianism says about the taxation of wealth and wealth transfers, the United States federal wealth transfer tax system as it stands today, and what structural changes might improve the system under a utilitarian framework. I. INTRODUCTION A nation’s tax laws can be seen as its manifested distributive justice ideals. While it is clear that the United States’ Tax Code contains a variety of provisions aimed at particular non-distributive justice goals,1 underneath the political * James and Mary Lassiter Associate Professor of Law, University of Kentucky College of Law. Thanks for useful comments on the project go to participants in the National Tax Association meeting, the Loyola Los Angeles Law School Tax Colloquium, the Tax Roundtable at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Institute for Austrian and International Tax Law, and the University of Kentucky College of Law Brown Bag Workshop, as well as Professors Albertina Antognini, Richard Ausness, Stefan Bird-Pollan, Zach Bray, Jake Brooks, Miranda Perry Fleischer, Brian Frye, Brian Galle, Michael Healy, Kathy Moore, Katherine Pratt, Ted Seto, and Andrew Woods. -
In Defence of Neoliberalism
COMMENT IN DEFENCE OF NEOLIBERALISM Those who prefer growth to stagnation must make defending and extending the global liberal order their top priority, argues Sam Bowman e are living in an era of staggering of this recession was the elimination of the free technological change. Smartphones coinage of silver, which made a gold standard alone are well beyond the dreams of inevitable; in this reading the ‘depression’ was a science fiction even from 20 years long period of below-potential growth caused ago—Star Trek’s electronic ‘PADD’ looks primitive by expectations of excessively tight money in W 1 compared to any $200 Chinese-made device. the future. Yet advances in electronics, communications, Such a reading is rejected by historian Norman information technology, robotics and artificial Stone, who sees ‘depression’ as a misnomer. As intelligence have not obviously fed through to Stone tells it: economic growth. Increased global trade may have raised living standards, but its main macro-level In the last third of the 19th Century, effect has been to create economic disruption which, Europeans became much richer than ever in many developed countries, has fed through to before: the liberal, or capitalist, revolution politics in a harmful way. had done its work. It is curious that this It is as a reaction to these trends in Western era should be known to historians as the labour markets and politics that a group of people, ‘Long Depression’—an expression to mostly globalist free marketeers as well as some describe the decline (‘depression’) in prices, market friendly left-liberals, have begun to self- profits, exports which also brought about identify as ‘neoliberals’. -
Selected Critiques of the Philosophical Underpinnings of the Neoclassical School
Portland State University PDXScholar University Honors Theses University Honors College 2014 Selected Critiques of the Philosophical Underpinnings of the Neoclassical School Thomas Howell Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/honorstheses Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Howell, Thomas, "Selected Critiques of the Philosophical Underpinnings of the Neoclassical School" (2014). University Honors Theses. Paper 59. https://doi.org/10.15760/honors.91 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in University Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. 1 Selected Critiques of the Philosophical Underpinnings of the Neoclassical School Presented as an Undergraduate Thesis Project to the Honors College of Portland State University May, 27 th 2014 Student: Thomas Howell Advisor: Professor John Hall Abstractus : This inquiry seeks to establish the importance of the critiques leveled by Thorstein Veblen and Tony Lawson against the orthodox economics. In order to advance this point this inquiry advances the notion that Neoclassical school and its sub school known as marginal utility theory are constructed upon shaky philosophical and methodological foundations that include the hedonistic conception of man, Benthamite Utilitarianism, static equilibria, and the use of the mathematical deductivist method far beyond its scope of effectiveness. Writing in two different time periods, Veblen and Lawson comment upon the same essential methodological maladies and then advance alternative methodologies and ontologies aimed at reorienting a classical physics based economics towards a social- biological future. -
A Post Keynesian Approach to Consumer Choice Author(S): Marc Lavoie Reviewed Work(S): Source: Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Vol
A Post Keynesian Approach to Consumer Choice Author(s): Marc Lavoie Reviewed work(s): Source: Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Vol. 16, No. 4 (Summer, 1994), pp. 539-562 Published by: M.E. Sharpe, Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4538409 . Accessed: 21/06/2012 18:26 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. M.E. Sharpe, Inc. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Post Keynesian Economics. http://www.jstor.org MARC LAVOIE A Post Keynesian approach to consumer choice Therehave been few effortsmade by Post Keynesiansto explainhow consumersmake choices. Granted,there are severalstudies on the choices entrepreneurshave to make when theirfirms face uncertain prospects,A la Shackle.Also, neo-Ricardiansare known for their analysisof the choiceof techniquein production.But, except for a few authors,such as Earl (1983, 1986),Baxter (1988), and Drakopoulos (1990,1992a, 1992b), Post Keynesians have been relatively silent about themicroeconomics of householdchoice.' As pointedout byEarl (1983, p. 2), thereis no chapteron consumerbehavior in theessays of thePost Keynesianstudy guide edited by Eichner(1979). Does thatmean that PostKeynesians, or all nonorthodoxeconomists for that matter, accept the neoclassicalway of detenniningthe compositionof consumption output?Would Post Keynesiansendorse the axiomaticneoclassical presentationof consumer'schoice? The answerto both questionsis no. -
Jargon Alert: Utility
JARGONALERT Utility BY LOUIS SEARS iamonds are attractive gems but water is essential outcome which is eventually chosen. By keeping track of to life. How can it be, then, that under most cir- these revealed preferences, economists are able to compare Dcumstances people are willing to pay far more for the utility of all kinds of goods and actions to the individual. diamonds than water? Economists have struggled with this Because it is impossible to compare the utility levels of seeming paradox since Adam Smith famously proposed it different people, modern utility theory does not allow the in 1776, and in the process have changed how we under- economist to combine individual utilities into one number stand and assess utility. for all of society. In other words, if building a bridge makes Utility, broadly, represents how useful or satisfying a some residents happy by improving their commute to and good, service, or action is to an individual. Since economists from work, but angers an equal number of others who do not believe that people want to live as happy and fulfilling own cars but must pay for the project, most economists lives as possible, understanding the utility that different would say that it is impossible to judge whether the happi- outcomes create for individuals can help in understanding ness of the first group outweighs the dissatisfaction of the and predicting how they will behave. This tells businesses second group. Rather, in the tradition of Italian economist which goods they should produce, lets politicians know Vilfredo Pareto, economists can only state whether or not which policies they should enact, and the decision improves the lot of some with- allows people to understand the motives out hurting anyone else, or causes a Pareto of those around them. -
The Law of Demand Versus Diminishing Marginal Utility
University of California, Berkeley Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics CUDARE Working Papers Year 2005 Paper 959R The law of demand versus diminishing marginal utility Bruce R. Beattie and Jeffrey T. LaFrance Copyright © 2005 by author(s). DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL AND RESOURCE ECONOMICS DIVISION OF AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY Working Paper No. 959 (Revised) THE LAW OF DEMAND VERSUS DIMINISHING MARGINAL UTILITY by Bruce R. Beattie and Jeffrey T. LaFrance In Press: Review of Agricultural Economics (September 2005) Copyright © 2005 by the authors. All rights reserved. Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for noncommercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies. California Agricultural Experiment Station Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics September, 2005 THE LAW OF DEMAND VERSUS DIMINISHING MARGINAL UTILITY Bruce R. Beattie and Jeffrey T. LaFrance Abstract Diminishing marginal utility is neither necessary nor sufficient for downward sloping demand. Yet upper-division undergraduate and beginning graduate students often presume otherwise. This paper provides two simple counter examples that can be used to help students understand that the Law of Demand does not depend on diminishing marginal utility. The examples are accompanied with the geometry and basic mathematics of the utility functions and the implied ordinary/Marshallian demands. Key Words: Convex preferences, Diminishing marginal utility, Downward sloping demand JEL Classification: A22 • Bruce R. Beattie is a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at The University of Arizona. • Jeffrey T. LaFrance is a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics and a member of the Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. -
John Bates Clark As a Pioneering Neoclassical Economist Thomas C
“A Certain Rude Honesty”: John Bates Clark as a Pioneering Neoclassical Economist Thomas C. Leonard John Bates Clark (1847–1938), the most eminent American economist of a century ago, was, in his own day, caricatured as an apologist for laissez-faire capitalism (Veblen 1908).1 The caricature has shown stay- ing power, a measure, perhaps, of the relative paucity of scholarship on Clark and his work. Recent Clark research signals a welcome attempt at a more accurate portrait (Morgan 1994; Henry 1995; Persky 2000). But some revisionists would remake Clark the apologist for capital into Clark the Progressive exemplar. Robert Prasch (1998, 2000), for exam- ple, depicts Clark as a Progressive paragon, which groups him with the greatreformers of Progressive-Era politicaleconomy—Social Gospel- ers such as Richard T. Ely and his protégé John R. Commons, labor leg- islation activists such as Clark’s junior colleague Henry Rogers Seager Correspondence may be addressed to Thomas C. Leonard, Department of Economics, Fisher Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544; e-mail: [email protected]. I wish to ac- knowledge the gracious hospitality of Rolf Ohlsson and the Department of Economic History at Lund University, Lund, Sweden. This essay benefited from conversations with Benny Carls- son, the comments of Deirdre McCloskey and Bob Goldfarb, and the thoughtful criticisms of two anonymous referees. 1. All successful caricatures contain an element of truth, and Clark surely invited contro- versy when he argued thatworkers paid theirmarginal productgetwhatthey