Question 3 Mrs. Griffiths earns $5000 a week and spends her entire income on dresses and handbags, since these are the only two items that provide her utility. Furthermore, Mrs. Griffiths insists that for every dress she buys, she must also buy a handbag. i. What is the algebraic equation for Mrs. Griffiths budget constraint if dresses cost $25 each and handbags cost $14 each? How many of each good will she buy and represent this on a budget line with handbags on the horizontal axis. ii. Draw an indifference curve showing the optimum choice. Label the optimum as point A. What would be the marginal rate of substitution at the point that corresponds to the optimal consumption choice? Interpret the marginal rate of substitution.

Question 3 Mrs. Griffiths earns $5000 a week and spends her entire income on dresses and handbags, since these are the only two items that provide her utility. Furthermore, Mrs. Griffiths insists that for every dress she buys, she must also buy a handbag. i. What is the algebraic equation for Mrs. Griffiths budget constraint if dresses cost $25 each and handbags cost $14 each? How many of each good will she buy and represent this on a budget line with handbags on the horizontal axis. ii. Draw an indifference curve showing the optimum choice. Label the optimum as point A. What would be the marginal rate of substitution at the point that corresponds to the optimal consumption choice? Interpret the marginal rate of substitution.

Principles of Economics 2e

2nd Edition

ISBN:9781947172364

Author:Steven A. Greenlaw; David Shapiro

Publisher:Steven A. Greenlaw; David Shapiro

Chapter6: Consumer Choices

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 16P: Praxilla, who lived in ancient Greece, derives utility from reading poems and from eating cucumbers....

See similar textbooks

Similar questions

Jeremy is deeply in love with Jasmine. Jasmine lives where cell phone coverage is poor, so he can either call her on the land-line phone for five cents per minute or he can drive to see her, at a roundâ€”trip cost of 2 in gasoline money. He has a total of 10 per week to spend on staying in touch. To make his preferred choice, Jeremy uses a handy utilimometer that measures his total utility from personal visits and from phone minutes. Using the values in Table 6.6, figure out the points 011 Jeremys consumption choice budget constraint (it may be helpful to do a sketch) and identify his utility-maximizing point.
As a college student you work at a part-time job, but your parents also send you a monthly allowance. Suppose one month your parents forgot to send the check. Show graphically how your budget constraint is affected. Assuming you only buy normal goods, what would happen to your purchases of goods?
Take Jeremys total utility information in Exercise 6.1, and use the marginal utility approach to confirm the choice of phone minutes and round trips that maximize Jeremys utility.
Would you expect total utility to rise or fall with additional consumption of a good? Why?
Recent research confirms that the demand for cigarettes is not only inelastic, but it also indicates that smokers with incomes in the lower half of all incomes respond to a given price increase by reducing their purchases by amounts that are more than four times as large as the purchase reductions made by smokers in the upper half of all incomes. How can the income and substitution effects of a price change help explain this finding?
The rules of politics are not always the same as the rules of economics. In discussions of setting budgets for government agencies, there is a strategy called closing the Washington Monument. When an agency faces the unwelcome prospect of a budget cut, it may decide to close a high-visibility attraction enjoyed by many people (like the Washington Monument). Explain in terms of diminishing marginal utility why the Washington Monument strategy is So misleading. Hint: If you are really trying to make the best of a budget cut, should you cut the items in your budget with tile highest marginal utility or line lowest marginal utility? Does the Washington Monument strategy cut the items with the highest marginal utility or line lowest marginal utility?
Income Effects depend on the income elasticity of demand for each good limit you buy. If one of the goods you buy has a negative income elasticity, that is, it is an inferior good, what must be true of the income elasticity of the other good you buy?
Explain why individuals make Choices that are directly on the budget constraint, rather than inside the budget constraint DI outside it.
Draw Maries budget constraint with pies on the horizontal axis and magazines on the vertical axis. What is the slope of me budget constraint?
Is it possible for total utility to increase while marginal utility diminishes? Explain.