中级微观经济学——理论与应用（第10版）（经济学经典教材·双语教学用书） 尼克尔森等 著 0324319681_67664新.ppt

Part 2 Demand Chapter 2 Utility and Choice Utility from Consuming Two Goods Assume that person receives utility from consumption of two goods “X” and “Y,” which we show in functional notation by Other factors that appear after semicolon assumed to be held constant. Measuring Utility Two problems affect ability to to measure utility directly: Because real-world constantly in flux, ceteris paribus assumption difficult to impose No units to measure utility directly However, possible to study choices fairly completely without direct utility measurement Assumptions about Utility Basic Properties of Utility Preferences Preferences complete : assume that individual can state which of any two options is preferable. Preferences transitive: if A is preferred to B, and B is preferred to C, then A must be preferred to C. More Is Better: Defining an Economic “Good” Economic good: yields positive benefits to consumer. Thus, more quantity of a good is always better than less. Figure 2-1: shows all points in the darkly shaded area preferable to amount X* of good X and Y* of good Y. Movement into shaded area unambiguously better since person gets more of one good without losing any of the other. FIGURE 2-1: More Preferred to Less Voluntary Trades, Indifference Curves Fig. 2.1: areas marked with question marks difficult to compare to X*, Y* since they involve more of one good but less of the other. Trading one good (such as money) for another good (such as a candy bar): essence of demand. Indifference Curves Curve that shows all combinations of goods or services that provide same level of utility. Figure 2-2: horizontal axis measures quantity of soft drinks consumed by individual per week; vertical axis measures the quantity of hamburgers consumed per week. Indifference Curves Curve U1 in Figure 2-2 includes all hamburgers/soft drink combinations that yield same utility level. Point A--6 hamburgers and 2 soft drinks-- produces same utility as point B--4 burgers a