经济学原理14微观课件.pdf

Introduction • People face tradeoffs • When a consumer buys more of one good, he can afford less of other goods. • When he spends more time enjoying leisure and less time working, he has lower e and can afford less consumption. • When he spends more of his e in the present and save less of it, he must accept a lower level of consumption in the future. • The theory of consumer choice examines how Introduction • We will exam he basic theory: • What consumers can afford • What consumers want • What consumers choose • Then, After develo the basic theory of consumer choice, we apply it to three questions about household decisions: • Do all demand curves slope downward? • How do wages affect labor supply? • How nterest rates affect household saving? THE BUDGET CONSTRAINT: WHAT THE CONSUMER CAN AFFORD • Most people, if not everyone, • Would like to rease the ty or quality of the goods they consume • We want to take longer vacations, drive fancier cars,… • People consume less than they desire because their spending is constrained, or limited, by their e. • We begin our study of consumer choice by examining this link between e and spending. The Consumer’s Budget Constraint ($2 Pepsi, $10 Pizza and $1000 e) Figure 1 The Consumer’s Budget Constraint ty of Pepsi B 500 The slope equals the relativeprice of the two C 250 goods. Consumer’s budget constraint