To the right we include the completed marginal utility computations for our consumer's wool sock utility. This makes our marginal analysis even easier.

    If the market price of wool socks is $12 per pair she would buy 2 pairs. She would still only buy 2 pairs if the price fell to $11. Even though the price fell, the 3rd pair only gives her $10 worth of added or marginal utility and so she'd be better off with just 2 pairs. If the price were $3 per pair she would buy 5 pairs. It wouldn't be worth it to her to buy the 6th pair for $3 as they only add $2 to her total utility, in other words, the marginal utility of the 6th pair is $2. Again, comparing total utility and total cost would lead to the wrong solution in every case.

Wool Sock Utility
Quantity Total
Utility
Marginal
Utility
1 15 15
2 27 12
3 37 10
4 44 7
5 49 5
6 51 2

Copyright © 1995-2004 OnLineTexts.com, Inc. - All Rights Reserved