A utility maximizing consumer will purchase the quantity of any good where P = MU = MWP (Price = Marginal Utility = Marginal Willingness to Pay). The logic is simple. If something costs $5 and it's worth $6 to you, you'll buy it. If something costs $5 and it's worth only $4 to you, you won't. From this very simple logic we learned that the marginal utility curve is the demand curve.

    We can state the same results as simple consumer purchase rules. For any good or service, the utility maximizing consumer will:

Buy More if P < MU
Buy Less if P > MU

    A utility maximizing consumer is, thus, in a kind of "equilibrium" when she has purchased a quantity such that P = MU.

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