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