Joe the Economist tells his wife, Jane, that he wants to spend a weekend fishing with his friends. She replies, You don't love me anymore. Just before she hits Joe with a croquet mallet, Joe explains to her that she has confused the concepts of
a. marginal utility and price
b. income and price
c. marginal utility and total utility
d. love and death
e. consumer surplus and utility
QUESTION 2If other things constant, as more bananas are consumed, marginal utility eventually
a. decreases at the same rate for all people
b. decreases at the same rate for all goods for a given person
c. increases at the same rate for all people
d. decreases at different rates for different people and for other goods
e. decreases at different rates for different people but at the same rate as other goods for an individual
QUESTION 3Carvel advertises a football-shaped ice cream cake for 7; you can buy a second one for only 4 . What do they know about consumer preferences?
a. Consumers would never buy a second ice cream cake.
b. Two cakes are worth less to the consumer than one.
c. Marginal utility of ice cream cakes diminishes.
d. Consumers only value the first cake at 4.
e. Consumers value all cakes they eat at 4.
QUESTION 4I don't feel so good. I shouldn't have had that last doughnut. Which statement best describes this situation?
a. The marginal utility of the last doughnut was positive.
b. The marginal utility of doughnuts is still increasing.
c. The total utility from eating doughnuts is negative.
d. The marginal utility of the last doughnut was negative.
e. The marginal utility of the next doughnut will be positive.
QUESTION 5The second glass of Evian water was very good. May I have another? Which of the following is necessarily true regarding this statement?
a. The marginal utility of the second glass is negative.
b. The marginal utility of the second glass is less than the marginal utility of the first glass.
c. The marginal utility of the second glass is positive.
d. The water is free.
e. The marginal utility of the third glass is negative.
QUESTION 6The reason that you don't drink five cups of coffee at breakfast is that
a. the marginal utility of extra cups of coffee eventually diminishes
b. most people cannot afford five cups
c. the total utility of coffee rises as you consume more cups
d. the price of coffee rises as you buy more cups
e. the marginal satisfaction derived from cups of coffee remains constant
QUESTION 7The marginal utility of a second copy of today's New York Times is
a. infinite
b. practically zero
c. positive and greater than the marginal utility of the first copy
d. equal to the marginal utility of the first copy
e. 50 cents
QUESTION 8The law of diminishing marginal utility states that as you consume more and more of a good, other things constant,
a. total utility eventually rises
b. marginal utility can become positive
c. marginal utility approaches, but never becomes, zero
d. total utility can never become negative
e. marginal utility eventually declines