Assumptions about Consumer Preferences
Two assumptions about consumer preferences were explained in the previous lesson. The remaining two are explained below.
Transitivity
It means that a consumer's preferences are consistent across different market baskets. For example, a consumer prefers Basket A over Basket B and Basket B over Basket C. It is expected that the same consumer would prefer Basket A over Basket C. This can be symbolically represented as
If A ≻ B and B ≻ C, then A ≻ C.
As consumers accumulate more of a specific good, their willingness to sacrifice another item to acquire even more of those particular goods decreases.
The rate at which a person is willing to trade one good for another is called the Marginal Rate of Substitution, or MRS. A consumer's willingness to trade one good for another changes as they acquire more of a good.
The marginal rate of substitution (MRS) is the ratio of the quantity of one good the consumer is willing to give up to acquire one more unit of another good. For example, when the consumer initially has one burger and a plate full of cookies, she may be willing to give up three of her cookies to receive an additional burger. The ratio of MRS is three cookies to one burger.
If she would like an additional burger after she already has two, she will likely value having a third burger less than the second burger. This implies that she may be willing to only give up two cookies to receive a third burger. Therefore, the number of cookies that she is willing to sacrifice to attain one more burger falls as she acquires more burgers.
This is an example of a diminishing marginal rate of substitution: the MRS of a good tends to fall as the consumer attains more and more units of that good.
Do Capítulo 5:
Now Playing
Consumer Behavior
147 Visualizações
Consumer Behavior
253 Visualizações
Consumer Behavior
262 Visualizações
Consumer Behavior
507 Visualizações
Consumer Behavior
144 Visualizações
Consumer Behavior
166 Visualizações
Consumer Behavior
91 Visualizações
Consumer Behavior
131 Visualizações
Consumer Behavior
361 Visualizações
Consumer Behavior
169 Visualizações
Consumer Behavior
214 Visualizações
Consumer Behavior
81 Visualizações
Consumer Behavior
58 Visualizações
Consumer Behavior
76 Visualizações
Consumer Behavior
58 Visualizações
See More
Copyright © 2025 MyJoVE Corporation. Todos os direitos reservados