微观经济学第八版课后习题答案第三章.pdf

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1、Chapter3ConsumerBehaviorQuestionsforReview1.Whatarethefourbasicassumptionsaboutindividualpreferences?Explainthesignificanceormeaningofeach.(1)Preferencesarecomplete:thismeansthattheconsumerisabletocompareandrankallpossiblebasketsofgoodsandservices.(2)Preferencesaretransitive

2、:thismeansthatpreferencesareconsistent,inthesensethatifbundleAispreferredtobundleBandbundleBispreferredtobundleC,thenbundleAispreferredtobundleC.(3)Moreispreferredtoless:thismeansthatallgoodsaredesirable,andthattheconsumeralwayspreferstohavemoreofeachgood.(4)Diminishingmargin

3、alrateofsubstitution:thismeansthatindifferencecurvesareconvex,andthattheslopeoftheindifferencecurveincreases(becomeslessnegative)aswemovedownalongthecurve.Asaconsumermovesdownalongherindifferencecurvesheiswillingtogiveupfewerunitsofthegoodontheverticalaxisinexchangeforonemore

4、unitofthegoodonthehorizontalaxis.Thisassumptionalsomeansthatbalancedmarketbasketsaregenerallypreferredtobasketsthathavealotofonegoodandverylittleoftheothergood.2.Canasetofindifferencecurvesbeupwardsloping?Ifso,whatwouldthistellyouaboutthetwogoods?Asetofindifferencecurvescanbe

5、upwardslopingifweviolateassumptionnumberthree:moreispreferredtoless.Whenasetofindifferencecurvesisupwardsloping,itmeansoneofthegoodsisa“bad”sothattheconsumerpreferslessofthatgoodratherthanmore.Thepositiveslopemeansthattheconsumerwillacceptmoreofthebadonlyifhealsoreceivesmoreo

6、ftheothergoodinreturn.Aswemoveupalongtheindifferencecurvetheconsumerhasmoreofthegoodhelikes,andalsomoreofthegoodhedoesnotlike.3.Explainwhytwoindifferencecurvescannotintersect.ThefigurebelowshowstwoindifferencecurvesintersectingatpointA.Weknowfromthedefinitionofanindifferencec

7、urvethattheconsumerhasthesamelevelofutilityforeverybundleofgoodsthatliesonthegivencurve.Inthiscase,theconsumerisindifferentbetweenbundlesAandBbecausetheybothlieonindifferencecurveU1.Similarly,theconsumerisindifferentbetweenbundlesAandCbecausetheybothlieonindifferencecurveU2.B

8、ythetransitivityofpreferencesthisconsumershouldalsobeindifferentbetw