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how is consumer equilibrium determined

by Rozella Parisian Jr. Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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The consumer equilibrium is found by comparing the marginal utility per dollar spent (the ratio of the marginal utility to the price of a good) for goods 1 and 2, subject to the constraint that the consumer does not exceed her budget of $5.

According to the law of equi-marginal utility a consumer will be in equilibrium when the ratio of marginal utility of a commodity to its price equals the ratio of marginal utility of other commodity to its price.

Full Answer

What is free market equilibrium?

When prices are high, the buyer reduces consumption, and when prices are low, the seller reduces production. Theoretically, at a free market condition, the demand of a product equals the supply of a product, and the price remains constant. This state is market equilibrium.

What is competitive market equilibrium?

The concept of Competitive Equilibrium can be defined as an equilibrium condition where the objective of profit maximization of the firm and the aim of utility maximization of the consumers in the competitive market is to arrive at an equilibrium price owing to the freely determined prices. As per the theory of Competitive Equilibrium, the quantity supplied of the product by the firm is equal to the product quantity demanded by the consumers in the market.

What is the equilibrium formula?

What is equilibrium formula? Keq is the equilibrium constant at given temperature. Keq = [C] × [D] / [A] × [B] This equation is called equation of law of chemical equilibrium. At equilibrium, the concentration of reactants is expressed as moles/lit so Keq = Kc and if it expressed as partial pressure then Keq = Kp.

How to calculate an equilibrium equation in economics?

to calculate equilibrium price and quantity mathematically, we can follow a 5-step process: (1) calculate supply function, (2) calculate demand function, (3) set quantity supplied equal to quantity demanded and solve for equilibrium price, (4) plug equilibrium price into supply function, and (5) validate result by plugging equilibrium price into …

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What are the two conditions of consumer equilibrium?

Conditions of Consumer's Equilibrium The state of equilibrium for consumers is possible under the following conditions: The (MU)marginal utility of commodity X cost of product in terms of cost is equal to the cost of the commodity X in cost (MUx = Px).

How does Dr Marshall explain consumer equilibrium?

Agreeing with the Marshallian utility analysis, when the expenditure of a consumer has been completely adjusted, which means, when the marginal utility of the consumer in each direction of his purchases is quite the same, then this is called Consumer's Equilibrium.

What does equilibrium mean for consumers?

An equilibrium price, also known as a market-clearing price, is the consumer cost assigned to some product or service such that supply and demand are equal, or close to equal. The manufacturer or vendor can sell all the units they want to move and the customer can access all the units they want to buy.

What is the first condition of consumer equilibrium?

The first condition for consumer's equilibrium is that. MRSXY = PX/PY. a. If MRSXY > PX/PY, it means that the consumer is willing to pay more for X than the price prevailing in the market.

What is consumer equilibrium state explain with diagram?

In this article we will discuss about the concept of consumer's equilibrium, explained with the help of suitable diagrams and graphs. A consumer is said to be in equilibrium when he feels that he “cannot change his condition either by earning more or by spending more or by changing the quantities of thing he buys”.

How do you achieve market equilibrium?

MARKETS: Equilibrium is achieved at the price at which quantities demanded and supplied are equal. We can represent a market in equilibrium in a graph by showing the combined price and quantity at which the supply and demand curves intersect.

What are the 3 types of equilibrium?

Types of equilibrium:Stable equilibrium.Unstable equilibrium.Neutral equilibrium.

What affects market equilibrium?

A decrease in demand will cause the equilibrium price to fall; quantity supplied will decrease. An increase in supply, all other things unchanged, will cause the equilibrium price to fall; quantity demanded will increase. A decrease in supply will cause the equilibrium price to rise; quantity demanded will decrease.

How is the marshallian equilibrium different from walrasian equilibrium?

In the Marshallian framework, it is assumed that production takes place before trade. On the contrary, in the Walrasian model, production and exchange are assumed to start only after equilibrium values have been calculated.

What is marshallian approach to stability analysis?

The Marshallian stability condition is based on the behaviour assumption that producers will raise their output when F(q) > 0, i.e., when at output q, the buyers are offering a higher price than what the sellers are demanding (pd > ps), and the producers will lower their output when F(q) < 0, i.e., when at output q, ...

What is general equilibrium and partial equilibrium?

Partial equilibrium means an equilibrium derived by considering the effect of only two variables at a time. All other variables are considered to be constant. General equilibrium means an equilibrium which is derived by considering the effect of many variables at a time. 2.

What is partial equilibrium in microeconomics?

Partial equilibrium is just the technical terms for demand and supply analysis. Partial equilibrium models consider only one market at a time, ignoring potential interactions across markets.

1. Define consumer equilibrium?

Consumer equilibrium is a point at which a consumer’s derived utility from a commodity is at its maximum, given a fixed level of income and price o...

2. Explain the concept of consumer equilibrium?

Consumers derive utility from each commodity they consume. This utility is dependent on the price of a product. The point at which the marginal uti...

3. Define utility.

The utility is defined as the want satisfying power of goods. The more they need for the particular commodity or the strong desire to have it, the...

4. What does marginal utility mean?

Marginal utility or MU is the change in total utility due to the consumption of one additional unit of a commodity. For example, suppose 5 mangoes...

5. What does total utility mean?

Total utility or TU of a fixed quantity of a commodity is defined as the total satisfaction derived from consuming the given amount of some commodi...

What is marginal utility?

Here, marginal utility is measured in fictional units called utils, which serve to quantify the consumer's additional utility or satisfaction from consuming different quantities of goods 1 and 2. The larger the number of utils, the greater is the consumer's marginal utility from consuming that unit of the good.

What is the condition of marginal utility per dollar spent on good 1?

This condition states that the marginal utility per dollar spent on good 1 must equal the marginal utility per dollar spent on good 2. If, for example, the marginal utility per dollar spent on good 1 were higher than the marginal utility per dollar spent on good 2, then it would make sense for the consumer to purchase more ...

How to find equilibrium of a consumer?

The consumer equilibrium is found by comparing the marginal utility per dollar spent (the ratio of the marginal utility to the price of a good) for goods 1 and 2 , subject to the constraint that the consumer does not exceed her budget of $5. The marginal utility per dollar spent on the first unit of good 1 is greater than the marginal utility per dollar spent on the first unit of good 2 (12 utils > 9 utils). Because the price of good 1 is $2 per unit, the consumer can afford to purchase this first unit of good 1, and so she does. She now has $5 − $2 = $3 remaining in her budget. The consumer's next step is to compare the marginal utility per dollar spent on the second unit of good 1 with marginal utility per dollar spent on the first unit of good 2. Because these ratios are both equal to 9 utils, the consumer is indifferent between purchasing the second unit of good 1 and first unit of good 2, so she purchases both. She can afford to do so because the second unit of good 1 costs $2 and the first unit of good 2 costs $1, for a total of $3. At this point, the consumer has exhausted her budget of $5 and has arrived at the consumer equilibrium, where the marginal utilities per dollar spent are equal. The consumer's equilibrium choice is to purchase 2 units of good 1 and 1 unit of good 2.

Why do consumers purchase quantities of goods 1 and 2?

The consumer will purchase quantities of goods 1 and 2 so as to completely exhaust the budget for such purchases. The actual quantities purchased of each good are determined by the condition for consumer equilibrium, which is. This condition states that the marginal utility per dollar spent on good 1 must equal the marginal utility per dollar spent ...

What happens to the marginal utility of good 1?

After purchasing more and more of good 1, the marginal utility of good 1 will eventually fall due to the law of diminishing marginal utility, so that the marginal utility per dollar spent on good 1 will eventually equal that of good 2. Of course, the amount purchased of goods 1 and 2 cannot be limitless and will depend not only on ...

What is the solution to the consumer's problem?

The solution to the consumer's problem, which entails decisions about how much the consumer will consume of a number of goods and services, is referred to as consumer equilibrium. Determination of consumer equilibrium. Consider the simple case of a consumer who cares about consuming only two goods: good 1 and good 2.

What is the simple case of a consumer who cares about consuming only two goods?

Consider the simple case of a consumer who cares about consuming only two goods: good 1 and good 2. This consumer knows the prices of goods 1 and 2 and has a fixed income or budget that can be used to purchase quantities of goods 1 and 2. The consumer will purchase quantities of goods 1 and 2 so as to completely exhaust ...

How is income allocated for satisfaction?

More precisely, for the maximisation of satisfaction, income must be allocated in such a way that the marginal utility of an unit of money’s worth (for example, one rupee’s worth) is the same for every commodity. If it is found that the marginal utility of the last unit of money spent on say, X commodity is greater than that derived from another commodity, say, Y commodity, he substitutes X for Y. Such a process of substitution goes on till the marginal utility of the last unit of money spent on X and on Y becomes equal to each other.

What is the optimum purchase of the consumer?

This law can also be explained in another way to show the optimum purchase of the consumer or the consumer’s equilib­rium. A consumer buys a commodity up to that amount at which its price is equal to its marginal utility. In the case of purchase of many commodities, maximum satisfaction requires the allocation of income in such a way that the marginal utilities of units of various goods bought are proportional to their prices.

What happens if a good gives less marginal utility per rupee?

If any good gave less marginal utility per rupee than the common level, the consumer would buy less of it’s until the marginal utility of the last rupee spent on it had risen back to the common level. The Law of Equi-marginal Utility (or the Principle of Substitution) fol­lows from the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility.

Why does the law of diminishing marginal utility hold?

Why does this law hold? If any one good gave more marginal utility per rupee the consumer would gain by taking money away from other goods and spending more on that good — up to the point where the law of diminishing marginal utility brought its marginal utility per rupee down to equality. If any good gave less marginal utility per rupee than the common level, the consumer would buy less of it’s until the marginal utility of the last rupee spent on it had risen back to the common level.

Why does the law fail to operate?

The law may fail to operate in the cases where consumers or producers commit mistakes in calculating marginal utility of the commodity or marginal product of the factor of production.

What happens if the consumer has arranged his consumption so that every single good brings him marginal utility just exactly proportional?

Thus, if the consumer has arranged his consumption so that every single good brings him marginal utility just exactly proportional to its price, then he could not gain extra utility and thus improve his position by departing from such an equilibrium.

What happens if MU is greater than price paid?

On the other hand, if MU is greater than the price paid, the consumer will enjoy surplus satisfaction from the units he has already consumed. This will induce him to buy more and more units of the commodity leading to successive fall in MU till it is equated to its price. Thus, by a process of trial and error — by buying more or less units, a consumer will ultimately settle at the point where P = MU. Here, his is total utility is maximum.

What is Consumer Equilibrium?

Consumer’s Equilibrium in Indifference Curve Analysis is defined as a situation when the consumer maximizes his satisfaction, spending his given income across different goods with the given prices. Here, the indifference curve and budget line are used to determine the consumer equilibrium point. Indifference curve analysis helps to find out how the consumer spends his limited income on the combination of different goods to get maximum satisfaction.

What does it mean when the marginal rate of substitution of commodity 1 for commodity 2 is diminishing?

If at the point of equilibrium, the indifference curve is concave and not convex to the origin, then it will not be a position of permanent equilibrium.

What is the first condition of consumer equilibrium?

In short, the first condition of the consumer’s equilibrium is that the budget or price line should be tangent to the indifference curve. It means that the price ratio of commodity-1 and commodity-2 should be equal to the marginal rate of substitution of commodity-1 for commodity-2. 2. Indifference curve must be convex to the origin:

What is the equilibrium point of the consumer?

It means, that the consumer’s equilibrium point is the point of tangency of the budget line and indifference curve. At point D, the slope of the indifference curve and budget line coincides. Here,

What happens if the indifference curve is concave and not convex to the origin?

If at the point of equilibrium, the indifference curve is concave and not convex to the origin, then it will not be a position of permanent equilibrium.

Which curve must be convex to the origin?

Indifference curve must be convex to the origin.

What is the slope of the budget line?

The slope of the budget line is indicative of the ratio of the price of commodity-1 (P 1) and the price of commodity -2 (P 2 ).

What is Consumer Equilibrium?

It refers to a situation where a consumer is getting maximum satisfaction by spending his income across different goods. In this situation, the consumer has no tendency to change his expenditure pattern.

How to calculate total utility?

Suppose, a customer has 5 units of money to spend across commodity ‘X’ and ‘Y’.He will spend 1st unit of money on commodity X and gets 74 utils of utility, by spending 2nd unit of money gets 66 utils of utility. Then he will spend the 3rd unit of money on commodity ‘Y’ and gets 65 utils of utility. Similarly, the consumer gets the same utility of 60 utils by spending 4th and 5th unit of money on commodity ‘X’ and ‘Y’. Thus total utility is maximised (74+66+65+60+60=325). No other combination of X and Y will offer higher than 325 utils of utility to the consumer by spending 5 units of money on X and Y.

What is the difference between independent utility and marginal utility?

Independent Utility: It is assumed that the utility derived from one commodity is affected by other goods, which is not rational. Constant Marginal Utility of Money : The marginal utility of money is assumed to be constant to serve as an ideal measure.

What happens if the consumer buys one unit less than the equilibrium point?

Similarly, if the consumer buys one unit less than the equilibrium point, the marginal utility will be more than the marginal utility of money and consumer will deprived of the benefit of this difference in utility. Here also, neither the consumer’s satisfaction is maximum nor he will be in equilibrium.

What is the point where a rational consumer consumes a commodity?

A rational consumer will consume the commodity up to a point where the marginal utility derived from the consumption of a commodity is equal to the marginal utility of money i.e. price paid for it. At that point, the consumer will get maximum satisfaction and will be in equilibrium. If he extends consumption beyond this point, ...

How does diminishing marginal utility work?

As per the law of diminishing marginal utility, the utility goes on decreasing with the increase in consumption of a commodity. Thus, the consumer stops the purchasing when MU of one commodity becomes less than MU of the other one and will shift to another commodity. In this way, the consumer starts buying substitute goods having more marginal utility. Finally, he arrives at a situation where the last unit of money spent on different commodities yields the same marginal utility. This situation is known as a position of equilibrium. Here, he gets maximum satisfaction and has no desire to switch to any other commodity.

What is the equilibrium situation of a consumer who gets maximum satisfaction by consuming only one commodity?

In this case, the equilibrium situation of a consumer who gets maximum satisfaction by consuming only one commodity. The consumer buys goods for the price. For each unit of a commodity, he has to make a sacrifice in terms of price. Against this, he gets some utility by consuming the commodity. As the law of diminishing marginal utility, the utility goes on declining as more and more units of a commodity are consumed. On the other hand, this law assumes that the utility of money paid in terms of price remains constant.

How to determine equilibrium point?

The determine equilibrium point consumer compare the price of commodity with its utility. Being a rational consumer, he will be at equilibrium when marginal utility is equal to price paid for commodity.

What is the law of DMU?

A ns The Law of DMU can be used to explain consumer’s equilibrium in case of single commodity. A consumer purchasing a single commodity will be at equilibrium, when he is buying such a quantity of that commodity, which gives him maximum satisfaction. The number of units to be consumed of given commodity by a consumer depends on 2 factor.

When MU becomes equal to price, what happens to the consumer?

As he buys more, MU falls because of operation of law of DMU. When MU becomes equal to price, consumer gets maximum benefits and is in equilibrium. Similarly, when MU x < P x, then also consumer is not at equilibrium as he will have to reduce consumption of commodity X to rais his total satisfaction till MU becomes equal to price.

When Ratio of MU of two commodities & their respective Prices are equal MU falls as consumption increased?

According to law of equi marginal utility, a consumer gets maximum satisfaction , When Ratio of MU of two commodities & their respective Prices are equal & MU falls as consumption increased.

Which is getting more marginal utility per rupee?

consumer is getting more marginal utility per rupee in case of good x as compared to good

Does the law of DMU apply to one commodity?

The law of DMU applies in case of one commodity. However, in Real life a consumer normally consumer more than one commodity. In such a situation Law of equi marginal utility helps in optimum allocation of his income.

Is AB the budget line?

Initially AB is the Budget line. As price of Good Y, Rises Good Y becomes relatively expensive in comparison to Good X. Due to this Budget line will rotate towards left from AB to AB 1 as shown Good X in given figure. Price of good X remains constant.

What does MUY/PY mean?

Similarly, MUY/PY (where MUY is the marginal utility from the last unit of commodity Y, and PY is the price of Y ) will indicate the marginal utility per rupee spent on Y.

What is the MU curve?

In the above figure, MU is the marginal utility curve of the T-shirt in terms of money. The downward slope of such a curve indicates the law of diminishing marginal utility. The horizontal straight line P shows the price of a T-shirt. The MU curve and the price line P intersect to each other at point E. thus, the consumer is in equilibrium, at point E, where the MU= P. In our above hypothetical example, this condition is fulfilled when the consumer purchases 3 T-shirts. At any point above E, MU>P and at any point below E, MU<P. Thus, the consumer can therefore increase his satisfaction by reducing the purchased quantity below point E and by increasing the purchase of more units. So, point E is the equilibrium where the MU of T-shirt in terms of money is equal to the price of the T-shirt.

How to find marginal utility of rupees?

The marginal utility of rupees we spend on a good equal to the marginal utility of the good divided by the price we pay for it. Suppose MUX denotes the marginal utility of the last unit of commodity X, PX denotes its price, then marginal utility per rupee spent on X is MUX/PX.

What does it mean when a consumer maximizes the utility of a commodity?

It means the consumer man maximizes total utility by purchasing more units of the commodity at its lower price. ...

How does utility maximizer work?

In this regard, a utility-maximizing consumer will be in equilibrium when he or she purchases that much quantity of the commodity where the marginal utility of the commodity equals its price. Both the amount of money (price) that the consumer has to spend to purchase a unit of the commodity and the commodity both give him utility so he either can spend the money on the purchase of the commodity or keep it with himself. If the marginal utility of a commodity is greater than the marginal utility of money which the consumer has to give for the purchase of a unit of commodity, a utility-maximizing consumer will purchase the commodity in exchange for money.

Why is the MU curve sloped?

Curve MU X and MU Y are negatively sloped due to the operation of diminishing marginal utility. The linear MU curve is drawn to indicates the equilibrium quantities of good X and Y. From the diagram, we can see that at 4 units of commodity X and 2 units of commodity Y, MU X /P X =MU Y /P Y =MUm=7. So the dotted line in the diagram shows equal marginal utility (7 utils) from the last unit of rupee spent on both of the goods. It fulfills both of the conditions for attaining equilibrium in the case of tow commodities and the consumer has attained maximum satisfaction.

How to illustrate consumer equilibrium?

Here we illustrate the consumer’s equilibrium by taking a simple one commodity case (Consumer’s Equilibrium under Cardinal Utility Analysis and case of single commodity). Suppose that a consumer with a certain income given money income consumes only one commodity X. The relevant issue is how much quantities of good X should be consumer purchase at its given price to reach the equilibrium. The answer to this issue is that the consumer should purchase that much quantity of the commodity at its given price and given income so that he can maximize the total utility from his purchase.

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