If your income is $18.00 and the prices of x and y are $4.00 and $2.00, respectively, what quantities of each will you purchase to maximize utility?

Respuesta :

Answer:

2 units of X and 5 units of Y

Step-by-step explanation:

(a) Utility is maximized when (MUx / Price of X) = (MUy / Price of Y)  

This condition holds for the following cases

1.  X = 4 (MUx / Px = 8 / 4 = 2) and Y = 6 (MUy / Px = 4 / 2 = 2)

2.  X = 2 (MUx / Px = 16 / 4 = 4) and Y = 5 (MUy / Px = 8 / 2 = 4)

For the first case Total cost = 4 x $4 + 6 x $2 = $(16 + 12) = $28 (Budget is exceeded).

In the second scenario, Total cost = 2 x $4 + 5 x $2 = $(8 + 10) = $18 (budget is exhausted).

Optimal case contains  X = 2 units, Y = 5 units.

The quantities of each of x and y that we will purchase to maximize the utility are 2 'x' quantities and 5 of 'y' quantities.

How to maximize the utility?

The utility of two products x and y are maximized when:

[tex]\dfrac{\text{MU of x}}{\text{Price of x}} = \dfrac{\text{MU of y}}{\text{Price of y}}[/tex]

where MU denotes Marginal Utility.

For the considered case, we're specified that:

  • Amount of income = $18
  • Price of x = $4.00 each
  • Price of y = $2.00 each

From the table which is missing from the problem, two values pair satisfy the condition for maximizing the utility.

They are at 4 quantities of x and 6 quantities of y or, 2 quantities of x and 5 quantities of y.

For the first case;

[tex]4 \times 4 + 6 \times 2 = 28 > 18[/tex]

The condition of maximizing utility with the amount being under or equal to $18 is satisfied at 2 quantities of x and 5 quantities of y.

[tex]2 \times 4 + 5 \times 2 = 18[/tex] (in dollars)

Thus, the quantities of each of x and y that we will purchase to maximize the utility are 2 'x' quantities and 5 of 'y' quantities.

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