CHAPTER THREE

THEORY OF CONSUMER
BEHAVIOR
 Meaning of Utility
Assumptions about the average consumer
1. An average consumer is rational
 a consumer has clear cut preference – the consumer is able
to compare any two bundles ‘a’ and ‘b’ and decide which
one he/she prefer
 A consumer has persistent preference- if the consumer
prefers bundle ‘a’ to ‘b’ and ‘b’ to ‘c’, then she/he prefers
‘a’ to ‘c’.
2. Consumer is not free in his/her choice-the consumer choice
is limited by his/her income level and the price of g+s
 Cont’d……
Utility is a pleasure/satisfaction that the
consumer obtain by consuming a product.
It is a power of product to satisfy human wants.
In strict sense is doesn’t mean realized
satisfaction rather expected satisfaction.
 utility is subjective- the utility that two
individual derive from consumption of the
same level of product is not the same.
 Theories of utility
We have two theories of utility
Cardinal utility approach- utility is measurable by arbitrary
unit of measurement called utils and it is not comparable
Ordinal utility approach- utility is not measurable but
comparable
1.Cardinal utility approach
Total utility –is total satisfaction a consumer derives from
consuming a specific quantity of a product at particular time
Marginal utility- is extra satisfaction a consumer derives from
consuming one more unit of a product.
It is the level of utility obtained from the consumption of each
additional consumption of g+s.
Mu = dTu/dQ = ∆Tu/ ∆Q
 Numerical example for Tu&Mu
Orange Total utility Marginal utility

consumption
0 0 -
1 10 10
2 18 8
3 24 6
4 28 4
5 30 2
6 30 0
7 28 -2
 Cont…
Fig.Tu and Mu

TU

Qd MU
 Cont…
From the above table and graph, we can
deduce the following points
Tu ↑ first, reaches maximum(when consumers
consume 6 units of orange) and then declines
as quantity consumed increases
Mu continuously declines(even become zero
and negative as quantity consumed increases
 Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility
 The law states that other things remain constant,
consuming successive units of a product gives a
consumer less and less extra satisfaction(Mu)
 or in other word, the MU of a goods tends to
diminish as the consumer increases the consumption
of a good beyond a certain level.
Assumptions for LDMU
 The consumer is rational
 identical product is consumed
 there is no time gap
 taste remain unchanged
 Maximizing utility
 Objective of a consumer is total utility maximization

 this happens when the last birr spent on each good

yield equal MU.
Mathematically, the condition of maximum
satisfaction and income allocation is as follows
i. Mux = Muy = Muz
Px Py Pz
ii. Px.Qx+PyQy+PzQz = M
where M is income of the consumer
 Cont…
Consider that Eyasu has birr 10 and he consumes
two goods, X and Y. The price of good X(Px) is
birr 1 and the price of good Y(Py) is birr 2. The
total utility he gets from consumption of the gods
are given below.
Calculate
i. Fill the Mu and Mu/P for good x and good y
ii. Find the best combination of x and y that
maximizes utility
iii. Find the maximum utility
Good X ……..Px=birr 1 Good Y…….Py=birr 2

Quantity TUx Mux MUx/Px Quantity TUy Muy Muy/Py

0 0 - - 0 0 - -
1 10 10 10 1 24 24 12
2 18 8 8 2 44 20 10
3 25 7 7 3 62 18 9
4 31 6 6 4 78 16 8
5 36 5 5 5 90 12 6
6 40 4 4 6 96 6 3
7 43 3 3 7 100 4 2
Exercise: Consider that Molla has birr 12 and he
consumes two goods X and Y. The Px=2 birr
and Py= 1 birr. The TU he gets from the
consumption of the goods are given below
i. Fill the Mu and Mu/P for good x and good y
ii. Find the best combination of x and y that
maximizes utility
iii. Find the maximum utility
 Cont…
Good X ……..Px=birr 2 Good Y…….Py=birr 1

Qty Tux Mux Mux/Px Qty Tuy Muy Muy/Py

0 0 0 0
1 16 1 11
2 30 2 21

3 42 3 30
4 52 4 38
5 60 5 45
6 66 6 51
7 70 7 56
8 72 8 60
 Cont…
2.Ordinal utility approach/Theory
The ordinal theory suggests that utility is only
relatively discernible but not quantifiable, not
measurable
Utility can only be ranked by an order or a scale of
preference to show the degree of willingness of a
consumer
Since it uses indifference curves to study the consumer
behavior, the ordinal utility theory is also known as the
indifference curve approach.
 Assumptions of IC
1.Consumer is rational
2. Consumer can simply order their preference or they only
rank the utility level
3. There is a diminishing marginal rate of substitution- the rate
at which one good substitute for another in consumer’s
basket of goods diminish as the consumer consumes more
and more of the goods.
4.The TU of a consumer measured by the amount of all items
she/he consumed from his consumption basket.
5. Consumers preference for items in his/her consumption
bundle is consistent……axioms of transitivity.
 The Indifference Set, Curve and Map
The Indifference Set
 is a combination of goods for which the consumer is
indifferent
 it shows the various combination of goods from
which the consumer drives the same level of utility.
combination X Y
A 10 2
B 6 4
C 3 6
D 2 8

Each combination of good X and Y gives the consumer equal

level of utility. Thus the consumer is indifferent whether she/he
consumes combination A, B, C or D
 Cont…
Indifference Curve
 graphical expression combination of goods
for which the consumer equal level of utility
Indifference Map
 is a set of indifference curves
 Each successive curve to the right represents
higher level of utility.
 Characteristics of indifference curves

1. The slope of indifference curve is negative : there

is some degree of substitution between the two
goods
 As amount of one good increase, the amount of the
other good should decrease in order to get the same
level of utility.
2. The curve is convex to the origin, i.e. the marginal
rate of substitution of two goods is diminishing.
 Cont…
3. A curve further away from the origin means
that it stands for a higher level of preference
than the one near to the origin
4. There is no intersection for any two curves in
the indifference map
That is two indifference curves never cross
each other.
Marginal rate of substitution(MRS)
MRS – is rate by which the consumer is willing
to give up a good so as to obtain more of
another good, holding total utility constant
 MRSxy =  Y /  X
 The number of a good Y that had to be given
up for each unit of good X to maintain the
same level of utility declines, along the
indifference curve.
y(orange)

10 ……a
6 …………b IC
3…………………C.

2 4 6 X(lemons)

How many of good y(orange) the consumer is willing to

sacrifice to get 2 more unit of good x(lemons)……4
 Budget line
Budget line - graph that shows the various
combinations of two goods that a consumer can
buy given his limited income and prices of goods
 The slope of the line gives the relative price of
any one good.
 It tells what the consumer must give up in terms
of another good in order to buy one good
 Cont…
Budget line

M/Py =20
.a

.b

M/Px=10
 Budget line…..
• Consider that dawit has a money income of birr 100,
and he consume two goods X and Y. The price of
good x is birr 10 and the price of good y is birr 5. If he
spend all his income on good y, he would buy 20 units
of good y and if he spend all his income on good x, he
would buy 10 units of good x.
Px .X + Py. Y = M
• Any combination of two goods on or within the
budget line are attainable, and
• Any combination of the two goods above the budget
line are unattainable to the consumer, b/c s/he can’t
afford to buy them.
 Cont…
 The slope of the budget line = -PX / Py = ∆Y/ ∆X
for the above example the slope is -2.
Therefore, the slope of budget line is the ratio of the
prices of the two goods.
It shows the market willingness not consumer
willingness to substitute one good for another.
Factors which affect budget line
1. Income (an increase and decrease in income)
2. Change in price (of one good or both)
 Maximizing Total Utility
 A consumer gets the maximum possible utility
when he/she buys that combination of goods at
which the budget line is tangent to the highest
attainable indifference curve
 An equilibrium point or satisfaction unit is
1. BL and IC are tangent at each other
2. slope of BL= slope of IC
PX / PY =  Y /  X = MuX / MuY
Cont……