0

Consumer equilibrium - class-XI

Attempted 0/47 Correct 0 Score 0

A production possibility frontier explains ________ of Economics.

  1. law of diminishing marginal returns

  2. law of variable proportions

  3. law of marginal utility

  4. water vs. diamond paradox


Correct Option: A
Explanation:

Production possibility frontier explain the law of diminishing marginal returns as with the consumption of every additional unit of one good ,the consumer is willing to sacrifice much less and less ,in two-commodity case.That is why the production possibility curve is concave to the origin.

The concept of marginal utility plays a central role in ________.

  1. supply analysis

  2. stock analysis

  3. demand analysis

  4. security analysis


Correct Option: C
Explanation:

Marginal utility refers to the utility derived from the consumption of an additional unit of a commodity. It is of utmost importance in demand analysis of the consumers. The utility refers to the power of satisfying consumer's wants.

________ says that the additional benefit which a person derives from a given increase in his stock of a thing diminishes with every increase in the stock that he already has.

  1. Marshall

  2. Robbins

  3. Keynes

  4. Smith


Correct Option: A
Explanation:

Alfred Marshall propounded the law of diminishing marginal utility..He stated that as the consumption increases the marginal utility derived from the each successive units tends to decline. The consumer is less willing to sacrifice one good to consume one more additional unit of another good at a higher level of consumption.

Which of the following is an exception to the law of diminishing marginal utility?

  1. Reading

  2. Miser

  3. Hobbies

  4. All of the above


Correct Option: D
Explanation:

Law of marginal does not hold true in case of readers, misers and hobbies as the consumption increases the marginal utility derived from the each successive units tends to rise. For example, if a person's hobby is to collect stamps, then the marginal utility derived by collecting one more unit of stamp will rise.

Which of the following assumption is applicable for the law of diminishing marginal utility?

  1. The consumer is rational human being and he aims at minimization of satisfaction.

  2. The units of consumption are of reasonable size.

  3. All the units of the given commodity are heterogeneous.

  4. There is long time interval between the consumption of the goods.


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

To uphold the law of marginal utility, the reasonable sized units are to be consumed. The law of marginal utility states that as consumption increases, the marginal utility derived from each successive units tends to decline.

The law of diminishing marginal utility states that as the stock of a commodity with the consumer ____, its marginal utility to the consumer _____.

  1. decreases; decreases

  2. increases; decreases

  3. decreases; remains unchanged

  4. increases; increases


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

The law of diminishing marginal utility states that as the consumption increases the marginal utility derived from the each successive units tends to decline. The consumer is less willing to sacrifice one good to consume one more additional unit of another good at a higher level of consumption.

The law of diminishing marginal utility states that as the stock of a commodity increases with the consumer, its ________ to the consumer decreases.

  1. utility

  2. supply

  3. marginal utility

  4. average utility


Correct Option: C
Explanation:

The law of diminishing marginal utility states that as the consumption increases the marginal utility derived from the each successive units tends to decline. The consumer is less willing to sacrifice one good to consume one more additional unit of another good at a higher level of consumption.

_______ states that as the stock of a commodity increases with the consumer, its marginal utility to the consumer decreases.

  1. The law of demand

  2. The law of diminishing marginal rate of substitution

  3. The law of diminishing marginal utility

  4. The law of equi-marginal utility


Correct Option: C
Explanation:

The law of diminishing marginal utility states that as the consumption increases the marginal utility derived from the each successive units tends to decline. The consumer is less willing to sacrifice one good to consume one more additional unit of another good at a higher level of consumption.

Which of the following assumptions is applicable under the Marshallian approach of consumer behaviour?

  1. Law of diminishing utility (DMU) holds true.

  2. Marginal utility of money keeps changing.

  3. Utility is ordinally measurable.

  4. All of the above.


Correct Option: A
Explanation:

The Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility was given by Alfred Marshall. According to the theory, the marginal utility of a consumer goes on falling as he/she consumes more and more of  a product.

Marginal utility is the additional satisfaction a consumer gains from consuming one more unit of a good or service.

The assumptions of this Marshallian approach of consumer behaviour are:

1. Marginal utility of money is constant.

2. Utility is cardinally measurable which means that the utility or satisfaction of a consumer can be measured in terms of cardinal numbers.

3. The consumer is a rational human being.

"Utility is a subjective concept therefore it could only be ranked" defines the position of  _______.

  1. cardinal utility theorists

  2. ordinal utility theorists

  3. behavioral theorists

  4. all id the above


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

According to the concept of ordinal utility approach, it is impossible to measure utility in absolute terms and thus it cannot be compared. The reason for it being that it is a psychological phenomena. However, according to the ordinal utility theorists, a consumer can rank various combinations of goods and services according to his preference. 

Which one is not an assumption of law of diminishing marginal utility?

  1. Rational consumer

  2. Short period

  3. Cardinal utility

  4. Substitution of goods


Correct Option: D
Explanation:

Substitution of goods is not an assumption under law of DMU, because if one good substitutes for another then law of DMU will not remain applicable.

Marginal utility (MU) curve is always ________.

  1. rising

  2. falling

  3. parallel to x-axis

  4. parallel to y-axis


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

The negative slope of the marginal utility curve reflects the law of diminishing marginal utility. The marginal utility curve also can be used to derived the demand curve
The marginal utility curve is negatively sloped. It decreases as the number of rides increases. Each additional ride adds less utility that the preceding one.

Law of diminishing marginal utility states that ____________.

  1. with successive increase in consumption of additional units, marginal utility also increases

  2. with successive increase in consumption of additional units, marginal utility decreases

  3. with successive increase in consumption of additional units, marginal utility remains constant

  4. with successive increase in consumption of additional unit, marginal utility first increases then decreases


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

Law of diminishing marginal utility states that with the increase in consumption, the marginal utility gets decreased .This happens because in two commodity case a consumer is willing to sacrifice less of one good for consuming an additional unit of another good.

Which of these is not an essential assumption of law of diminishing marginal utility concept?

  1. Different units consumed should be identical

  2. Consumers taste and preference should not change

  3. There should be some time gap between consumption

  4. The different units consumed should consist of standard unit


Correct Option: C
Explanation:

One of the assumption of law of diminishing marginal utility is that the consumption should be continuous. For example, to hold the law of diminishing marginal utility a consumer should consume ice-creams continuously at a particular point of time.

Law of Diminishing Marginal utility is applicable to _________.

  1. Intermediate products

  2. Capital goods

  3. Consumer goods

  4. Raw materials


Correct Option: C
Explanation:

Law of diminishing marginal utility is applicable to the goods which are consumed by the consumers. The law states that as the consumption of a good increases, the marginal utility tends to decline as the consumer is willing to sacrifice much lesser amount of one good in order to consume one additional unit of another good.

Identify which of the following statement is correct and which is incorrect.
A. The marginal utility of a good increase, if the want of the consumer is intensified by consuming a very small quantity of it such as a very little quantity of water given to a very thirsty person.

B. The law of diminishing marginal utility states that as the stock of a commodity decreases with the consumer, its marginal utility to the consumer decreases.

  1. A correct, B correct

  2. A correct, B incorrect

  3. A incorrect, B incorrect

  4. A incorrect, B correct


Correct Option: B
Explanation:
A)If the want of the consumer gets intensified or increased by consuming a very small quantity then the marginal utility which will be derived from the another additional unit of that commodity will increase.For example, if a very less amount of water is given to a thirsty person, then the marginal utility will rise by consuming the second glass of water as the his want gets intensified even after consuming the first glass of water.

B)The law of diminishing marginal utility states that as the consumption increases the marginal utility derived from the each successive units tends to decline. The consumer is less willing to sacrifice one good to consume one more additional unit of another good at a higher level of consumption.

Which of the following is a limitation of law of diminishing marginal utility?

  1. Marginal utility in certain cases may increase rather than decrease, e.g. consumption of wine by a drunkard.

  2. Utility is not quantifiable, i.e., it cannot be measured.

  3. Consumer does not consume only one commodity in real life. He has to attain equilibrium by consuming a large number of goods and services.

  4. All of above.


Correct Option: D
Explanation:

  • There are various exception to the law of diminishing marginal utility like in case of money.
  • We cannot measure our satisfaction in cardinal numbers, we can only measure it as high or low depending upon the product.
  • Consumers consume various commodities, therefore even if the utility of a commodity is high the consumer can switch to some other similar product whose price is low to attend equilibrium. So the consumer anyway attains equilibrium due to feasibility to various products.


Which of the following assumption is NOT applicable for the law of diminishing marginal utility?
(i) All the units of the given commodity are heterogeneous.
(ii) The units of consumption are of unreasonable size.
(iii) The consumer is rational human being and he aims at minimization of satisfaction.

  1. (i)

  2. (ii)

  3. (iii)

  4. All of the above


Correct Option: D
Explanation:
Assumptions of law of diminishing marginal utility are:
1)Given commodities should be homogeneous in nature.
2)Reasonable sized units are to be consumed.
3)Consumer always want to maximize his utility with his given income and market prices of the commodities.

Which of the following assumption is applicable for the law of diminishing marginal utility?

  1. The units of consumption are of reasonable size.

  2. There is no unduly long time interval between the consumption of the goods.

  3. All the units of the given commodity are homogeneous.

  4. All of the above


Correct Option: D
Explanation:
Assumptions of law of diminishing marginal utility are:
1)Given commodities should be homogeneous in nature, that is, identical commodities.
2)Reasonable sized units are to be consumed.
3)Consumption should be done continuously. No time interval will be entertained between the consumption of the goods.

The doctrine of consumer's surplus is based on _______.

  1. elasticity of demand

  2. indifference curve analysis

  3. law of substitution

  4. the law of diminishing marginal utility


Correct Option: D
Explanation:

According to the law of diminishing marginal utility as the consumption increases the marginal utility tends to fall. Consumer's surplus is a phenomenon where the marginal utility derived from a product is greater than the price per unit of that product.

The marginal utility(MU) of the last unit of commodity X consumed is twice the MU of the last unit of commodity Y consumed, the consumer is in equilibrium only if:

  1. The income of the consumer is doubled

  2. The price of X is equal to the price of Y

  3. The expenditure of X is equal to twice on Y

  4. The price of Y is one half of the price of X


Correct Option: D
Explanation:

The Equi-Marginal Utility theory states that consumers will maximise total utility from their incomes by consuming that combination of goods where:

$\dfrac{MU _a}{MU _b} =$ $\dfrac{P _a}{P _b}$

For example, suppose bread = Re.1 and Rice = Rs.2.

  • Rice is twice as expensive as bread. Therefore, it would make sense to choose a quantity of rice, where the marginal utility of rice was twice the MU of bread. Therefore, you would tend to buy such a quantity of rice so as to make sure the marginal utility of rice justifies its higher price.
  • If rice was giving three times as much marginal utility but was only twice as expensive, it would make sense to buy more rice until the marginal utility fell to that ratio.

According to the law of diminishing marginal utility _______________.

  1. as the price of a given product rises, the added benefit eventually diminishes

  2. as the consumption of a given product rises, the added benefit eventually diminishes

  3. as the production cost for a given product rises, the added benefit eventually diminishes

  4. the demand curve for some product is upward-sloping


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

Law of diminishing marginal utility is based on psychological law that as more and more units of a commodity is consumed, marginal utility derived from every successive unit will decline in respect to all goods with a few exception.

The laws of DMU is not helpful for?

  1. Social welfare programme

  2. Rationing of products

  3. Money

  4. None of the above


Correct Option: D
Explanation:

Diminishing marginal utility focuses on how satisfaction level on an individual keeps on decreasing as he consumes more and more units of a commodity which is applicable on all goods and situations except in case of money.

Full form of DMU is ______________.

  1. Diminishing Marginal Utility

  2. Distributive Marginal Utility

  3. Direct Marginal Utility

  4. Display Marginal Utility


Correct Option: A
Explanation:

Diminishing marginal utility states that when a consumer goes on consuming a standard unit of a commodity, the additional utility in every successive unit of consumption keeps on diminishing. It is based on the assumption that the consumer needs to consume a standard unit of the commodity.

The law of diminishing marginal utility states that as the stock of a commodity _______with the consumer, its marginal utility to the consurner ______

  1. Decreases; decreases

  2. Increases; decreases

  3. Decreases; Increases

  4. Increases; Increases


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

When the commodity consumed by a customer increases it is the normal psychological affect that the satisfaction which that commodity is providing to the customer will decrease. Therefore, for every extra unit of consumption of a commodity, marginal utility derived will decrease.

Diminishing marginal returns occurs because _____________.

  1. total output falls once too many workers are involved in the production process.

  2. as more laborers are hired, workers increasingly share use of other fixed inputs, and so their ability to be increasingly productive is limited

  3. the first laborers hired are the most qualified, but as the quantity of labor increases the firm draws from a less qualified pool of labor

  4. unemployment rates mean that qualified labour is more and more difficult to find as hiring of labour increases


Correct Option: A
Explanation:

Diminishing marginal returns to labour occurs when the marginal production starts to diminish with increase in the amount of labour used in the production process. This leads to increase in total production at a diminishing rate and a situation may come when the total output is maximized and then tends to fall. 

Utility may be affected by the presence or absence of.

  1. Substitute Goods

  2. Complementary Goods

  3. Both (a) and (b)

  4. Neither (a) and (b)


Correct Option: C

The doctrine of consumer surplus is based on:

  1. Indifference curve analysis

  2. Revealed preference theory

  3. Law of substitution

  4. The law of diminishing marginal utility


Correct Option: D
Explanation:

The doctrine (principle) of consumer surplus is based on the law of DMU.

A rational consumer is a person who ____________.

  1. behaves at all times, other things being equal, in a judicious manner.

  2. is influenced by persuasive advertising

  3. knows the price of goods in different market and buys the cheapest.

  4. has perfect knowledge of the market.


Correct Option: A
Explanation:

A rational consumer is considered to be that person who makes rational consumption decisions.

 In other words, the consumer who makes his choices after considering all the other alternative goods (and services) available in the market is called a rational consumer.

In law of diminishing marginal utility, rationality means __________.

  1. consumer is rational

  2. producer is rational

  3. firm is rational

  4. seller is rational


Correct Option: A
Explanation:

In law of diminishing marginal utility, rationality of consumers refer to the situation when consumers take decisions with reason and logic and without any bias.

Law of diminishing marginal utility states that as the consumer buys more units of a commodity _________.

  1. total utility falls

  2. marginal utility falls

  3. average utility falls

  4. both total and marginal utility falls


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

Law of diminishing marginal utility states that as consumer will increase its consumption of a commodity, the marginal utility derived from every successive unit of consumption will decrease and a situation may come when marginal utility is zero or negative. 

Name the economists who developed:
Marginal utility theory - __________, and
Indifference curve theory - _
_______.

  1. Marshall; Hicks

  2. Hicks; Marshall

  3. Marshall; Samuelson

  4. Robbins: Hicks


Correct Option: A
Explanation:
  • Alfred Marshall was a British economist who developed most of the modern economic theory including utility analysis.
  • John Hicks was a British economist who criticized the utility theory and developed a newer theory on consumer behaviour known as the indifference curve theory. 

Which assumption implies the consumer aims at utility maximisation?

  1. Rationality

  2. Ordinality

  3. Cardinality

  4. None of the above


Correct Option: A
Explanation:

Rationality of consumers refer to the situation when consumers take decisions with reason and logic and without any kind of bias. When the consumer takes rational decision they try to get highest satisfaction by spending least amount of money.

An assumption of the constant marginal utility of money means the importance of money to the consumer is _________.

  1. rising

  2. falling

  3. unchanged

  4. none of the above


Correct Option: C
Explanation:

Constant marginal utility of money means that the utility per unit of money remains unchanged for the consumer. This implies that each additional unit of money provides the consumer with the same level of satisfaction. This leads to the use of money as the measuring rod in utility analysis. 

Which assumption of consumer theory states that if the consumer prefers A to B, then he will not prefer B to A in another time period?

  1. Transitivity

  2. Preference

  3. Rationality

  4. Consistency


Correct Option: D
Explanation:

According to the consistency theory, consumer will not change his preferences in another time period. So if he prefers commodity A over commodity B then he will never prefer B over A. It is one of the assumption of ordinal utility theory analysis.

Law of diminishing marginal utility states that when more and more units of a commodity are consumed, marginal utility ___________.

  1. begins to increase

  2. remains constant

  3. begins to decrease

  4. becomes zero


Correct Option: C
Explanation:

Law of diminishing marginal utility states that as consumer will increase its consumption of a commodity, the marginal utility derived from every successive unit of consumption will decrease and a situation may come when marginal utility becomes zero or negative. 

Consumer equilibrium can be determined only if the law of diminishing marginal utility holds good.

  1. True

  2. False


Correct Option: A
Explanation:

Consumer equilibrium will be achieved only when MU diminishes as more units of a commodity are consumed. In case MU tends to rise, consumption of a commodity will never reach to an end. Thus, determination of equilibrium will never be possible.

The law of equi- marginal utility explains equilibrium of the _______.

  1. consumer

  2. producer

  3. economy

  4. state


Correct Option: A
Explanation:
  • The law of equi-marginal utility is an extension of law of DMU. It states that with the limited that a person has, he aims to spend it on different commodities and earn maximum and equal satisfaction from them. 
  • He should such a combination of goods so that the utility derived from the last unit of the goods are the same. 
  • Thus, it aims to establish equilibrium at that point where the consumers gets maximum satisfaction by consuming a particular combination of goods. 

The law of equi-marginal utility was stated by _______.

  1. Adam Smith

  2. A. C. Pigou

  3. Alfred Marshall

  4. J. B. Say


Correct Option: C
Explanation:

A consumer is in equilibrium position when marginal utility of money expenditure on each goods is the same. This situation holds the law of equi-marginal utility true. For example: if a consumer consumes oranges and apples, then the marginal utility derived from the last rupee spent on either apples or orange will be same.
This law of equi-marginal utility is stated by a British economist named Alfred Marshall.

_______ states that consumer distributes his expenditure between different goods in such a way that the marginal utility derived from the last rupee spent on each good is the same.

  1. The law of demand

  2. The law of diminishing marginal rate of substitution

  3. The law of diminishing marginal utility

  4. The law of equi-marginal utility


Correct Option: D
Explanation:

The law of equi-marginal utility is based on the law of diminishing marginal utility. The equi-marginal principle states that a consumer will be maximizing his total utility when he allocates his fixed money income in such a way that the utility derived from the last unit of money spent on each good is equal.

 A rational consumer substitutes some units of the commodity of greater utility to some units of the commodity of less utility. The result of this substitution will be that the marginal utility of the former (commodity with greater utility) will fall and that of the latter will rise, till the two marginal utilities are equalized.

Consumer is said to be in equilibrium, maximizing his total utility, when

  1. the marginal utilities of the two goods consumed are equal.

  2. the proportions of the marginal utilities and respective prices are equal.

  3. the consumer gets full satisfaction from the consumption.

  4. the consumer feels satisfied with his expenditure on the various goods.


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

According to the law of equi-marginal utility, a consumer is said to be in equilibrium when the ratio of the marginal utilities of the two commodities and their respective prices are equal. This means that the MU of the last rupee spent on each commodity is the same.

The equation it should satisfy is: MUX /PX = MUY/PY

Law of equilibrium marginal utility was propounded by _______.

  1. Marshall

  2. Gossen

  3. Lipsey

  4. Keynes


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

Hermann Heinrich Gossen was a Prussian economist who propounded the law of equilibrium marginal utility.
The law of equilibrium marginal utility states that the consumer will distribute his money income between the goods in such a way that the utility derived from the last rupee spend on each good is equal. In other words, consumer is in equilibrium position when marginal utility of  money expenditure on each goods is the same.

The law of equi-marginal utility can be presented symbolically as ________.

  1. ${ M{ U } _{ a } }/{ { P } _{ a } }={ M{ U } _{ b } }/{ { P } _{ b } }={ M{ U } _{ c } }/{ { P } _{ c } }=..........={ M{ U } _{ n } }/{ { P } _{ n } }$

  2. ${ M{ U } _{ a } }/{ { P } _{ a } }<{ M{ U } _{ b } }/{ { P } _{ b } }<{ M{ U } _{ c } }/{ { P } _{ c } }<..........<{ M{ U } _{ n } }/{ { P } _{ n } }$

  3. ${ M{ U } _{ a } }/{ { P } _{ a } }>{ M{ U } _{ b } }/{ { P } _{ b } }>{ M{ U } _{ c } }/{ { P } _{ c } }>..........>{ M{ U } _{ n } }/{ { P } _{ n } }$

  4. none of the above


Correct Option: A
Explanation:
A consumer is in equilibrium position when marginal utility of money expenditure on each goods is the same. This situation holds the law of equi-marginal utility true. For example: if a consumer consumes oranges and apples, then the marginal utility derived from the last rupee spent on either apples or orange will be same.
In this above mentioned formula, 'a' is one good and 'b' is another, but the marginal utility what a consumer derives from each good is same, which is equal to the marginal utility of money.

Which of the following can be treated as limitation of the law of equi-marginal utility?

  1. Assumption of rationality is not practicable.

  2. Consumers ignorance is a potent factor that always results in other than equilibrium position.

  3. The assumption that the goods on which the consumer spends his money are perfectly divisible, i.e., goods can be bought even in extremely small quantities does not hold true at times.

  4. All of above


Correct Option: D
Explanation:

In real life, consumers do not act rationally while measuring the utility of the product which they are purchasing. Consumers ignore to compare the price and utility of different commodities, due to which they cannot make a rational decision. Moreover, the law of equi-marginal utility does not hold good in case of indivisible goods because comparison is not possible.

___________ law is unrealistic in nature.

  1. Law of DMU

  2. Law of equi-marginal utility

  3. Both a & b

  4. None of the above


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

In real life situation, Law of equal marginal utility is very unrealistic because it is very irrational on the part of the consumer to measure his satisfaction in cardinal number to find the utility he is deriving from a product and then comparing it to the price of the product.

As per the law of equal marginal utility consumer considers __________.

  1. prices

  2. marginal utilities

  3. availability of goods

  4. Both a & b


Correct Option: D
Explanation:

In equal marginal utility case the consumer tries to match the utility which he is getting from a standard unit of a commodity with the price that is prevalent in the market with other factors remaining constant to achieve equilibrium.

When price of both the commodities is same, the consumer attains maximum satisfaction where ________.

  1. $\displaystyle \frac{MU _X}{MU _Y} > \frac{P _X}{P _Y}$

  2. $\displaystyle \frac{MU _X}{P _X} < \frac{MU _Y}{P _Y}$

  3. $\displaystyle \frac{MU _X}{P _X} > \frac{MU _Y}{P _Y}$

  4. $MU _X = MU _Y$


Correct Option: D
Explanation:

When consumer consumes two commodities and their prices are the same, then equilibrium is achieved when consumer equates marginal utility derived from one commodity with the marginal utility derived from another commodity. 

- Hide questions