ECO3013:

INTERMEDIATE MICROECONOMICS

Chapter 3: Preferences
 Rationality in Economics

 Behavioral Postulate:

A decisionmaker always chooses its

most preferred alternative from its set
of available alternatives.

 So to model choice we must model

decisionmakers’ preferences.
 Preference Relations
Comparing two different consumption
bundles, x and y:
strict preference: x is more preferred than
is y.

weak preference: x is as at least as preferred

as is y.

indifference: x is exactly as preferred as is

y.
 Preference Relations

 Strict preference, weak preference and

indifference are all preference relations.

 Particularly, they are ordinal relations;

i.e. they state only the order in which
bundles are preferred.
 Preference Relations

 denotes strict preference so
x y means that bundle x is preferred
strictly to bundle y.

denotes indifference; x  y means x and y

are equally preferred.
denotes weak preference;
~
x  y means x is preferred at least as much
~
as is y.
 Preference Relations

x 
~ y and y  x imply x  y.
~
 x  y and (not y  x) imply x

~ ~ y.
 Assumptions about Preference
Relations
 Completeness: For any two bundles
x and y it is always possible to make
the statement that either
x y
or
~
y  x.
~
 Assumptions about Preference
Relations
 Reflexivity:Any bundle x is always
at least as preferred as itself; i.e.

x 
~ x.
 Assumptions about Preference
Relations
 Transitivity: If
x is at least as preferred as y, and
y is at least as preferred as z, then
x is at least as preferred as z; i.e.

x  y and y  z x  z.
~ ~ ~
 Indifference Curves

 Take a reference bundle x’. The set of

all bundles equally preferred to x’ is
the indifference curve containing x’;
the set of all bundles y  x’.

 Since an indifference “curve” is not

always a curve a better name might
be an indifference “set”.
 Indifference Curves

x2 x’  x”  x”’
x’

x”

x”’

x1
 Indifference Curves

x2
 
z x y
x

x1
 Indifference Curves
I1 All bundles in I1 are
x2
x strictly preferred to
all in I2.
z
I2

All bundles in I2 are

y strictly preferred to
I3
all in I3.
x1
 Indifference Curves

x2
WP(x), the set of
x bundles weakly
preferred to x.

I(x) I(x’)

x1
 Indifference Curves

x2
WP(x), the set of
x bundles weakly
preferred to x.
WP(x)
includes
I(x) I(x).

x1
 Indifference Curves

x2
SP(x), the set of
x bundles strictly
preferred to x,
does not
include
I(x) I(x).

x1
 Indifference Curves Cannot
Intersect
x2 I2 From I1, x  y. From I2, x  z.
I1 Therefore y  z.

x
y
z

x1
 Indifference Curves Cannot
Intersect
x2 I2 From I1, x  y. From I2, x  z.
I1 Therefore y  z. But from I1

and I2 we see y z, a
contradiction.
x
y
z

x1
 Slopes of Indifference Curves

 When more of a commodity is always

preferred, the commodity is a good.

 If every commodity is a good then

indifference curves are negatively
sloped.
 Slopes of Indifference Curves
Good 2
Two goods
Be a negatively sloped
tte
r indifference curve.

W
or
se
Good 1
 Slopes of Indifference Curves

 Ifless of a commodity is always

preferred then the commodity is a
bad.

 Check textbook on BADS.

 Slopes of Indifference Curves
Good 2
One good and one
r bad a
tt e
e positively sloped
B
indifference curve.
se
or
W
Bad 1
Extreme Cases of Indifference Curves;
Perfect Substitutes
 Ifa consumer always regards units
of commodities 1 and 2 as
equivalent, then the commodities are
perfect substitutes and only the total
amount of the two commodities in
bundles determines their preference
rank-order.
Extreme Cases of Indifference Curves;
Perfect Substitutes
x2
Slopes are constant at - 1.
15 I2
Bundles in I2 all have a total
8 of 15 units and are strictly
preferred to all bundles in
I1 I1, which have a total of
only 8 units in them.
8 15 x1
Extreme Cases of Indifference Curves;
Perfect Complements
 Ifa consumer always consumes
commodities 1 and 2 in fixed
proportion (e.g. one-to-one), then the
commodities are perfect
complements and only the number of
pairs of units of the two commodities
determines the preference rank-order
of bundles.
Extreme Cases of Indifference Curves;
Perfect Complements
x2
45o Each of (5,5), (5,9)
and (9,5) contains
5 pairs so each is
equally preferred.
9
5 I1

5 9 x1
Extreme Cases of Indifference Curves;
Perfect Complements
x2
45o Since each of (5,5),
(5,9) and (9,5)
contains 5 pairs,
each is less
9 I2 preferred than the
bundle (9,9) which
5 I1 contains 9 pairs.

5 9 x1
Preferences Exhibiting Satiation

A bundle strictly preferred to any

other is a satiation point or a bliss
point.
 What do indifference curves look like
for preferences exhibiting satiation?
 Indifference Curves Exhibiting
Satiation
x2
Satiation
(bliss)
point

x1
 Indifference Curves Exhibiting
Satiation
x2 Be
r tte tt e
B e
Satiation
r (bliss)
Bette point
r

x1
 Indifference Curves Exhibiting
Satiation
x2 Be
r tte tt e
B e
Satiation
r (bliss)
Bette point
r

x1
Indifference Curves for Discrete
Commodities
A commodity is infinitely divisible if
it can be acquired in any quantity;
e.g. water or cheese.
 A commodity is discrete if it comes
in unit lumps of 1, 2, 3, … and so on;
e.g. aircraft, ships and refrigerators.
Indifference Curves for Discrete
Commodities
 Suppose commodity 2 is an infinitely
divisible good (gasoline) while
commodity 1 is a discrete good
(aircraft). What do indifference
“curves” look like?
 Indifference Curves With a Discrete
Good
Gas-
oline Indifference “curves”
are collections of
discrete points.

0 1 2 3 4 Aircraft
 Well-Behaved Preferences

A preference relation is “well-

behaved” if it is
monotonic and convex.
 Monotonicity: More of any
commodity is always preferred (i.e.
no satiation and every commodity is
a good).
 Well-Behaved Preferences

 Convexity: Mixtures of bundles are

(at least weakly) preferred to the
bundles themselves. E.g., the 50-50
mixture of the bundles x and y is
z = (0.5)x + (0.5)y.
z is at least as preferred as x or y.
 Well-Behaved Preferences --
Convexity.

x2 x

x2+y2 x+y is strictly preferred

z=
2 to both x and y.
2
y
y2
x1 x1+y1 y1
2
 Well-Behaved Preferences --
Convexity.

x2 x
z =(tx1+(1-t)y1, tx2+(1-t)y2)
is preferred to x and y
for all 0 < t < 1.
y
y2
x1 y1
 Well-Behaved Preferences --
Convexity.
Preferences are strictly convex
x when all mixtures z
x2
z are strictly
preferred to their
component
y bundles x and y.
y2
x1 y1
Well-Behaved Preferences -- Weak
Convexity.
x’ Preferences are
z’ weakly convex if at
least one mixture z
is equally preferred
x to a component
z
y bundle.
y’
 Non-Convex Preferences

x2

B
et
The mixture z

te
r
z is less preferred
than x or y.
y2
x1 y1
 More Non-Convex Preferences

x2

B
et
te
The mixture z

r
z is less preferred
than x or y.
y2
x1 y1
 Slopes of Indifference Curves

 The slope of an indifference curve is

its marginal rate-of-substitution
(MRS).
 How can a MRS be calculated?
 Marginal Rate of Substitution

x2
MRS at x’ is the slope of the
indifference curve at x’

x’

x1
 Marginal Rate of Substitution

x2
MRS at x’ is
lim {x2/x1}
x1 0
x2 x’
= dx2/dx1 at x’
x 1

x1
**Using partial differentiation we will use MRS =MUx / MUy
 Marginal Rate of Substitution
dx2 = MRS  dx1 so, at x’,
x2 MRS is the rate at which
the consumer is only just
willing to exchange
commodity 2 for a small
dx2 x’ amount of commodity 1.
dx1

x1
 MRS & Ind. Curve Properties
Good 2
MRS = - 5
MRS always increases with x1
(becomes less negative) if and
only if preferences are strictly
convex.

MRS = - 0.5 Good 1