BU224 · Unit 4

BU224 Unit 4 consumer choice exercise example

Microeconomics Purdue University Global Free custom sample in 24 to 48h

A purchase explained by what it displaced sits at the core of the consumer choice exercise BU224 frequently sets in Unit 4. The worked version here splits a composite 120-dollar monthly leisure budget between meals out and paperback books, finds the bundle where the last dollar on each buys the same satisfaction, then raises the price of a meal and follows what gives way.

What this page holds

Meals out against paperbacks, on a composite 120-dollar budget: the choice this BU224 Unit 4 consumer choice exercise explains through marginal utility per dollar and a price increase. Searches like "bu 224 unit 4 assignment example", "bu224 unit 4 sample" and "bu224 unit 4 example" land here.

What a finished BU224 Unit 4 consumer choice exercise looks like

A worked exercise of about two pages built on one table and three short answers. The table lists marginal utility for the first six meals out at 20 dollars each and the first seven books at 10 dollars, with a column dividing each by its price. The first answer builds the best bundle by buying whichever item offers the most satisfaction per dollar next, arriving at four meals and four books, 120 dollars spent, with the last unit of each yielding 5 utils per dollar. The second answer restates that choice as a trade: at these prices each meal costs two books. The third raises the meal price to 25 dollars. The bundle becomes three meals and four books with 5 dollars unspent, and the answer separates the substitution effect from the loss of purchasing power.

How a BU224 Unit 4 example is structured

The exercise moves from table to rule to trade to change, each step resting on the one before. The table is complete before any answer draws on it, so every later figure can be located. The first answer walks the purchase order item by item, because the equal-satisfaction-per-dollar rule is easier to verify as a sequence than as a claim. The second answer meets the drawer's framing directly: it converts the optimal bundle into the language of alternatives given up, a meal priced in books. The third reruns the purchase order at the new price rather than guessing the outcome, then explains the result in two effects. Substitution pushes spending toward books; lost purchasing power trims both goods. Because the two offset for books, their quantity holds, which the answer reconciles. Utils are called a teaching device.

Two goods, one table

Marginal utility for meals at 20 dollars and books at 10, each divided by price, set out in full before the first answer uses it.

Building the bundle

Items bought in order of satisfaction per dollar until 120 dollars is spent: four meals, four books, 5 utils per dollar at the margin for both.

A meal priced in books

At these prices the fourth meal displaces two books. The answer states the choice as that trade rather than as a utility total.

The meal price rises

At 25 dollars a meal the purchase order is rerun, and the bundle becomes three meals and four books, with 5 dollars left over.

Two effects, one outcome

Substitution toward books and a loss of purchasing power pull opposite ways on books and cancel, while both push meals down.

Where marks go in BU224 Unit 4

Consumer choice exercises most often lose credit by comparing total utility instead of marginal utility per dollar, which ends up buying whichever good is liked more rather than whichever gives more satisfaction for the next dollar. A bundle that overspends the budget, or one reached without showing the purchase order, draws the next deduction in many sections. Forgetting to divide by price, so a 20-dollar meal and a 10-dollar book are compared on raw utils, is a frequent and costly slip. After a price change, answers asserting the new bundle without recomputing it are marked down, as are answers naming only the substitution effect. Explaining the choice purely in utils, with no statement of what one good costs in terms of the other, misses the framing the unit tends to reward.

Get a BU224 Unit 4 example written to your instructions

Share the Unit 4 exercise with its utility table or budget line, plus the instructions and rubric. It comes back worked within 24-48h, purchase order shown and each answer tied to the alternative given up. Nothing is charged for your first custom sample. If a later question changes a price, the rerun is included rather than left as a guess.

BU224 Unit 4 questions, answered

Are utils a real unit of measurement?

No. Utils are a teaching device for ranking satisfaction, and no one claims a meal delivers exactly 100 of them. What matters is the ranking and the ratio to price, which is why the conclusions would hold even if every util figure were doubled. Some sections use indifference curves instead, which avoid numbers for satisfaction entirely.

What if the budget does not divide evenly?

With whole items, the best bundle sometimes leaves a few dollars unspent, because the next item costs more than what remains. That is fine to report. Say how much is left and why no further purchase fits, rather than buying a fraction of an item or quietly exceeding the budget to make the numbers tidy.

My section uses indifference curves. Does the same logic apply?

Yes. The best bundle sits where the budget line just touches the highest reachable indifference curve, the graphical version of equal satisfaction per dollar. A price change rotates the budget line, and the two effects can be separated by drawing a line parallel to the new one. The alternative-given-up framing is simply the slope of the budget line.