Exam 2: Preferences

If we graph Mary Granola's indifference curves with avocados on the horizontal axis and grapefruits on the vertical axis, then whenever she has more grapefruits than avocados, the slope of her indifference curve is 22. Whenever she has more avocados than grapefruits, the slope is . Mary would be indifferent between a bundle with 14 avocados and 20 grapefruits and another bundle that has 26 avocados and

A consumer with convex preferences who is indifferent between the bundles (5, 2) and (11, 6) will like the bundle (8, 4) at least as well as either of the first two bundles.

Leo consumes only apples and bananas. He prefers more apples to fewer, but he gets tired of bananas. If he consumes fewer than 24 bananas per week, he thinks that 1 banana is a perfect substitute for 1 apple. But you would have to pay him 1 apple for each banana beyond 24 that he consumes. The indifference curve that passes through the consumption bundle with 31 apples and 36 bananas also passes through the bundle with A apples and 18 bananas, where A equals

Draw graphs with quantities of pepperoni pizza on the horizontal axis and quantities of anchovy pizza on the vertical axis to illustrate the following situations. In each case draw two different indifference curves and make a little arrow pointing in the direction of greater preference. a. Marvin loves pepperoni pizza and hates anchovy pizza. b. Mavis hates anchovy pizza and is completely indifferent about pepperoni pizza.

Coach Steroid likes his players to be big, fast, and obedient. If player A is better than player B in two of these three characteristics, Steroid will prefer A to B. Three players try out for quarterback. Wilbur Westinghouse weighs 320 pounds, runs very slowly, and is quite obedient. Harold Hotpoint weighs 240 pounds, runs extremely fast, and is extremely disobedient. Jerry Jacuzzi weighs 150 pounds, runs at average speed, and is extremely obedient. Does Coach Steroid have transitive preferences? Explain your answer.

Angela consumes goods x and y. Her indifference curves are described by the formula . Higher values of k correspond to better indifference curves.

Nancy Lerner is taking a course from Professor Goodheart who will count only her best midterm grade and from Professor Stern who will count only her worst midterm grade. In one of her classes, Nancy has scores of 20 on her first midterm and 70 on her second midterm. When the first midterm score is measured on the horizontal axis and her second midterm score on the vertical, her indifference curve has a slope of zero at the point (20, 70). Therefore this class could

Professor Stern's colleague, Dr. Schmertz, gives one midterm exam and a final exam. He weights the final twice as heavily as the midterm to determine the course grade. No grades can be dropped. If the midterm score is represented on the horizontal axis and the final score on the vertical axis, and if a student in Dr. Schmertz's class cares only about her course grade, her indifference curve is

Nick's indifference curves are circles, all of which are centered at (12, 12). Of any two indifference circles, he would rather be on the inner one than the outer one.

Explain how it would be possible to cheat someone who had intransitive preferences. Be explicit about what you would offer him if you were trying to exploit his intransitivity and what he would do in response.

Scholastica is taking a class from Professor Chaos. Professor Chaos gives two tests in this course and determines a student's grade as follows. He determines the smaller of the following two numbers: half of the score on the first test (which is a relatively easy test) and the total score on the second test. He gives each student a numerical score equal to the smaller number and then ranks the students. Scholastica would like to be ranked as high as possible in Professor Chaos's rankings. If we represent her score on the first exam on the horizontal axis and her score on the second exam on the vertical axis, then her indifference curves

If preferences are transitive, more is always preferred to less.

Colette consumes goods x and y. Her indifference curves are described by the formula . Higher values of k correspond to better indifference curves.

If Melody has more classical records than rock and roll records, she is willing to exchange exactly 1 classical record for 2 rock and roll records, but if she has more rock and roll records than classical records, then she is willing to exchange exactly 1 rock and roll record for 2 classical records. Melody has convex preferences.

Nancy Lerner is taking a course from Professor Goodheart who will count only her best midterm grade and from Professor Stern who will count only her worst midterm grade. In one of her classes, Nancy has scores of 30 on her first midterm and 50 on her second midterm. When the first midterm score is measured on the horizontal axis and her second midterm score on the vertical, her indifference curve has a slope of zero at the point (30, 50). Therefore this class could

Nancy's psychology teacher will give her a course grade that is the maximum of her scores on three midterm examinations. Nancy has convex preferences over the possible combinations of midterm scores.

A person with reflexive preferences is someone who does not shop carefully.

I prefer 6 apples and 1 orange to 5 apples and 2 oranges. My preferences

Preferences are said to be monotonic if

Blanche Carter has devised a system for rating the males in her economics class. She cares about their intelligence and their looks. She has ranked each male on a scale of 1 to 5 for intelligence and 1 to 3 for looks. She defines a preference relation, R, as follows: xRy if boy x scores at least as high as boy y in either looks or intelligence. Give an example to show that Blanche's method of determining preferences might not lead to transitive preferences.