# Questions tagged [utility]

Utility, or usefulness, is the (perceived) ability of something to satisfy needs or wants.

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### How come a representative consumer with quasilinear utility need not economize?

Suppose a representative consumer has the following quasilinear utility function: U_i(x_1,x_2)=ax_1+ax_2-(1/2)*[(x_1)^2+(x_2)^2] + k where a>0 is a utility parameter, x_1 and x_2 are the goods, and ...
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### King–Plosser–Rebelo Preferences and Additively Separable

The wiki of King–Plosser–Rebelo preferences says that the utility function has the multiplicatively separable form $$u(C, L)=\frac{1}{1-\sigma_{c}} C^{1-\sigma_{c}} v(L)$$ and "in the limit case ...
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### Understanding utility function curve and marginal rate of substitution

This example appears in a different question, but there is something I don't understand. Maybe this question is better suitated for algebra stackexchange. John’s utility function for food (f) and ...
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### Proof that $U(\sum_{n=1}^{N}{p_nL_n})=\sum_{n}^{N}{p_nU(L_n)}$

I understand the expected value of a lottery is $\sum_n^N{p_nL_n}$ where there are $N$ possible outcomes, each with a probability $p_n$ with $n=1,...,N$ and $\sum_{n}p_n=1$ (that's rather trivial I ...
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### Marginal Utility vs Cost of production

I have a confusion. Marginal utility is always decreasing and people will not be happy to pay 2 times of price for 2 times of a coffe but I guess the price of producing 2 times of coffe will be the ...