importance of indifference curve with diagram

The Derivation of Demand Curves from Indifference Curves on JSTOR. All Combinations on an Indifference Curve Give Same Level of Satisfaction As we defined the indifference curvegiving the same level of satisfaction with the different points of combinations of two commodities A, B, C, D and E combinations. While each axis denotes a different form of consumer goodsConsumer GoodsConsumer goods are the products purchased by the buyers for consumption and not for resale. It will be seen from Figure 11.9 that ration amounts of Rx and Ry of goods X and Y respectively are greater than OM and ON which the consumer is buying with his price-income situation. Answer (1 of 7): Indifference curve analysis is very important to the study of economics. If the income effect is stronger than the substitution effect, the net combined effect of rise in wage rate will be to reduce labour supply. One possibility is that with the food-stamp subsidy and resultant kinked budget line B1CL2, in Fig. That is why at point K in Fig. . Indifference curves between income and leisure are therefore also called trade-off curves. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Now, the important question is what is the money value of this price subsidy (RM) on food to the individual. Likewise, Professor Scitovsky remarks, one can make a man happier by giving him cash and letting him spend it as he thinks best than by forcing him to take all his relief in the form of one commodity. If a tangency point is reached between the indifference curve and budget line then you do not have a corner . 1.). If the graph is on the curve or line, then it means that the consumer has no preference for any goods, because all the good has the same level of satisfaction or utility to the consumer. The curve slopes downward as the consumption of commodity A increases in exchange for commodity B. 11.2 which passes through point R. It will be seen from Figure 11.2 that with the budget line CD though the individual can buy the same market basket R, if he so desires, which he was purchasing with price subsidy on food, he is actually in equilibrium at point H on higher indifference curve IC2. read more, theory of exchange, etc. What is indifference curve importance? The meeting of two indifference curves at a point will also lead us to an absurd conclusion. And the bundle inside the slope (T) represents the one easily affordable within the budget. On the other hand, in case of good, case of good X in Figure 11.10 the ration limit Rx does not seem to be effective, though it is potentially binding as it truncates his market opportunity set. work- hours) slopes upward and under what circumstances it bends backward can be explained in terms of income effect and substitution effect of a change in wage rate. Now let us assume that he is given the cash subsidy of B1 B2 so that with the given market price of food, budget line shifts to B2L2. Usually, the combination with the higher satisfaction level is preferred. (5) The consumers tastes, habits and income remain the same throughout the analysis. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. That is, at wage rate w0he supplies TL0 amount of labour. If the Government provides the consumer lump-sum cash grant of RM instead of price subsidy on food, this will amount to increasing the money income of the consumer by RM amount. Consider Figure 11.5 where on the X-axis, good X and on the F-axis money is measured. Thus, indirect tax (excise duty) causes an excess burden on the individual. The slope of the curve at any given point represents utility for any combination of two goods. It Studies Combinations of Two Goods Instead of One Good 3. The difference between the chosen plan of action and the next best plan is known as the opportunity cost. We shall explain below only few applications. It is the locus of points representing pairs of quantities between which the individual is indifferent, so it is termed an indifference curve. It is, in fact, an iso-utility curve showing equal satisfaction at all its points. The latter shows the various combinations of the two commodities such that the consumer is indifferent to those combinations. In the curve, the quantity consumed by B2 will compensate for the increase in the amount consumed by B2. Now, we can bring together the indifference map showing ranking of preferences of the individual between income and leisure, and the income-leisure line to show the actual choice of leisure and income by the individual in his equilibrium position. Consumers can rank a combination of commodities based on their satisfaction levels. It Provides a . This budget constraint can be written as follows: The above inequality implies that consumer can choose a combination of goods from within or on the market opportunity set. Thus the trade-off between income and leisure at this point is M/L. However, such a situation is relevant in case of a poor family whose income is so small that it cannot buy even the rationed quantity. This is depicted in Figure 11.17 where at the equilibrium point E a steeper leisure-income line EK than MT has been drawn. GCD210267, Watts and Zimmerman (1990) Positive Accounting Theory A Ten Year Perspective The Accounting Review, Subhan Group - Research paper based on calculation of faults, Density function, CDF, and final offer arbitration game, CFA Inst - Risk Profiling through a Behavioral Finance Lens. With a given income of the individual and the given price of good X, the price line is PL1 which is tangent to indifference curve IC3 at point Q3 where the individual is in equilibrium position. Thus, movement from point S to H and as a result the decrease in labour supply by L2 L1 represents the income effect of the rise in wage rate. 200 per week which he can spend on food alone. When the wage rate rises to W1 (budget constraint becomes TM1 in panel (a) of Fig. It is the income that serves as a binding on his consumption choice and not the ration limit. We therefore conclude that indifference curves cannot cut each other. Disclaimer 9. 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Lump-sum tax has reduced the individuals welfare less than that by the excise duty. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Copyright 10. The better substitutes the two goods are for each other, the closer the indifference curve approaches to the straight-line so that when the two goods are perfect substitutes, the indifference curve is a straight line. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. We have taken only one schedule, but any number of schedules can be taken for the two commodities. Property I. Indifference curves slope downward to the right: This property implies that an indifference curve has a negative slope. The usefulness of the indifference curves: it helps to distinguish between the substitution effects and the incomes effects. Property II: Indifference curves are convex to the origin: Another important property of indifference curves is that they are usually convex to the origin. Figure 11.11 depicts the case of a relatively rich person who without the binding of rationing is at point E on indifference curves IC1 and is consuming greater quantities of the two goods than the ration amounts. Property III: Indifference curves cannot intersect each other: Third important property of indifference curves is that they cannot intersect each other In other words only one indifference curve will pass through a point in the indifference map 1 his property can be easily proved by first making the two indifference curves cut each other and then showing the absurdity or self-contradictory result it leads to. On the other hand, an indirect tax not only reduces the purchasing power or real income of the consumer causing income effect, but also produces price-induced substitution effect and thus forcing him to purchase less of the commodity on which indirect tax has been levied and buy more of the non-taxed commodity. Thus the indifference curve I4 indicates a higher level of satisfaction than I3 which, in turn, is indicative of a higher level of satisfaction than I2 and so on. We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. Figure 11.16 displays income-leisure equilibrium of the individual. This supply of labour is directly shown against wage rate w0 in panel (b) of Figure 11.18. That is, these food stamps cannot be used to buy non-food goods. Some of these important properties of indifference curve are as follows: 1. A single indifference curve concerns only one level of satisfaction. So, it will be seen from Figure 11.5 that with the imposition of lump sum tax equivalent in terms of revenue raising to the excise duty, we have drawn the budget line AB which is passing through the point Q1. Each individual axis indicates a single type of economic goods. It means that if combination A is preferable to B, and to C, then A is preferable to C. Similarly, if the consumer is indifferent between combinations A and B, and and C, then he is indifferent between A and C. This is an important assumption for making consistent choices among a large number of combinations. 11.1 cost of price subsidy on food to the Government equals RM amount of money. Empirical research conducted in the USA however reveals that most recipients of food stamp programme represent situation depicted in Fig. But ration limit Rx for good X is larger than his optimum or equilibrium consumption quantity of good X. Consumer goods companies and the industry offer a vast range of products that heavily contribute to the global economy.read more, the curve features unique combinations or consumption bundles for any two commodities in points. Therefore, in economics leisure is regarded as a normal commodity the enjoyment of which yields satisfaction to the individual. (7) An indifference curve is negatively inclined sloping downward. If indifference curves were concave or straight lines, the consumer would succumb to monomania, that is, he would buy and consume only one good. The relationship between marginal utility and demand curve is an important concept in economics that helps to explain how consumers make decisions about what to purchase and at what price. The straight line MT is the budget constraint, which in the present context is generally referred to as income-leisure constraint and shows the various combinations of income and leisure among which the individual will have to make a choice. This must be so if the level of satisfaction is to remain the same on an indifference curve. Here, we understand that all three products resting in the indifferent curve give him the same satisfaction. The theory of consumption is based on the scale of preference and the ordinal ranks or orders of one's preferences. This leads us to income-leisure constraint which together with the indifference map between income and leisure would determine the actual choice by the individual. Now, suppose the individual is given food stamps of Rs. Thus, his preferences are such that rationing is not actually binding for him. Consumer goods companies and the industry offer a vast range of products that heavily contribute to the global economy. All combinations give him equal satisfaction. In other words, at point Q2 individuals level of welfare is higher than at Q1. The indifference curve analysis enables us to understand consumer's general demand behaviour with respect to various types of goods which Marshall treated as special cases. At the extreme, when two goods cannot at all be substituted for each other, that is, when the two goods are perfect complementary goods, as for example gasoline and coolant in a car, the indifference curve will consist of two straight lines with a right angle bent which is convex to the origin as shown in Fig. labour supply) L0L2 for leisure. In other words, the indifference curve is relatively flatter in its right-hand portion and relatively steeper in its left-hand portion. As will be seen in Fig. She could also get the same level of utility at point Y, skiing just 1 day and spending 5 days horseback riding. Without this type of analysis, economists would be unable to predict certain behaviors . This means for most of the recipients, food stamp programme has the same effect as a cash subsidy. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". The food stamp programme can affect the recipient in two ways. It means that the price ratio of commodity-1 and commodity-2 should be equal to the marginal rate of substitution of commodity-1 for commodity-2. It is worth noting that the movement from Q3 on indifference curve IC3 to Q1 on indifference curve IC1 is the combined result of the income effect and substitution effect caused by the excise duty. This is because some part of the income which the individual was spending on food prior to food-stamp subsidy gets released because of the food-stamps being used for its purchase and this released income is spent on non-food items. It is important to note that leisure is a normal commodity which means that increase in income leads to the increase in leisure enjoyed (i.e. Another important conclusion from this possible case is that with either food stamp subsidy or cash subsidy the individual buys more of both food and other goods than he buys before the grant of subsidy. Lastly, out of the two possibilities of the effects of food-stamp subsidy and cash subsidy which is the most common result, that is, the most common outcome of the two possible cases presented in Fig. As stated above, when two goods are perfect substitutes of each other, the indifference curve is a straight line on which marginal rate of substitution remains constant. Such a situation arises because a consumer consumes a large number of goods and services. Welcome to EconomicsDiscussion.net! It indicates that the slope of the curve is negative. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. Food Stamp Programme: In-kind Food Subsidy: Food stamp programme is a type of food subsidy to provide poor people with adequate quantity of food. Share Your PDF File The loss of satisfaction to the consumer on account of the downward movement must be made up by the gain through the rightward movement. Hence, relief payments in cash are preferable to a food subsidy because they are economically more efficient, giving the relief receipts either a greater gain at the same cost to the Government or the same gain at a lower cost.. In fact, it would always be so whatever the subsidy and whatever the preferences of consumers so long as only the indifference curves remain convex and smooth. Now suppose that wage rate rises to w1 with the result that income-leisure constraint line rotates to TM1. Thus, the difference TM (or KQ1) between the two is the amount of money which the individual is paying as the excise duty. A glance at panel (b) of Figure 11.18 will reveal that supply curve of labour is upward sloping indicating positive response of the individual to the rise in wage rate. 11.4. Assumptions of Indifference Curve. With the further increase in wage rate to w2, the income-leisure constraint rotates to TM2 and the individual is in equilibrium when he supplies L2 work-hours which are smaller than L1. As explained above in Fig. Meaning of Indifference Curve 2. Disclaimer Copyright, Share Your Knowledge He now works for TL2 hours per day, TL1 at hourly wage rate w and L1L2 at higher wage rate w. This increases the consumption of non-food items also. It explains consumer behaviour in terms of his preferences or rankings for different combinations of two goods, say X and Y. 11.19 that income effect is stronger than substitution effect so that the net result is reduction in labour supply by L0L1 work-hours. Direct taxes are those taxes whose incidence cannot be shifted to others. The farther the Indifference curve from the origin, then: 2. The better substitutes the two goods are for each other, the closer the indifference curve approaches to the straight line so that when the two goods are perfect substitutes the indifference curve is a straight line. Whereas income effect of the rise in wage rate tends to reduce supply of labour, substitution effect tends to increase it. The derivation of supply curve of labour is depicted in 11.18. Thus, the maximum amount of leisure time that an individual can enjoy per day equals 24 hours. It follows that PE is less than RM. An indifference curve is a graphical representation of various combinations or consumption bundles of two commodities. This shows that a part of food stamp subsidy is indirectly used to finance the increased consumption of other goods. On the other hand, the rise in wage rate increases the opportunity cost or price of leisure, that is, it makes enjoyment of leisure relatively more expensive. With stamps of Rs. Though the consumer can buy the ration amount, that is, ration limit is attainable but he is not willing to consume good X as much as the ration limit permits him. Therefore, as a result of rise in wage rate individual substitutes work (and therefore income) for leisure which leads to the increase in supply of labour. Let us explain how a receipt of food stamps affects the budget line, consumption of food and welfare of the individual. Indifference curve analysis can be used to explain an individuals choice between income and leisure and to show why a higher overtime wage rate must be paid if more hours of work are to be obtained from the workers. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. number of hours worked). Before publishing your Articles on this site, please read the following pages: 1. CFA And Chartered Financial Analyst Are Registered Trademarks Owned By CFA Institute. If, for instance, the amount of good X is increased in the combination, while the amount of good Y remains unchanged, the new combination will be preferable to the original one and the two combinations will not therefore lie on the same indifference curve provided more of a commodity gives more satisfaction. This website includes study notes, research papers, essays, articles and other allied information submitted by visitors like YOU. After reading this article you will learn about: 1. It is like a contour map showing the height of the land above sea-level where instead of height, each indifference curve represents a level of satisfaction. An indifference curve is a graphical representation of various combinations or consumption bundles of two commodities. Content Filtrations 6. And this indifference in prices defines the opportunity costs. Consumer Surplus is the difference between the actual price that the customers pay for a product & the maximum price that they are ready to pay (for a single unit). (say apples), quantity of another good (say oranges) must fall so that the total satisfaction (utility) remains same. An indifference curve is the locus of all those combinations of two goods that yields the same level of utility (satisfaction) to the consumer so that the consumer is indifferent to purchase the particular combination s/he selects. Introduction of rationing limits forces him to come to point K on the lower indifference curve IC0 and consume less amounts of both the goods than he would do without the restriction of rationing. Thus, he has sacrificed L1 L2 more leisure to do overtime work and earns M1M2 more income than before. AB is such line obtained after reducing his money income by compensating variation. This implies that in case of lump-sum cash subsidy, the consumer will be better off and consume less food relative to the equilibrium position under price subsidy on food. Pen and ink, right shoe and left shoe, automobile and petrol sauce and hamburger, type writer and typists are some examples of perfect complements. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". Property I. Indifference curves slope downward to the right: This property implies that an indifference curve has a negative slope. That the individual with cash transfer must be better off and his food consumption must be less as compared with price subsidy on food is due to the fact that indifference curves being convex, the budget line CD obtained with cash transfer must intersect the indifference curve IC1 at point R reached with the equivalent price subsidy. Your Mobile number and Email id will not be published. Now, suppose that instead of excise duty, Government levies a direct tax of the type of lump-sum tax on the individual when the individual is initially at point Q3 on indifference curve IC3. In panel (a) on joining points Q, R and S we get what is often called wage-offer curve which is similar to price-consumption curve. Privacy Policy3. When no price subsidy is paid, the individual faces the price line PL1. But a glance at Fig.8.5 will show that this is absurd conclusion since combination A contains more of good Y than combination B, while the amount of good X is the same in both the combinations. This result is of special importance because supporters of food-stamp subsidy have been emphasizing that food subsidy should not be used to finance any part of nonfood unnecessary items such as liquor. (4) The prices of the two goods are given. It, thus, maintains the same level of consumer satisfaction in all combinations. The indifference curve analysis work on a simple graph having two-dimensional. Since PT amount of money is paid by the individual himself, the remaining amount TN or RM (the vertical distance between the price lines PL1 and PL2 at OA amount of food) is paid by the Government as food subsidy for the individual. With a given money income OB1 of an individual and given market price of food, B1L1 is the budget line whose slope represents the price of food (Note that price of money represented on the X-axis is Re. 11.19. You consent to our cookies if you continue to use our website. It is thus clear that for an individual supplier of labour income effect and substitution effects work in opposite directions. He has earned OM1 amount of income by working TL1 hours of work. This is substitution effect of rise in wage rate which tends to increase labour supply by L0L1. It allows the consumer to buy within a given budget, i.e., within their current income. All other points on the budget line to the left or right of point 'E' will lie on lower indifference curves and thus indicate a . Thus, if instead of the food stamps the individual is given equivalent cash income of B1B2 (Note that with given market price of food, cash income of B1B2 can buy B1C quantity of food and thus the two are equivalent), the budget line will shift from L2 to B2 L2. For example, Dalda and Rath Vanaspati, two different brands of cold drink such as Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola are generally considered to be perfect substitutes of each other. The indifference curve technique has come as a handy tool in economic analysis. This shows with rise in wage rate from w0 to w1 resulting in leisure becoming relatively expensive, he substitutes work (i.e. If you enjoy both pizza and pasta, for example, you might not care whether you purchase 20 pizzas and no pasta . In other words, besides analysing consumers demand, indifference curves have several other applications. The consumer is rational to maximize the satisfaction and makes a transitive or consistent choice.

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importance of indifference curve with diagram