A consumer maximizes total utility when:

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Utility is maximized when no feasible reallocation of spending can raise total satisfaction.

1) Relevant knowledge points and concepts
- Total utility: the overall satisfaction from consumption of goods.
- Marginal utility (MU): the additional utility from one more unit of a good.
- Budget constraint and prices: consumers face limited income and goods have prices (Px, Py).
- Equimarginal principle (or utility-maximizing rule): with given prices and income, utility is maximized when MUx/Px = MUy/Py = ... across all goods. If MU per dollar differs, shifting spending increases total utility until equality holds.

2) Step-by-step reasoning
- Consider two goods X and Y, with prices Px and Py and marginal utilities MUx and MUy.
- If MUx/Px > MUy/Py, spending one additional dollar on X instead of Y yields more utility: gain ≈ MUx/Px − MUy/Py > 0.
- The consumer can reallocate expenditure from Y to X (buy more X, less Y) and raise total utility.
- Continue reallocating until MUx/Px = MUy/Py. At that point, any small reallocation gives zero net gain in utility.

3) Intermediate calculation example
- Suppose Px = Py = $1. MUx = 10, MUy = 6. MUx/Px = 10, MUy/Py = 6. Since 10 > 6, shift spending to X increases total utility.
- After shifting until MUx falls to 6 (due to diminishing MU) and MUy rises or stays 6, MUx/Px = MUy/Py = 6. No further beneficial reallocation exists.

4) Why the correct answer is correct
- The statement "choosing more of one good and less of another no longer increases utility" is exactly the practical description of the equilibrium: no reallocation can raise total utility, which is equivalent to MU per dollar equality and thus utility maximization.

5) Why the other options are incorrect
- Option A ("...increases utility"): wrong—utility maximization is reached when further reallocation does not increase utility, not when it does.
- Option C ("marginal utility is maximized"): wrong—marginal utility of a single good is generally diminishing and not the target; we maximize total utility, not a single MU.
- Option D ("marginal utility per dollar spent on each good is highest"): wrong—what matters is equality of MU per dollar across goods, not that each is individually the highest possible; the criterion is no profitable reallocation, not absolute maximization of MU per dollar.

6) Conclusion
This confirms the correct answer: "choosing more of one good and less of another no longer increases utility."

A consumer maximizes total utility when:单项选择题

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