Question

Taking business personally: Identify a product whose marginal utility diminishes, beyond some point, the more you consume of it within a given time period.

Answer 1

Diminishing Prices

The law of diminishing marginal utility directly relates to the concept of diminishing prices. As the utility of a product decreases as its consumption increases, consumers are willing to pay smaller dollar amounts for more of the product. For example, assume an individual pays $100 for a vacuum cleaner. Because he has little value for a second vacuum cleaner, the same individual is willing to pay only $20 for a second vacuum cleaner. The law of diminishing marginal utility directly impacts a company’s pricing because the price charged for an item must correspond to the consumer’s marginal utility and willingness to consume or utilize the good.

Example of Diminishing Marginal Utility ( Taking pizza as the product)

An individual can purchase a slice of pizza for $2; she is quite hungry and decides to buy five slices of pizza. After doing so, the individual consumes the first slice of pizza and gains a certain positive utility from eating the food. Because the individual was hungry and this is the first food she consumed, the first slice of pizza has a high benefit. Upon consuming the second slice of pizza, the individual’s appetite is becoming satisfied. She wasn't as hungry as before, so the second slice of pizza had a smaller benefit and enjoyment as the first. The third slice, as before, holds even less utility as the individual is now not hungry anymore.

In fact, the fourth slice of pizza has experienced a diminished marginal utility as well, as it is difficult to be consumed because the individual experiences discomfort upon being full from food. Finally, the fifth slice of pizza cannot even be consumed. The individual is so full from the first four slices that consuming the last slice of pizza results in negative utility. The five slices of pizza demonstrate the decreasing utility that is experienced upon the consumption of any good. In a business application, a company may benefit from having three accountants on its staff. However, if there is no need for another accountant, hiring a fourth accountant results in a diminished utility, as little benefit is gained from the new hire.

Another example of shoes

The utility of a commodity to an individual, i.e., the extent to which it is desired by him, depends on the amount of that commodity already pos­sessed by him. The utility of a pair of shoes will be higher to an individual who does not possess any shoes than to another who already possess three similar pairs of shoes. In other words, the utility of successive units of a commodity to an individual diminishes with every increase in his stock of that commodity.

This tendency towards diminishing utility from successive units of the same commodity is operative in all branches of consumption. The rate of diminution may be slow for some commodities, or rapid for others, but the tendency is still present, and a point will come when further units of the commodity would yield no utility at all.

This generalisation is known as the law of diminishing marginal utility