Introduction to Consumer Choices
Read all the sections in this chapter for information on consumer choice, including utility, consumer equilibrium, consumer equilibrium demand, consumer surplus, budget constraint, and consumer equilibrium and indifference curves.
5. Intertemporal Choices in Financial Capital Markets
5.3. The Unifying Power of the Utility-Maximizing Budget Set Framework
The choices of households are determined by an interaction between prices, budget constraints, and personal preferences. The flexible and powerful terminology of utility-maximizing gives economists a vocabulary for bringing these elements together.
Not even economists believe that people walk around mumbling about their marginal utilities before they walk into a shopping mall, accept a job, or make a deposit in a savings account. However, economists do believe that individuals seek their own satisfaction or utility and that people often decide to try a little less of one thing and a little more of another. If these assumptions are accepted, then the idea of utility-maximizing households facing budget constraints becomes highly plausible.