Microeconomics: Quiz # 1 October 30, 2006 1. (a) M RSXY = M UX /M UY = (1/x)/1 = 1/x. (b) M RSXY = PX /PY and PX · x + PY · y = IA . Therefore, x = 2 and y = 4. (c) Under the new prices, x′ = 1 and y ′ = 4. To decompose the substitution and income effects, we need to know the original utility level, which is u = ln 2 + 4. We want to know the consumption basket (x′′ , y ′′ ) such that u(x′′ , y ′′ ) = ln 2 + 4 and M RSXY (x′′ , y ′′ ) = PX′ /PY′ . Therefore, x′′ = 1 and y ′′ = ln 2 + 4. The substitution effect is x′′ − x = −1, and the income effect is x′ − x′′ = 0. (d) M RSXY = PX /PY and PX · x + PY · y = IA imply XA (PX ) = 10/PX . (e) d XA (PX )/d PX = −10/PX2 . ε = (d XA (PX )/d PX )(PX /XA (PX )) = −1. (f) M RSXY = PX /PY and PX · x + PY · y = IB imply XB (PX ) = 30/PX . (g) X(PX ) = XA (PX ) + XB (PX ) = 40/PX . (h) X(PX ) = SX (PX ). Therefore, PX = 2. They need to import SX (2) = 20 units of food. 2. Island A is better for him. (I will draw the graph in our next class.) 1