QUESTION ONE
[25MARKS]
John has the utility function U(Z,B)= 1oz0AB0·6, where Z denotes the amount of food consumed
and B the amount of clothing. Now suppose that he has an income of N$100 per week and that
the price of clothing is Pb= N$10 per unit. Suppose that the price of food is initially Pz1 = N$20
per unit and that the price subsequently falls to P12 =N$10 per unit.
Use income, substitution, and total effect to determine if pizzais a normal good or inferior good
or giffen good.
QUESTION TWO
[30MARKS]
a) What is a basket (or a bundle) of goods?
[2 marks]
b) What does the assumption that preferences are complete mean about the consumer's
ability to rank any two baskets?
[4 marks]
c) Give an example of preferences that do not satisfy the assumption that preferences are
transitive.
[4 marks]
d) Ali is a university student who receives a monthly stipend from his parents of N$5,000.
He uses this stipend to pay rent for housing and to go to the movies. In the town where Ali
goes to university, each square foot of rental housing costs N$2.50 per month. Eachmovie
he attends costs N$12. Let x denote the square feet of housing, and let y denote the
number of movies he attends per month.
i) What is the expression for Ali's budget constraint?
[2 marks]
ii) Draw a graph of Ali's budget line.
[2 marks]
iii) What is the maximum number of square feet of housing he can purchase given his
monthly stipend?
[2 marks]
iv) What is the maximum number of movies he could attend given his monthly stipend
[2 marks]
v) Suppose Ali's parents increase his stipend by 10 percent. At the same time, suppose
that in the university town where he lives, all prices, including housing rental rates and
movie ticket prices, increase by 10 percent. What happens to the graph of Ali's budget
line?
2
[2 marks]