How marginal utility affects consumer choice
Religion & Liberty Online

How marginal utility affects consumer choice

Note: This is post #69 in a weekly video series on basic microeconomics.

When we buy a good or make a decision about how to use our time, we do so because we believe we are getting some sort of value from our choice, such as a sense of happiness or satisfaction. Economists call this “utility.” In this video by Marginal Revolution University, Joana Girante discusses the increase in the value from buying an additional unit of a good or service is its marginal utility, and how when you make these decisions, we’re thinking at the margin, even if we don’t realize it.

(If you find the pace of the videos too slow, I’d recommend watching them at 1.5 to 2 times the speed. You can adjust the speed at which the video plays by clicking on “Settings” (the gear symbol) and changing “Speed” from normal to 1.25, 1.5 or 2.)

Click here to see other videos in the Introduction to Economics series.

Joe Carter

Joe Carter is a Senior Editor at the Acton Institute. Joe also serves as an editor at the The Gospel Coalition, a communications specialist for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, and as an adjunct professor of journalism at Patrick Henry College. He is the editor of the NIV Lifehacks Bible and co-author of How to Argue like Jesus: Learning Persuasion from History's Greatest Communicator (Crossway).