Figure 6-1 Alison’s Total and Marginal Utility from Drinking Juice
Utility Schedules and Graphs
In Figure 6-1 we make the assumption that utility can be measured (in
units we call “utils”), and thus the different amount of utility received
from consuming different units can be compared. This is a helpful
assumption in allowing us to see the important difference between total
and marginal utility. The figure illustrates the assumptions that have been
made about utility, using Alison’s daily consumption of fruit juice as an
example. The table shows that Alison’s total utility rises as she drinks
more bottles of juice per day. However, the utility that she gets from each
additional juice per day is less than that of the previous one—that is, her
marginal utility declines as the quantity she consumes rises. [ 10 ]