Oct 24 2007
SAS Economists Podcast #4: There can’t be too much of a good thing… can there?
Published by Jason Welker at 9:54 am under
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How do brownies relate to economics? First, most people can agree that brownies are, in general, a “good thing†because, well, they’re yummy. And because they are commonly perceived as a “good thingâ€, we have chosen them to be the subject in our exploration of the law of DIMINISHING MARGINAL UTILITY. How can such a “good thing†transform into something revolting in less than ten minutes? Take a look at the results below and listen to our podcast – you’ll see.
SAS Economists Podcast #4: There can't be too much of a good thing... can there?: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
SAS Economists Podcast #4: There can't be too much of a good thing... can there?: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Table 1: Marginal Utility (utils) of Each Brownie for 4 Volunteers
For each volunteer, the marginal utility of each brownie they consumed had decreased, or diminished, evident through the negative slopes of each MU line, but due to the subjectivity of utility, some slopes are steeper than others.
Table 2: Total Utility (utils) of Brownies for 4 Volunteers
For each volunteer, the total utility after each brownie first increased at a decreasing speed, reached a maximum, then decreased at an increasing speed, evident through the upside-down U shapes, or negative parabolas, of the graphs. The difference in the shapes again illustrates the concept of the subjectivity of utility.
About the author: Jason Welker is a teacher at Zurich International School in Switzerland, where he teaches Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Economics. Jason was an international school student in Malaysia before studying economics at Seattle University then earning his Masters in Education. He calls Seattle and Northern Idaho home. In addition to maintaining an economics wiki and this blog for economics student and educators, Jason also gives presentations on using Web 2.0 tools in education at workshops and conferences around the world. His economics wiki won the 2007 "Best Educational Wiki" award from the "EduBlog Awards". 
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Aww, why didn’t you two find me so I could volunteer for this???
Haha, yay for elevator music.
Good job with the podcast and the graphs were really something extra. The podcast audio was really clear, well prepared, smooth, and THOROUGH.
This is very interesting. You showed the law of DIMINISHING MARGINAL UTILITY with live example. Our topic is about piratcy and price elasiticity.
ur podcast is really well done you’ve explained everything so clearly i wish this came out before we learned about it so i wouldnt have to read it.. haha anyway, you gave me a brownie and the first brownie was really a high 10
the interviews were funny too which kept me interested to finish the whole 5 minutes. good job.
Your podcast reminded me of a MTV program that aired a few years ago. Called, “I Bet You Will,” the hosts of this show asked random passerbys to do the most horrific things (ex: eat slugs)to emphasize on how people will do anything for money. Even though your survey lacked the “money component” as well as the “horrifying component,” I thought they were similar as both surveys highlighted how even though most people willingly volunteered to execute certain actions they thought would bring pleasure, they eventually had to stop as it brought them diminishing marginal utility after a certain point. Nice job on your podcast by the way.
I thought this podcast was pretty effective because of the experiment, but I’m positive I could eat more than eight brownies. Anyways, I felt as though the law of diminishing marginal utility was stressed even more with this podcast and I understand it better after listening to it.
This was a really well done podcast. I do have one question though. The quantification of your utility seems so subjective. However, they still really show the law of diminishing marginal utility really well. Great job
haha, just like Ms. Close’s example of the chicken pie…after the fourth one, you’d have to pay the person to eat another one.