Rational decision making

Q3 Say why shoppers bought 6% fewer Procter & Gamble goods after its 2022 price rise of 10%.

Q13 Evaluate why UK households stayed with the same service providers in 2022 and paid £1.3bn more than switchers.

Q5 Decide which plate at a $20 US buffet leaves the diner with the greatest total satisfaction, given falling marginal utility.

Q8 Explain rational decision making using Unilever's 13.2% price rise and the 6.8% drop in items bought.

Q8 Explain how herding differs from inertia, using US data on consumers who never change bank.

Q4(a) Give one reason a business acts rationally by putting prices up during excess demand, as in the 2021 UK crisps and petrol shortages.

Q5 Identify the behavioural explanation for 590 000 UK subscribers quitting after Amazon raised its Prime fee.

Q2 UK consumers who stayed with the same home insurer since 2015 paid £238 against £130 for new customers, yet many stay loyal. Identify the most likely reason. (feel undervalued / good computational skills / the free-rider problem / habitual behaviour)

Q1 Identify the consequence of diminishing marginal utility from these choices (total utility rising faster / an upward-sloping supply curve / a downward-sloping demand curve / total utility rising at a constant rate).

Q5 UK consumers loyal to their broadband provider pay about £113 a year extra. Identify which option is an example of inertia rather than another behavioural cause.

Q6(b) Assess, using Extract B, how rational it is for fishing firms to maximise catch for profit while bearing no responsibility for ocean health.

Q5 UK electricity prices rose 10% in April 2020 and a record 668 371 consumers switched supplier. Identify the explanation for the switchers' behaviour.

Q14 Assess measures that could help consumers choose rationally, given Australians sticking with a first bank lose roughly AUD1 500 yearly and loyal UK broadband users pay 12% extra.

Q6 A table records total utility as glasses of fruit juice are consumed; pin down the maximising quantity and where diminishing marginal utility sets in.

Q2 Over 6.4 million UK households switched energy supplier in 2019, saving an average of £290. Identify the explanation for this behaviour.

Q2 Most Singapore consumers have not switched electricity provider despite average savings of 20%. Identify the explanation. (good at computation / maximise utility / influenced by others' behaviour / feel undervalued)

Q12(b) Using Extract B, set out what economists mean by a rational decision.

Q13 Evaluate why consumers act irrationally, given 30% of Australian electricity users won't switch because it takes effort and 22% because they are poorly informed.

Q4 Total utility from successive glasses of milk is tabulated; find the quantity that maximises utility and the point where diminishing marginal utility begins.

Q4 UK mobile phone providers offer new consumers cheaper deals than existing ones, yet many existing consumers do not switch. Identify the explanation. (good at computation / aim to maximise utility / habitual behaviour / feel valued by alternative providers)

Q9 Give one reason Canadian broadband customers stay with dearer suppliers like Bell and Rogers despite 25% savings elsewhere.

Q13 Half of UK gas and electricity customers have never switched supplier despite savings near £200 a year; evaluate why such inertia persists.

Q4(a) Explain the idea of diminishing marginal utility, applying it to the £8.99 all-you-can-eat buffet described.