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January 16, 2026 

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CARDINAL UTILITY: A measure of utility, or satisfaction derived from the consumption of goods and services, that can be measured using an absolute scale. Cardinal utility exists if the utility derived from consumption is measurable in the same way that other physical characteristics--height and weight--are measured using a scale that is comparable between people. There is little or no evidence to suggest that such measurement is possible and is not even needed for modern consumer demand theory and indifference curve analysis. Cardinal utility, however, is often employed as a convenient teaching device for discussing such concepts as marginal utility and utility maximization.

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PURPLE SMARPHIN
Your compete MICRO*scope for today

You are the type of person who is usually the brightest person in the room, even when seated in a football stadium filled to capacity. Family and friends treat you as a walking encyclopedia, which is okay with you. Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time looking for a downtown retail store seeking to buy either looseleaf notebook paper or a three-hole paper punch. Be on the lookout for letters from the Internal Revenue Service. You should consider shopping at stores or businesses beginning with the letter T, but do not buy any products with a serial number or product code containing the number 935921. Your preferred shopping venue is the Internet. Your special symbol is the exclamation point (!).


Is this You?

As a Purple Smarphin, you are the brightest and most intelligent person you know. And that goes for shopping, too. You know exactly what you want. You know exactly what it costs. You know exactly when and where to buy. But, of course, shopping is only one of the many activities that attracts your intellectual attention. You shop when you need to and buy if have to, but shopping is not the end all of your life.


This isn't me! What am I?
AUTONOMOUS CONSUMPTION

Household consumption expenditures that do not depend on income or production (especially disposable income, national income, or even gross domestic product). That is, changes in income do not generate changes in consumption. Autonomous consumption is best thought of as a baseline or minimum level of consumption that the household sector undertakes in the unlikely event that income falls to zero. It is measured by the intercept term of the consumption function or the consumption line. The alternative to autonomous consumption is induced consumption, which does depend on income.

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Gambling On A State LOTTERY

You might recall during our discussion of gambling in the entry appropriately titled gambling, that I purchased $5 worth of Super Luck-O Multi-State Lottery tickets at the Master's Sprocket convenience store. Well, the day of the big drawing came and went. I was about as close to winning as the planet Pluto is to buying a Hot Mamma Fudge Bananarama Ice Cream Sundae on a cold winter morning. At least the five dollars I paid for lottery tickets goes to a good cause. The state uses a share of the proceeds for education, and that keeps my taxes lower. If you'll excuse me for a moment, I've got another ten bucks in my pocket screaming for the chance to by some more Super Luck-O Multi-State Lottery tickets. While I'm doing that, why don't you see if this is a wise consumption move on my part.
Tell me more...

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APLS

The wealthy industrialist, Andrew Carnegie, was once removed from a London tram because he lacked the money needed for the fare.
"Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keeps friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment."

-- Grenville Kleiser, Author

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