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.

     See also | utility | satisfaction | cardinal | second rule of subjectivity | indifference curve | consumer demand theory | ordinal | ordinal utility | quality of life | util | marginal utility | utility maximization |

CARDINAL UTILITY, AmosWEB GLOSS*arama, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2024. [Accessed: May 2, 2024].

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The official unemployment rate estimated and reported monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) using data from Current Population Survey is one of six alternative measures of unemployment tracked and reported by the BLS, officially labeled sequentially U1 through U6. The "official" unemployment rate is U3. The other five measures seek to document different ways in which labor can be under utilized, including unemployment duration, job losers, discouraged workers, marginal workers, and part-time workers.

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