Demand for Burgers

We want to use the information so far to describe the consumer's demand for burgers. (We are still working on the theory of demand, after all). Remember, demand is a relationship between the price and the quantity a person wants to buy. So far we have quantity demanded for just one price -- quantity is 3 if the price is $1.98. So we need to generalize and get the quantity demanded for the whole range of prices.

We can do that, using the rule MB=p (as nearly as possible with whole numbers). At any price, the consumer will adjust his consumption of burgers to make MB as nearly as possible equal to the price.

This means:

• When the price is less than $1, the consumer will buy four burgers.
• When the price is between $1 and $2, the consumer will buy three burgers.
• When the price is between $2 and $5, the consumer will buy two burgers.
• When the price is between $5 and $10, the consumer will buy one burger.
• When the price is above $10, the consumer will buy no burgers.

Using this information we can draw a picture of the individual's demand curve for burgers. Here it is. :

Figure 1. The Marginal Benefit of Burgers