The 'Diamond water' controversy is explained by
A. Total utility
B. Marginal utility
C. Price offered
D. Quantity supplied
Answer: Option B
Solution (By Examveda Team)
The 'Diamond water' controversy is explained by marginal utility. Marginal utility is the additional satisfaction or gain someone gets from using or purchasing an additional unit of a particular good or service. People are willing to pay a higher price for goods with greater marginal utility.So, let's go back to water and diamonds. There is plenty of water in most parts of the world (not scarce), which means that, as consumers, we usually have a low marginal utility for water. In a typical situation, we aren't willing to pay a lot of money for one more drink of water. Diamonds, however, are scarce. Because they are harder to find and attain, our marginal utility (additional satisfaction), for adding a diamond to our collection is much higher than someone offering us one more drink of water. If one is dying of thirst, then this paradox might not make sense, and the marginal utility from another drink of water would be much higher than the additional satisfaction of owning a diamond.
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