Final answer:
In the context of business, when identical items are presented with different prices, stores typically honor the lower price, as consistency in pricing maintains customer trust and competitive standing. Decisions to pay more for an item, like in the T-shirt or used car examples, are based on the perceived utility relative to cost.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question pertains to a scenario where a customer presents two identical items with different price tags. In business, there might be various reasons why these prices differ, such as promotional offers, pricing errors, or differences in batch or supplier costs. Considering the information provided in Chapter 8, we learn that in a competitive market, you should not raise the price of a product if it is identical to that of competitors, as customers would switch to buying from them. This suggests that for identical items, consistency in pricing is important to maintain sales and customer trust.
If a customer brings up this discrepancy at the point of sale, the store's pricing policy will dictate the action to take. Typically, stores will honor the lowest price when identical items are marked differently to uphold customer satisfaction and remain competitive. However, this may not always be the case if the higher price can be justified by factors like improved features or additional services.
Considering the table showing the prices of products and amounts spent, it is implied that a sensible economizer will spend more on an item if it offers more utility proportional to its cost. For instance, if we apply this to the T-shirt store example, customers would only spend above $19 on a T-shirt if they perceive the utility of the T-shirt to be worth the price; similarly, Marvin would choose the car based on the utility he expects to derive relative to the cost difference.