Final answer:
Juan's decision illustrates the concept of opportunity cost, where he values the savings for a carrying bag over the features of a more expensive Chromebook model. This shows rational consumer behavior, as he maximizes his total utility within his budget, similar to the example of Alphonso evaluating the utility of bus tickets versus burgers.
Step-by-step explanation:
Juan's decision to purchase a new Chromebook for $150 on Black Friday, even though he could have spent $25 more for a better model, illustrates the concept of utility. Juan is satisfied with his decision because he values the savings which he can use to buy a bag for the Chromebook. This demonstrates the economic principle where a rational consumer makes a purchase based on the satisfaction or utility derived from the goods within the limits of their budget constraint. While the better model could have provided more features, Juan determined that the additional satisfaction (marginal utility) from those features was not worth the opportunity cost, which in this case, is the marginal utility of a carrying bag. Essentially, he maximized his total utility by allocating his resources on what he values more.
In this context, the utility concept illustrated is opportunity cost. The opportunity cost is what a person sacrifices when they choose one option over another. Juan sacrificed the potential extra features of the better model for the utility he believed he would gain from the carrying bag.
To connect Juan's situation with the provided information: Just as Alphonso would only purchase more bus tickets as long as the marginal utility exceeds the opportunity cost, Juan made a similar calculation. He chose not to spend the additional $25 on a better Chromebook model because the utility he would gain from the bag outweighed the utility of the better model's features, demonstrating a rational consumer behavior.