Question

Mark M. Upp has just been fired as the university book store manager for setting prices too low (only 20% above suggested retail). He is considering opening a competing bookstore near the campus, and he has begun an analysis of the situation. There are two possible sites under consideration. One is relatively small, while the other is large. If he opens at Site 1 and demand is good, he will generate a profit of $50,000. If demand is low, he will lose $10,000. If he opens at Site 2 and demand is high he will generate a profit of $80,000, but he will lose $30,000 if demand is low. He also has decided that he will open at one of these sites. He believes that there is a 50% chance that demand will be high. He assigns the following utilities to the different profits:

U = 50,000 = ? U(-10,000) = 0.22
U = 80,000 = 1 U(-30,000) = 0
For what value of utility for $50,000, U(50000), will Mark be indifferent between the two alternatives?

Answer 1

The utility of Mark for getting a 50,000 profit should be of 0.78 to make both Site option indifferent.

Step-by-step explanation:

To be indifferent between the two sites the utility of Site 1 should match the utility of Site 2

Site 2:

weighted Utility of good demand +

weighted Utility of low demand:

50% x 1 + 50% 0 = 0.5

Site 1

50% of Ux + 50% 0.22

This shold match 0.50 to be indifferent

0.5Ux + 0.11 = 0.50

Ux = (0.50 - 0.11) / 0.5 = 0.39/0.50 = 0.78