Blog

As consumers, we buy a variety of goods and services and generate consumer surplus for the majority of them. Please keep this in mind:

Identify three items or services you purchased in the previous year and estimate the amount of consumer surplus you received from those purchases. Please specify the following information for each item:

The most you would have been willing to pay.
The actual price you paid.
The total amount of consumer surplus you received from each item.
Suggestions: Make a point of stating the highest price you would have been willing to pay as well as the price you actually paid. The distinction between these two is your consumer surplus. There are several phrases you can use to express the highest price you are willing to pay, but keep in mind that the following are incorrect:

The amount of money you were willing to pay. Just because you were willing to pay $20 for a product does not imply that this was the most you were willing to pay.
The price you were expecting to pay. Again, this is not necessarily the most you were willing to pay.