Samanhyötykäyrä

Samanhyötykäyrä, also known as an indifference curve in English, is a graphical representation of various combinations of two goods or services that yield the same level of satisfaction or utility to a consumer. Each point on a single samanhyötykäyrä represents an equal amount of total utility. Consumers are indifferent between any of these combinations because they all provide the same benefit.

Samanhyötykäyrät are typically depicted in a two-dimensional graph, with the quantity of one good on the x-axis and the quantity of the other good on the y-axis. The curves are generally downward-sloping and convex to the origin. The downward slope signifies that to maintain the same level of utility when consuming more of one good, the consumer must consume less of the other good. The convexity arises from the principle of diminishing marginal utility, meaning that as a consumer has more of one good, they are willing to give up less of another good to obtain an additional unit of the first.

A set of samanhyötykäyrät, known as an indifference map, illustrates a consumer's preferences. Higher curves represent higher levels of utility, indicating greater satisfaction. The point where a budget constraint, representing the consumer's income and the prices of the goods, is tangent to a samanhyötykäyrä signifies the optimal consumption bundle for that consumer, maximizing their utility given their budget.