kokonaishyödykkeen

Kokonaishyödyke refers to the total utility or satisfaction a consumer derives from consuming a certain quantity of a good or service. It is a fundamental concept in microeconomics, used to understand consumer behavior and demand. Total utility is the sum of all individual marginal utilities gained from each unit of the good consumed. As consumption increases, total utility generally rises, but at a diminishing rate. This means that each additional unit consumed provides less additional satisfaction than the previous one.

The law of diminishing marginal utility states that as an individual consumes more of a good, the extra satisfaction or utility gained from consuming one more unit will eventually decrease. Therefore, while total utility continues to increase with more consumption, its rate of increase slows down. Eventually, if consumption continues to increase, total utility can even reach a point of saturation or decline if the additional units bring disutility. Understanding total utility helps economists model how consumers allocate their limited resources to maximize their overall satisfaction across different goods and services. It is a key component in explaining why demand curves slope downwards.