How Much Is Enough?
It is said that more is always better. No one says no to more money, more happiness, more goods, or to more comfort. But does that apply in real? When our favorite food is handed over to us, we always want the most significant share. Say, for instance, the pizza; the larger the slice, the more satisfaction. Not only in the case of food, but we can also find it in various other things. Take, for instance, the salary we receive; who says no to a seven-digit salary. I guess no one as long as you aren’t risking everything for it. But some may still display a yes even with the risk involved, which is a separate topic to be dealt with next time. Coming back to our observation, it always appears more is better. Give more toys to kids; the more goodness they find in you. So then it boils down to this thought that we always want and desire one more unit of every good thing, be it a slice of pizza, salary, or a toy. It proves that man is never satiated.
But if this is the case, why do we give up eating after having most of our favorite pizza? Why doesn’t the next month’s salary give us the same happiness and proud feeling as did our first one, and why doesn’t the toy that was held dear last night can soothe a crying child the next day! Well, there is a big guy at play. And this is utility. Whenever we have more of anything continuously, our satisfaction goes down each time we consume one more unit.
Remember when you came home on that hot summer day and hurriedly opened the fridge to gulp the cold water from a bottle, the first gulp was a big one and gave you so much relief. The second one was lesser than the first but still satiating your thirst, the third one was last for you, and the fourth one felt to have no effect. So this explains why we feel an urge to puke when the utility derived is zero. Forceful eating never helps because it doesn’t give us any utility.
But what about the excitement of having a candy each day? Well, I won’t specify this for kids only as we all have a sweet tooth to some extent. We always want to have delicacies each day of our life, but the utility derived will decrease if they are consumed continuously and in standard proportion. So having more may always be preferred and liked by one and all but the satisfaction that the first unit gives is always way more than the satisfaction provided by the next one. And this explains to you why there are more offers when things come combined or in large packets. Economics has a role to play, and it continues to play in every decision of life we make. Nothing out there is done out of thin air. We all make rational decisions and try to maximize our utility to the best of our capacity.
