Economics utility question?

Question

If Song were to be given a brand new set of skis, his utility would increase by 150 utils. If Whitney were to be given a brand new set of skis, her utility would increase by 30 utils. Therefore, Song would be happier with a new set of skis than Whitney.

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I want to say that Song would in fact be happier because the utils he will receive are going to be greater than the utils that Whitney would receive. However, can I compare Song's 150 utils to Whitney's 50 utils or are they on different scales? Does it make sense to compare these "utils" of two different people?

Answer 1

you cant compare because of individual tastes you can only compare utils on the same consumer.

Answer 2

Excellent question and I'm glad you noticed the problem! You CAN'T compare the utility of two different people since the scales may be different. The "util" is simply a convenient economic way of analyzing the how a consumer views different consumption bundles. Since happiness is subjective there is no real way of obtaining an objective measurement so it is only useful when looking at the choices a single person faces.