Complete the marginal benefit column starting with the step from 0 gallons to 1 gallon per week.

Completion of the marginal benefit column

Gallons     Total Benefit           Marginal Benefit

/Week      (dollar equivalent)    

       0                0                            0

       1                 4                            4

      2                 8                            4

      3                 11                            3

      4                14                            3

      5                16                            2

      6                18                            2

      7                19                            1

      8                19                            0

Explanation:

a) Data:

Gallons     Total Benefit  

/Week    (dollar equivalent)    

       0               0

       1                4

      2                8

      3               11

      4               14

      5               16

      6               18

      7               19

      8               19

b) The marginal benefit is the monetary value that a consumer is willing to pay to acquire one more unit of a good.  It is similar to marginal utility, except that marginal utility deals with satisfaction or non-monetary value. If the marginal benefit equals the marginal cost, then there is an optimization at the margin, which maximizes static economic efficiency.  And from our calculations above, one can conclude that the optimal number of gallons to consumer per week is 2 gallons.

3,500 beverages

explanation:

answer; is usually (less than) the socially optimal level of consumption;