The market demand-(and supply) curve paradox

Abstract

After many years of teaching utility maximization in Microeconomics a certain paradoxical puzzle has come to our attention. It is very simple and straightforward, but we still find it hard to explain it to students. Our hope is that the distinguished community of theoretical economists may help us solve this mystery. After all, we would find it extremely unlikely that we are the first persons to identify this paradox. Keywords: microeconomics, utility maximization, demand curve, market demand curve, supply curve