INDIFFERENCE CURVE

in economics, graph showing various combinations of two things (usually consumer goods) that yield equal satisfaction or utility to an individual. Developed by the British economist Francis Y. Edgeworth, it is widely used as an analytical tool in the study of consumer behaviour, particularly as related to consumer demand. It is also utilized in welfare economics, a field that focusses on the effect of different actions on individual and general well-being. The classic indifference curve is so drawndownward from left to right and convex to the originthat if a consumer were given his choice between any two points on it, he would not prefer one over the other. Because all of the combinations of goods represented by the points are equally desirable to him, he would be indifferent to the combination actually received. It is also possible to plot indifference curves for combinations of desirable and undesirable entities, which curves do not have the shape described above. An indifference curve is always constructed on the assumption that, other things being equal, certain factors remain constant.