Concept

The Hypothetical Budget Constraint for Isolating the Income Effect

The hypothetical budget constraint is an analytical tool used to isolate the income effect of a price or wage change. It is constructed to have the same slope as the original budget constraint, reflecting the initial opportunity cost, but is shifted outwards to be tangent to the final indifference curve. This allows for a comparison between the original choice and a new hypothetical choice, showing how the individual would adjust their consumption purely due to the increase in purchasing power, as if their income had increased without any change in relative prices.

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Updated 2026-05-02

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