Consumer Surplus

"Consumer Surplus" is the difference between how much you pay for something, and how much you'd be willing to pay for it. I ask my students to remember this concept when they're doing their shopping - it certainly helps to put you in a cheerful mood. For instance, I just bought Curb Your Enthusiasm series 3,4 and 5 through Amazon. We don't have television at the moment and have been re-watching series 1 and 2. Having just christened my new American Express I've realised that there's 10 episodes per series, and it's cost me under £30. That's less than a pound per episode. My consumer surplus might not quite be as high as Bryan Caplan's, but happy days...