The correct answer is: A. Negative slope
Indifference curves are a graphical representation of a consumer’s preferences. They show all the combinations of goods and services that a consumer is indifferent between. In other words, all the combinations of goods and services on an indifference curve give the consumer the same level of satisfaction.
The basic properties of indifference curves are:
- They are downward-sloping. This means that a consumer is willing to give up some of one good in order to get more of another good, as long as the increase in satisfaction from the extra good outweighs the decrease in satisfaction from the less of the other good.
- They are convex to the origin. This means that a consumer is willing to give up less of one good in order to get more of another good, the more of the first good they already have.
- They do not intersect. This means that a consumer cannot be indifferent between two different combinations of goods and services.
- They do not touch the axes. This means that a consumer always prefers to have more of both goods, rather than less of one good and more of the other.
The option that is not a basic property of indifference curves is A. Negative slope. Indifference curves can have a positive slope, but they are usually downward-sloping. This is because consumers are usually willing to give up some of one good in order to get more of another good, as long as the increase in satisfaction from the extra good outweighs the decrease in satisfaction from the less of the other good.