In economics, an agent's preferences are said to be weakly monotonic if, given a consumption bundle, the agent prefers all consumption bundles that have more of every good. That is, implies . An agent's preferences are said to be strongly monotonic if, given a consumption bundle, the agent prefers all consumption bundles that have more of at least one good, and not less in any other good. That is, and imply .
This definition defines monotonic increasing preferences. Monotonic decreasing preferences can often be defined to be compatible with this definition. For instance, an agent's preferences for pollution may be monotonic decreasing (less pollution is better). In this case, the agent's preferences for lack of pollution are monotonic increasing.
Much of consumer theory relies on a weaker assumption, local nonsatiation.
An example of preferences which are weakly monotonic but not strongly monotonic are those represented by a Leontief utility function.
Famous quotes containing the word preferences:
“This is the great truth life has to teach us ... that gratification of our individual desires and expression of our personal preferences without consideration for their effect upon others brings in the end nothing but ruin and devastation.”
—Hortense Odlum (1892–?)