Binding versus Persuasive Authority. A county court in Illinois is deciding a case involving an issue that has never been addressed before in that state’s courts. The Iowa Supreme Court, however, recently decided a case involving a very similar fact pattern. Is the Illinois court obligated to follow the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision on the issue? If the United States Supreme Court had decided a similar case, would that decision be binding on the Illinois court? Explain. (See Common Law Tradition.)

What is the difference between total utility and marginal utility? a. marginal utility is subject to the law of diminishing marginal utility while total utility is not. b. total utility represents the consumer optimum while marginal utility gives the total utility per dollar spent on the last unit. c. total utility is the total amount of satisfaction derived from consuming a certain amount of a good while marginal utility is the additional satisfaction gained from consuming an additional unit of the good. d. marginal utility represents the consumer optimum while total utility gives the total utility per dollar spent on the last unit.