Maria has a budget of $20 to spend on snacks for a movie night. She is considering buying popcorn, candy, and chips. If the marginal benefit of the first bag of popcorn is 10 utils, the first bag of candy is 6 utils, and the first bag of chips is 8 utils, which snack should she purchase first to maximize her utility per dollar spent, assuming popcorn costs $5, candy costs $2, and chips cost $3?

To maximize her utility per dollar spent, Maria needs to look at the marginal benefit of each snack divided by its cost. For popcorn, the marginal benefit is 10 utils and it costs $5, so the utility per dollar is 2 (10/5). For candy, the benefit is 6 utils and it costs $2, giving her a utility per dollar of 3 (6/2). Lastly, chips offer 8 utils at $3, resulting in about 2. 67 (8/3).