Corner solution

A corner solution is a special solution to an agent's maximization problem in which the quantity of one of the arguments in the maximized function is zero. In non-technical terms, a corner solution is when the chooser is either unwilling or unable to make a tradeoff. In economics when someone says "I wouldn't buy that at any price" or "I will do X no matter the cost," those are corner solutions. Another example is "zero-tolerance" policies, or parents who are unwilling to expose their children to any risk, no matter how small and no matter what the benefits of the activity might be. "Nothing is more important than my child's safety" is a corner solution in its refusal to admit there might be tradeoffs. The term "corner solution" is sometimes used by economists in a more colloquial fashion to refer to these sorts of situations. The word "corner" refers to the fact that if one graphs the maximization problem, the optimal point will occur at the "corner" created by the budget constraint and one axis.