ECONOMICS
OPPORTUNITY COST
Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
|
|
The next best alternative you give up
|
|
All of the choices you could have made but you didn’t
|
|
The chance that you will lose your money
|
|
The money you spend to buy something
|
Detailed explanation-1: -When economists refer to the “opportunity cost” of a resource, they mean the value of the next-highest-valued alternative use of that resource. If, for example, you spend time and money going to a movie, you cannot spend that time at home reading a book, and you can’t spend the money on something else.
Detailed explanation-2: -Opportunity cost is the value of the next best alternative forgone as a result of making a decision. Opportunity cost is a function of scarcity. Because of scarcity, people are faced with trade-offs in how they use their limited resources.
Detailed explanation-3: -“Opportunity cost is the value of the next-best alternative when a decision is made; it’s what is given up, ” explains Andrea Caceres-Santamaria, senior economic education specialist at the St. Louis Fed, in a recent Page One Economics: Money and Missed Opportunities.
Detailed explanation-4: -Opportunity cost is the value of the best opportunity forgone in a particular choice. It is not simply the amount spent on that choice. The concepts of scarcity, choice, and opportunity cost are at the heart of economics. A good is scarce if the choice of one alternative requires that another be given up.