--%>
Assignment Help - homework help

What is the opportunity cost of your decision

Suppose you arrive at a store expecting to pay $100 for an item, but learn that a store two miles away is charging $50 for it.  Would you drive there and buy it?  How does your decision benefit you?  What is the opportunity cost of your decision?  Now suppose you arrive at a store expecting to pay $6000 for an item, but learn that it costs $5950 at the other store.  Do you make the same decision as before? Perhaps surprisingly, you should!  Explain why.

E

Expert

Verified

Driving to the other store to save $50 does involve some cost in terms of time and inconvenience.  However, for most of us the time it takes to drive two miles would be worth $50.  For example, if it takes about ten minutes extra time and a negligible amount of gasoline (unless your time is worth $300 an hour, or $50 per each ten-minute period), it would benefit you to drive to the other store.  While in the second case, $50 may seem like less compared to the $6000 total price, for you the $50 is still a $50 savings, exactly the same as in the first case.  Therefore, you should apply the same reasoning.  Is the $50 benefit from driving the extra two miles worth the cost?  The conclusion should be the same in both cases.

   Related Questions in Business Economics

  • Q : Problem on Legislature budget XY School

    XY School District has a large number of students in need of remedial instruction. The superintendent of XY School System can allocated her budget between purchasing X units of remedial instruction at a price of $2,000/unit and spending an amount ($Y) on all other sch

    		•
  • Q : Contestable Markets The least probable

    The least probable of the given industries to be a contestable market is: (1) video rentals. (2) pizza delivery. (3) cable television. (4) trucking. Can someone explain/help me with best solution about problem of <

    		•
  • Q : What happens in the resource markets

    What happens in the resource markets?

    		•
  • Q : Calculate the short-run profit or loss

    A perfectly competitive firm produces 3,000 units of a good at a total cost of $36,000. The cost of each good is $10. Calculate the firm's short-run profit or loss. w) loss of $6,000. x) profit of $6,000. y profit of $30,000. z) There is insufficient

    		•
  • Q : Illustrations of opportunity costs

    Illustrations of opportunity costs which you might or will have incurred would comprise: (i) severe injuries suffered within an accident since you failed to buckle up. (ii) the income you could earn when you were not in school. (iii) time spent studyi

    		•
  • Q : Determine relative price when two

    When the prices for doughnuts and croissants are $.50 and $1 correspondingly: (w) the opportunity cost for one doughnut is two croissants. (x) this is better to buy two doughnuts than one croissant. (y) one croissant will make Pierre twice as happy as one doughnut. (z

    		•
  • Q : Illustrate other than price many factors

    Illustrate other than price many factors determine the outcome?

    		•
  • Q : Guardian implies that there really is

    Evaluate and explain the statements: “Market is its own guardian implies that there really is an invisible hand or taskmaster that watches over the decision makers in the marketplace”

    		•
  • Q : Illustrate Other Things Equal revisited

    Illustrate “Other Things Equal” Revisited in Supply and Demand, and Equilibrium?

    		•
  • Q : Problem on utility function Matt’s life

    Matt’s life is divided into two time periods, young and old, and his utility is a function of two “goods”:  consumption when young and consumption whenever old.  Consumption when young and consumption when old are both of normal goods to Ma

    		•