--%>

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 : External costs and external benefits

    Explain the impact of external costs and external benefits on resource allocation

  • Q : Explain the term Earnings per share

    Briefly explain the term Earnings per share (or EPS)?

  • Q : When are transaction costs to ultimate

    Transaction costs to ultimate consumers are reduced if: (w) consumers travel long distances to buy directly from manufacturers quite than buying the goods at local retail stores. (x) intermediaries generate income while conveying goods from manufactur

  • Q : Determine the relative cost of a product

    If banana divides are $2, CD disks are $10, and SCUBA vacations are $360, then what is the relative cost of a SCUBA vacation in phrases of a CD disk: (i) 36 disks. (ii) 360 disks. (iii) 180 disks. (iv) 20 disks. (v) 3,600 disks.

    Q : Describe unequal burdens of

    Describe unequal burdens of unemployment exist?

  • Q : Economic bailout of Spain and Greece

    Question: Conduct an analysis on the following topic and prepare an Executive Summary-style report with supporting exhibits (Insightful Graphs, tables etc. from quality expert analyst references used to write the r

  • Q : Increase in spending for space research

    Use the circular flow model to confirm this assertion for $50 million increase in spending for space research?

  • Q : Decomposition of Private Sector Can

    Can someone help me in finding out the right answer from the given options. The private sector is decomposed into: (1) Businesses and investors. (2) Households and stockholders. (3) Households and investors. (4) Businesses and households.

  • Q : Conception of the Invisible Hand by

    Conception of the “Invisible Hand” by Adam Smith relies on mechanisms like those as underpin: (1) William Stanley Jevons’ “sunspot” theory of business cycles. (2) the biological concept of Homeostasis. (3

  • Q : Price competition My friend can't

    My friend can't succeed to get the answer of this question. Give me solution of this question. From a heterodox perspective, why does destructive price competition drive enterprises to set up market institutions which would abolish price competition?