Opportunity Costs in Production
Opportunity costs may be assessed in the decision-making process of production. If the workers on a farm can produce either one million pounds of wheat or two million pounds of barley, then the opportunity cost of producing one pound of wheat is the two pounds of barley forgone (assuming the production possibilities frontier is linear). Firms would make rational decisions by weighing the sacrifices involved.
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Famous quotes containing the words opportunity, costs and/or production:
“I never thought that the possession of money would make me feel rich: it often does seem to have an opposite effect. But then, I have never had the opportunity of knowing, by experience, how it does make one feel. It is something to have been spared the responsibility of taking charge of the Lord’s silver and gold.”
—Lucy Larcom (1824–1893)
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—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
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—Friedrich Engels (1820–1895)