opportunity cost

noun

|Updated on: 10 Jul 2018

Definition of opportunity cost

: the added cost of using resources (as for production or speculative investment) that is the difference between the actual value resulting from such use and that of an alternative (such as another use of the same resources or an investment of equal risk but greater return)

Recent Examples of opportunity cost from the Web

Another possibility is that schooling raises the opportunity cost of getting pregnant, by giving girls more to lose.

— The Economist, "Universal lessons," 5 July 2018
That’s where strategic quitting — and understanding opportunity costs — comes in.

— stephanie lee, New York Times, "Sometimes You Have to Quit to Get Ahead," 5 June 2018
In other words, the opportunity cost of sitting on your hands was less than half as much.

— spencer jakab, WSJ, "Would Cam Newton Buy Stocks Now?," 22 May 2018
Verlander is a rate risk, and his opportunity cost includes passing on the likes of Andrew Benintendi, Jose Abreu, Zack Greinke and Yu Darvish.

— michael beller, SI.com, "Beware! Justin Verlander, Aroldis Chapman Among AL Fantasy Busts," 8 Mar. 2018
The emotional cost and economic cost and opportunity cost that women are enduring and taking on [is huge].

— alyxandra goodwin, Teen Vogue, "Mother's Day Needs to Be Inclusive of Incarcerated Moms, and Here’s How You Can Help," 13 May 2018
Detractors often cite the opportunity cost of investing in a home.

— patrick sisson, Curbed, "To buy or to rent: The great homeownership debate," 20 Apr. 2018
Because average wages tend to rise, the opportunity cost of spending time with your children has grown.

— matthew yglesias, Vox, "Conservatives have no solution for the increasingly bleak economics of raising kids," 3 Apr. 2018
Tony Gibson, board member and former chairman of the Johnson’s Park Neighborhood Association, said the redevelopment of the Milwaukee Mall may be the opportunity cost for improving the area.

— morgan hughes, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Milwaukee Mall's future is uncertain after developer buys former north side Sears," 13 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'opportunity cost.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of opportunity cost

1894

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

Other Economics Terms

actuary, compound interest, globalization, indemnity, portfolio, rentier, stagflation, usurer

Financial Definition of OPPORTUNITY COST

opportunity cost

noun

What It Is

Opportunity cost refers to the value forgone in order to make one particular investment instead of another.

How It Works

For example, let's assume you have $15,000 that you could either invest in Company XYZ stock or put toward a graduate degree. You choose the stock. The opportunity cost in this situation is the increased lifetime earnings that may have resulted from getting the graduate degree -- that is, you choose to forgo the increase in earnings when you use the money to buy stock instead.

Here's another example. Let's say you have $15,000 and your choice is to either buy shares of Company XYZ or leave the money in a CD that earns only 5% per year. If the Company XYZ stock returns 10%, you've benefited from your decision because the alternative would have been less profitable. However, if Company XYZ returns 2% when you could have had 5% from the CD, then your opportunity cost is (5% - 2% = 3%).

Why It Matters

Opportunity cost is all about the most basic of economic concepts: trade-offs. It's a notion inherent in almost every decision of daily life and of investing: if you make a choice, you forgo the other options for now. And what's been given up can sometimes turn out to have been the wiser choice, which is why opportunity cost is best measured in hindsight -- after all, it is impossible to know the end outcome of any investment.

Opportunity costs are a factor not only in consumer decisions, but in production decisions, capital allocation, time management, and lifestyle choices.

Source: Investing Answers

Law Dictionary