IMPLICIT OPPORTUNITY COST: An opportunity cost that does NOT involve a money payment or a market transaction. This should be contrasted with explicit cost that DOES involve a money payment or a market transaction. The common misconception among non-economists out there in the real world is that the term "cost" is synonymous with the term "payment," that is, all costs are explicit costs, to be a cost you have to give up some money. Well, I'm here to tell you that this isn't true. Cost is opportunity cost. It's the satisfaction NOT received from activities NOT pursued. It's the value of foregone production. And not all opportunity costs involve a money payment.

     See also | opportunity cost | money | market | explicit cost | normal profit | accounting cost | economic cost | scarcity |

IMPLICIT OPPORTUNITY COST, AmosWEB GLOSS*arama, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2025. [Accessed: July 2, 2025].

Back to the GLOSS*arama

In general, cost that changes with changes in the quantity of output produced. More specifically, variable cost is combined with the adjectives "total" and "average" to indicate the overall level of variable cost or the per unit variable cost. Variable cost depends on the amount produced. If there is no production, then there is no variable cost.

Complete Entry | Visit the WEB*pedia

Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time at an auction trying to buy either throw pillows for your bed or a package of blank rewritable CDs. Be on the lookout for poorly written technical manuals.
Your Complete Scope

This isn't me! What am I?

-- Harry Truman, 33rd US president

User Feedback