OPPORTUNITY COST: The highest valued alternative foregone in the pursuit of an activity. This is a hallmark of anything dealing with economics--and life for that matter--because any action that you take prevents you from doing something else. The ultimate source of opportunity cost is the pervasive problem of scarcity (unlimited wants and needs, but limited resources). Whenever limited resources are used to satisfy one want or need, there are an unlimited number of other wants and needs that remain unsatisfied. Herein lies the essence of opportunity cost. Doing one thing prevents doing another.

     See also | economics | scarcity | unlimited wants and needs | limited resources | resources | scarce resource | free resources | production possibilities | production possibilities frontier | law of increasing opportunity cost | value | satisfaction | consumption | production | economic cost | accounting cost | total cost |

OPPORTUNITY COST, AmosWEB GLOSS*arama, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2025. [Accessed: January 20, 2025].

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Government purchases by the government sector that do not depend on income or production (especially national income or gross domestic product). That is, changes in income do not generate changes in government purchases. Autonomous government purchases are best thought of as government purchases that the government sector undertake independent of income. They are measured by the intercept term of the government purchases line. The alternative to autonomous government purchases is induced government purchases, which do depend on income.

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Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time strolling around a discount warehouse buying club looking to buy either a wall poster commemorating next Thursday or a pair of gray heavy duty boot socks. Be on the lookout for telephone calls from former employers.
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