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J CURVE: An interesting relationship that exists between the exchange rate for a nation's currency and its balance of trade. In principle, the drop in a nation's exchange rate, or price of currency, makes the currency less expensive to "buy." With "cheaper" currency the price of domestic production is less and the price of foreign stuff is more, causing an increase in exports to other countries and drop in imports coming in from foreign producers. The economy thus moves in the direction away from a trade deficit and toward a trade surplus. However, the first few months after a drop in the exchange rate the balance of trade goes in the other direction, with any existing trade deficit increasing or any trade surplus shrinking. This occurs because the quantities imported and exported don't change in the short run, but the prices do. Because more is paid for the same amount of imported goods and receive less for the same amount of exports, total spending on imports increases, total revenue received from exports declines, and the movement is in the trade deficit direction. Once those quantities start adjusting in the long run, then we see a movement in the direction of a trade surplus.
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                           ACCOUNTING COST: An actual outlay or expenses incurred in the production of a good that shows up in a firm's accounting statements and records. Accounting cost is an explicit payment (that is, money changing hands) incurred by a firm. Accounting cost, while very important to accountants, company CEOs, shareholders, and the Internal Revenue Service, is only minimally important to economists. The reason is that economists are more interested in economic cost (also called opportunity cost), which is the value of foregone production. Accounting cost is essentially an out-of-pocket, explicit payment that generally compensates the resources used by a firm for the opportunity cost incurred in production. A worker like Phoebe Pankovic, for example, might be paid $10 an hour to produce Wacky Willy Stuffed Amigos (those cute and cuddly armadillos and tarantulas) to compensate for the $10 worth of other goods she is NOT producing at another job. That is, Phoebe could be producing $10 worth of Hot Momma Fudge Bananarama Ice Cream Sundaes rather than Wacky Willy Stuffed Amigos. This $10 hourly expense is an accounting cost of the firm that is also compensation for the economic cost of the worker.However, an economic cost need not be an accounting cost and vice versa. - Economic Cost, No Accounting Cost: In some cases, the resources used by a firm for production incur an economic cost without an explicit payment showing up on the official accounting records. One of the more important examples, especially when the topic turns to the analysis of short-run production, is normal profit. The entrepreneurs of a firm incur the opportunity cost of foregone profit from another business activity, but this is never considered an accounting cost.
- Accounting Cost, No Economic Cost: Alternatively, an accounting cost incurred by a firm might not be paid as compensation for an economic cost. Suppose for example, that Phoebe Pankovic receives an hourly wage of $10 to produce Wacky Willy Stuffed Amigos. However, her opportunity cost, the value of Hot Momma Fudge Bananarama Ice Cream Sundaes production foregone is only $7. In this case only $7 of the accounting cost corresponds to an economic cost. The remaining $3 is an accounting cost that is not compensation for any economic cost. In effect, this extra $3 is actually part of the economic profit of the firm that is received by the worker rather than the entrepreneurs.
Recommended Citation:ACCOUNTING COST, AmosWEB Encyclonomic WEB*pedia, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2026. [Accessed: September 7, 2026].
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A thousand years before metal coins were developed, clay tablet "checks" were used as money by the Babylonians.
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