Opportunity cost is the value of the best alternative forgone when a decision allocates a scarce resource. Parameters: the surrendered alternative, the metric of value (monetary, temporal, or utility-based), and the decision context that renders options mutually exclusive. Persists through economics, decision theory, and everyday rational choice reasoning. [formal: opportunity-cost | substrate: behavior | horizon: a moment | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.79]
Accepted ontology entry
opportunity-cost
Opportunity cost is the value of the best alternative forgone when a decision allocates a scarce resource. Parameters: the surrendered alternative, the metric of value (monetary, temporal, or utility-based), and the decision context that r…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A human-made economic concept: the value of the next best alternative forgone when a decision is made. Created by economic theory to quantify the hidden cost of every choice, enabling rational comparison of mutually exclusive options.
Names and aliases
- opportunity-costen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmrh0duup00ii8aeh2a3yoi6kDEPENDS_ON →
Opportunity cost requires scarcity to operate — the cost of choosing one option is the foregone alternative only when resources are limited. Remove scarcity (make all things abundantly available) and the concept of opportunity cost collapses as meaningless. Present-tense operational dependency, Law 8 test passes.
- cmrnpwjwq02y6d1nl4am3t71xSERVES →
Opportunity cost is taught and maintained for the sake of decision-making: it exists as a concept to help people avoid the sunk-cost fallacy and make optimal resource allocation choices.
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 21, 2026, 10:43 PM UTC
- Content hash
- a7b613a6d97976e5b1c873eb8602a4735ab031f698148dd4ba464733f1bf5a5e