Abstract
The concept of opportunity cost (or alternative cost) expresses the basic relationship between scarcity and choice. If no object or activity that is valued by anyone is scarce, all demands for all persons and in all periods can be satisfied. There is no need to choose among separately valued options; there is no need for social coordination processes that will effectively determine which demands have priority. In this fantasized setting without scarcity, there are no opportunities or alternatives that are missed, foregone, or sacrificed.
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Bibliography
Alchian, A. 1968. Cost. Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. 3, 404–15. New York: Macmillan.
Buchanan, J.M. 1969. Cost and Choice. Chicago: Markham. Republished as Midway Reprint, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977.
Buchanan, J.M. and Thirlby, G.F. (eds) 1973. LSE Essays on Cost. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson. Reissued by New York University Press, 1981.
Coase, R.H. 1960. The problem of social cost. Journal of Law and Economics 3, October, 1–44.
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© 1991 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Buchanan, J.M. (1991). Opportunity Cost. In: Eatwell, J., Milgate, M., Newman, P. (eds) The World of Economics. The New Palgrave. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21315-3_69
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21315-3_69
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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