Feynman teaching note

Opportunity Cost

SubjectEconomics

Area tags

Economics

The real cost of anything is not the money on the price tag; it's the best thing you gave up to get it. That sacrificed alternative is the opportunity cost. Spend a free Saturday playing games and the cost isn't zero. If your next-best option was earning $100 at a part-time shift, the games cost you $100 of foregone earnings, even though nobody charged you. Study medicine for six years and the cost includes not just tuition but the salary you could have earned in those years doing something else. This is why 'free' things often aren't, and why good decisions compare options, not just prices. Every yes is a no to something else, and the something else is the true cost.

Same topic, fresh practice—does not count as an adaptation.

Practice building on this note. If you publish, it can show “Based on” and add an adaptation.

Feedback & gaps

Clarity score: 85/100How well you know it: Can use it anywhere

Explain the opportunity cost of going to university, including the parts that don't appear on any bill.

Doesn't mention that opportunity cost is only the single best alternative, not all of them.
Could connect it to sunk costs as a contrast.

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