Step 1: Read the articles. These articles contain examples of calculating opportunity costs. You will follow these examples to answer one of the questions listed at the bottom of the topic.
The opportunity cost of buying iPhones and Cronuts by Ben Walsh, September 2013
The potential economic costs of Tropical Storm Harvey: Explained by Nathaniel Meyersohn, August 26, 2017
Here’s what an unpaid internship will cost you by Abigail Hess, June 19, 2017
8 Chores That Aren’t Worth Your Time (So Outsource Them!) by Hank Coleman, June 16, 2014
Paying for health care with time – Harvard Gazette
It Costs You $43 to Sit Around the Doctor’s Waiting Room
What is the Value of Exercise? 2,500 by Gretchen Reynolds, September 7, 2016
Listen to Planet-Money: Episode 386: The Cost of Free Doughnuts
You are expected to make your contribution to the main topic and respond with value-added comments to at least two of your classmates. You are encouraged to respond to other students and to your instructor.
Step 2: Choose one case to answer the question from the list below.
You are standing in line. Think about what you would be doing if you were not in this line. The alternatives are infinite and computing the cost of them all is impossible. However, since you could only be doing one thing (not all of them) if you are not in this line, determining the opportunity cost requires only knowing the one thing you would be doing. Calculate in dollars your opportunity costs of standing in line.
Think about what you would be doing if you weren’t in class. The alternatives are infinite and computing the cost of them all is impossible. However, since you could only be doing one thing (not all of them) if you were not in class, determining the opportunity cost requires only knowing the one thing you would be doing. Calculate in dollars your opportunity costs of sitting in class.
The classic example of opportunity cost is the costs of going to college. Illustrate the implicit opportunity cost of foregone income as well as tuition, books, and so on. Think about whether room and board should be considered a cost of college. What are your opportunity costs of going to college? Calculate in dollars your opportunity costs of going to college.
Discuss the opportunity costs of natural disasters. Create your own example of the opportunity costs of a natural disaster. Calculate in dollars the opportunity costs of a natural disaster.
Discuss the opportunity costs of your visiting the doctor’s office. Calculate in dollars the opportunity costs of your visiting the doctor’s office.
Read the articles and create your own example of opportunity costs. Your ideas should be supported by calculation in dollars of opportunity costs.
Step 3: Reflection. Students should also include a paragraph in the initial response in their own words, using microeconomic terminology, reflecting on what they learned from the assignment and how they think they could apply what they learned in the workplace or in everyday life.