[This is part of the series: The Complete Guide To Economics 101.]
What is cost in economics?
Cost is nothing other than all the expenses that are included in the production of a good or service.
The difference for this in economics is opportunity costs.
For example:
- What income do you give up by going to college instead of working for those 4 years?
- A factory making jeans is maybe giving up the option of producing t-shirts.
- And part of the cost of marrying boy X is that you can’t marry boy Y.
Total cost is this monetary cost, plus the opportunity cost.