20 lines
733 B
Markdown
20 lines
733 B
Markdown
# Economic Opportunity Cost
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## Definition
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The foregone benefits that result from limited market access, including the inability to specialise fully, the necessity of self-sufficiency, and the reduced potential for productivity gains through division of labour. Economic opportunity cost represents the price paid for restricted market extent.
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## Source Chapter
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Book I, Chapter 3
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## Context
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Smith illustrates economic opportunity cost through examples: the inability to dispose of one day's work per year for a nailer in the highlands, or the necessity for farmers to be their own butchers, bakers, and brewers, showing what is lost when markets are too small to support specialisation.
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## Economic Domain
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General Theory
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---
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