📚 Learning Guide
Understanding Economic Profit
hard

Which of the following scenarios best illustrates the implications of negative economic profit when considering opportunity costs and explicit costs?

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Choose the Best Answer

A

A business incurs high explicit costs but generates no revenue, leading to negative economic profit.

B

A firm earns a profit equal to its explicit costs, resulting in zero economic profit.

C

A startup invests a significant amount of money in a project that fails, resulting in a negative economic profit while having other profitable ventures.

D

An entrepreneur continues to operate at a loss because the opportunity cost of shutting down is higher than the losses incurred.

Understanding the Answer

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Answer

Negative economic profit occurs when a business's total costs exceed its total revenues, taking into account both explicit costs, like wages and rent, and opportunity costs, which are the benefits missed by choosing one option over another. For example, imagine someone who starts a bakery but spends $50,000 on ingredients and rent, and only makes $40,000 in sales. Here, the explicit costs are the $50,000, and if they could have earned $30,000 working elsewhere, the opportunity cost adds another layer. This means their total costs are $80,000 when including the missed salary, leading to a negative economic profit of $40,000. In this situation, the negative economic profit shows that the bakery is not a good choice compared to other options, highlighting the importance of considering all costs when making business decisions.

Detailed Explanation

When a business has high costs but makes no money, it shows negative economic profit. Other options are incorrect because This option suggests that breaking even means no economic profit; This scenario mixes different projects.

Key Concepts

opportunity cost
explicit costs
implications of negative economic profit
Topic

Understanding Economic Profit

Difficulty

hard level question

Cognitive Level

understand

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