Economics gets its fair share of ribbing, including snark along the lines of "if you're so smart why aren't you rich"? Yet economic concepts can help with financial decisions. Economic reasoning does ...

Opportunity cost is a concept in economics that refers to the value of the next best alternative that is forgone when making a choice — i.e., the cost of the best alternative that is not chosen.

Essentially, opportunity cost is the potential benefits or gains an investor, consumer or business misses out on when one alternative is chosen over another. Here are some key takeaways: You cannot ...

Scarcity has been a bedrock feature of economic reality and public policy since at least Adam Smith and possibly the expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Scarcity is the limited availability of ...