Opportunity Cost — The price of what you did not choose

When you spend 200 rupees on a movie, the cost is not 200 rupees. It is whatever else you would have done with that money and those three hours. Economists see every choice as two: the thing you picked and the thing you gave up. Nothing is free, because everything costs time.

• Every hour has an opportunity cost. Studying for an exam costs the hour you could have spent playing.
• Before any decision, ask: what am I giving up? That is the real price.