Focus on Foreign Aid:
Opportunity Cost

Opportunity cost is the foregone benefit of the next best alternative when an economic decision is made. If the class chooses to go to the library to work on their computer skills instead of having recess, then opportunity cost of the choice is having recess.

Basic Information about Opportunity Cost:

• The Opportunity Cost of a Lifetime: Lesson (National Council on Economic Education)
• Opportunity Cost

Opportunity Cost as it Relates to Foreign Policy and Foreign Aid:

• The Opportunity Cost of the Iraq War (The Center for American Progress)
• The Full Cost of War: Body Bags and Budgets vs. the Opportunity Cost (On Line Opinion,, Australia's e-journal of social and political debate)