to wait in line for you.
30 2 • Choice in a World of Scarcity

A fundamental principle of economics is that every choice has an opportunity cost. If you sleep through your

economics class, the opportunity cost is the learning you miss from not attending class. If you spend your

income on video games, you cannot spend it on movies. If you choose to marry one person, you give up the

opportunity to marry anyone else. In short, opportunity cost is all around us and part of human existence.

The following Work It Out feature shows a step-by-step analysis of a budget constraint calculation. Read

through it to understand another important concept—slope—that we further explain in the appendix The Use

of Mathematics in Principles of Economics.

WORK IT OUT

Understanding Budget Constraints
Budget constraints are easy to understand if you apply a little math. The appendix The Use of Mathematics in
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