Consequences: Opportunity Cost

The concept of opportunity cost has been implied, but not directly addressed, by previous posts. Specifically, the consequences of action may be situations that are caused by the action itself, but there is also the negation of other opportunities.

Using something for one purpose prevents its use for other purposes. Wood that is used to fuel a fire cannot be used to build a house - though when the situation is reversed, the wood used to build the house cannot be used to fuel a fire at that time, though the wood may be taken from the house and burned (but at some point, the amount of wood taken would cause the house to no longer exist).

When speaking in terms of commodities, the concept may seem a bit vague. Given a sufficient quantity of wood, some of it may be used to fuel a fire, and some of it may be used to build a house. And if the quantity is insufficient, one may seek out other wood to increase supply to satisfy both purposes. But at some level, "wood" becomes unique: a specific piece of wood can be used for only one of these purposes.

Sufficiency of supply is considered in terms of ethics, but it is also a concept that is of interest to economics: given the scarcity of supply, such that it is not possible for all who demand an item to have use of it, how is the determination made as to which party may use it.

This bears consideration, but not at the present time. For now, I will limit the consideration to a single individual, in possession of an item that will be consumed in undertaking an action, and who must consider that the consequences of his action include the unavailability of the item for other purposes.

Opportunity cost also applies to things that are not tangible - such as time. An individual who chooses to undertake a course of action that consumes time accepts, as part of that decision, that it will not be possible to spend his time doing other things.

In both senses, the decision of which course of action to pursue is to be assessed not merely by its direct outcomes, but by the elimination of other opportunities.