scarcity and choice

I had to teach a friend today about opportunity cost. Teaching him about economics cost me time and effort I could have used to do other things like sink in a bean bag and read The Devil Wears Prada or go shopping for my thesis defense outfit (still encompassed in the Devil-Wears-Prada world. Well, I'm a living testament to retail therapy. If it weren't for shopping, all women would be dead.).

What is opportunity cost? It's the price (in terms of both money and satisfaction) that you pay in order to get something. It includes the price of what you forego (yes, no matter what income bracket we belong to, we always have choices). Why does foregone opportunity cost you something? Resources are limited; this scarcity constrains us to make decisions.

The opportunity cost of what I've foregone in favor of my present has got me asking, "What if?"

What if...?