Answer to Question #15156 in Economics of Enterprise for sean

Question

what are trade offs and how do trade offs apply to are daily life?

Answer 1

A trade-off (or tradeoff) is a situation that involves losing one quality or aspect of something in return
for gaining another quality or aspect. It often implies a decision to be made
with full comprehension of both the upside and downside of a particular choice;
the term is also used in an evolutionary context, in which case the selection
process acts as the "decision-maker".
In economics the term is expressed as opportunity cost, referring to the most preferred alternative given up. A trade-off, then,
involves a sacrifice that must be made to obtain a certain product, rather than
other products that can be made using the same required resources. For a person
going to a basketball game, its opportunity cost is the money and time expended,
say that would have been spent watching a particular television
program.