Answer to Question #314253 in Economics of Enterprise for maya

Question

There is an old adage that says "There is no such thing as a free lunch". This adage relates most closely with which of the following basic economic concepts?

Answer 1

TANSTAAFL), also known as "there is no such thing as a free lunch" (TINSTAAFL), is an expression that describes the cost of decision-making and consumption. The expression conveys the idea that things appearing free always have some cost paid by somebody, or that nothing in life is truly free.

A free lunch refers to a situation where there is no cost incurred by the individual receiving the goods or services being provided, but economists point out that even if something were truly free there is an opportunity cost in what is not taken.

In economics, TANSTAAFL describes the concept of opportunity costs, which states that for every choice made, there is an alternative not chosen which would also have produced some utility. Decision-making requires trade-offs and assumes that there are no real free offerings in society.