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In economics and business decision-making, a sunk cost (also known as retrospective cost) is a cost that has already been incurred and cannot be recovered. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Sunk costs are contrasted with prospective costs , which are future costs that may be avoided if action is taken. [ 3 ]
Some costs that require firm to comply in order to exit market. For example, remediation costs due to environmental regulations. High fixed exit costs. "can include loans, which the company pays back over time, property costs, vehicle costs or any settlement packages for investors or employees." [6] Indirect opportunity costs of exit: Sunk costs.
When some costs are sunk and some are not sunk, total fixed costs (TFC) equal sunk fixed costs (SFC) plus non-sunk fixed costs (NSFC) or TFC = SFC + NSFC. When some fixed costs are non-sunk, the shutdown rule must be modified. To illustrate the new rule it is necessary to define a new cost curve, the average non-sunk cost curve, or ANSC.
Alamy There are some economic terms most of us know and understand, such as supply and demand. And there are other terms we will probably never even run across, like implicit logrolling and a ...
From the traceability source of costs, sunk costs can be direct costs or indirect costs. If the sunk cost can be summarized as a single component, it is a direct cost; if it is caused by several products or departments, it is an indirect cost. Analyzing from the composition of costs, sunk costs can be either fixed costs or variable costs.
Examples: One of you keeps planning unique date nights or suggesting couples therapy or spicing up your (nonexistent) sex life or—you get it. You keep trying because you’ve already tried so hard.
A costly signal in which the cost of an action is incurred upfront ("ex ante") is a sunk cost. An example of this would be the mobilization of an army as this sends a clear signal of intentions and the costs are incurred immediately. When the cost of the action is incurred after the decision is made ("ex post") it is considered to be tying hands.
It is often important for businesses to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant costs when analyzing alternatives because erroneously considering irrelevant costs can lead to unsound business decisions. [1] Also, ignoring irrelevant data in analysis can save time and effort. Types of irrelevant costs are: [3] Sunk costs [4] Committed costs