Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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 ]
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
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 ...
Over 10 years, most costs become variable as workers can be laid off or new machinery can be bought to replace the old machinery [17] Sunk costs – This is a fixed cost that has already been incurred and cannot be recovered. An example of this can be in R&D development like in the pharmaceutical industry.
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.
Of these, sunk costs, time investment, decision maker experience and expertise, self-efficacy and confidence, personal responsibility for the initial decision, ego threat, and proximity to project completion have been found to have positive relationships with escalation of commitment, while anticipated regret and positive information framing ...
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.