Question

Deborah and Carlos need to decide which one of them will take time off from work to complete the rather urgent task of pruning their trees. Deborah is pretty good with a pole saw; she can prune the trees in 30 minutes. Carlos is somewhat slow; it takes him 5 hours to prune the trees. Deborah earns $130 per hour as a psychiatrist, while Carlos earns $25 per hour as a cobbler.

Keeping in mind that either Deborah or Carlos must take time off from work to prune the trees, who has the lowest opportunity cost of completing the task?

Answer 1

Deborah has the lowest opportunity cost.

Step-by-step explanation:

The opportunity cost of completing the task is the income they stop to earn meanwhile they are pruning their trees.

Deborah earns $130 per hour with her job of psychiatrist. If she prunes the trees, she will spend 30 minutes in doing so. Then, she will have an opportunity cost from those 30 minutes, and it is equal to 130:2 = $65.

Carlos earns $25 per hour with his job of cobbler. If he prunes the trees, he will spend 5 hours of his job. Then, he will have an opportunity cost of 5*25 = $125.

So, Deborah has the lowest opportunity cost.