Final answer:
Sunk costs are costs that cannot be recovered after they have been paid and should be ignored when making future business decisions.
Step-by-step explanation:
Sunk costs are costs that have already been incurred and cannot be recovered.
They are often fixed costs associated with a project or investment. In decision-making, it is important to ignore sunk costs, focusing instead on how future costs and revenues will affect profitability.
This is because sunk costs, by their nature, are lost forever once they have been paid.
Businesses and individuals alike sometimes struggle with the reality of sunk costs, as it can require recognizing that past expenditures were not worth the value anticipated.
The key lesson is to make economic decisions based on potential future gains and avoid letting sunk costs influence current strategic choices.