Final answer:
Opportunity cost represents the value of the best alternative forgone in making a decision, such as the amount of one product that must be sacrificed to obtain additional units of another product.
Step-by-step explanation:
The opportunity cost is best defined as D) It is the amount of one product that must be given up to yield an additional unit of another product. This concept is critical in economics because it represents the value of the best alternative that is not chosen when making a decision.
For instance, if a country like Zambia uses its labor to produce copper, it cannot produce corn during that time. The opportunity cost of harvesting a ton of copper would therefore be the corn that could have been produced with that labor, which according to our example, is two bushels of corn.
Economists define opportunity cost as the value of the best alternative forgone when making a choice. It is the cost of what one must give up to obtain what he or she desires. For example, if a country focuses its resources on producing one good, it gives up the opportunity to produce other goods. This is measured by the amount of one product that must be given up to yield an additional unit of another product.