Final answer:
Cheating carries a range of costs—financial, trust-related, and personal. It affects both individual relationships and professional integrity, with significant impacts on society and economy. The true cost of cheating encompasses direct, indirect, and intangible consequences.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question regarding the monetary cost of cheating and its potentially expensive consequences is true. Cheating undermines trust in professional competences such as those of doctors, lawyers, and engineers. Moreover, in the realm of business, cheating between firms, like Firm A and Firm B, can lead to mutual losses and reduced profits. In economic terms, the opportunity cost of engaging in criminal activities can be high, as it involves forgoing legal and possibly more beneficial uses of time. Additionally, costs of crime include direct costs, indirect costs, and intangible costs, which collectively can have substantial impacts on society and economic conditions as a whole. Finally, social exchanges are influenced by a cost-benefit analysis where individuals weigh the benefits against the costs to determine if the action is worth pursuing. Cheating, whether in personal relationships or business dealings, often yields more costs than benefits, leading to potential financial and personal detriment.