Final answer:
Gary Becker examined the opportunity cost of post-secondary education, including both the direct costs and foregone wages or experience, making significant contributions to the economics of education.
Step-by-step explanation:
The economist who examined the opportunity cost of post-secondary education is Gary Becker. Becker, a pioneer in the field of human capital and economic analysis of education, explored the idea that there is a cost associated with pursuing higher education. This cost is not only the tuition and related fees but also the foregone wages and experience that a student could have earned if they were working instead of attending school.
Becker's work extended into many areas of human behavior and economic thinking, but his contributions to the understanding of the economics of education were particularly significant. He contended that the decision to invest in education should be analyzed in terms of benefits and costs—the latter including both direct costs and opportunity costs.
His groundbreaking work in the field earned him the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1992 and had important implications for policy-making and individual decisions regarding education.