Final answer:
Alphonso faces a tradeoff between buying burgers and bus tickets, constrained by his budget. The cost of an additional burger, in economic terms, is the four bus tickets Alphonso must give up, showing the true opportunity cost of the decision.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question relates to the concept of opportunity cost in economics, particularly within the context of a budget constraint. Alphonso is faced with a decision on how to allocate his limited resources between two goods, burgers and bus tickets. Given that he's currently at point D, able to afford 12 bus tickets and two burgers, the cost of an additional burger is not merely its price tag. Economists would consider the cost to be the number of bus tickets Alphonso must forego to stay within his budget. Since each bus ticket costs $0.50, and a burger costs $2, Alphonso would have to give up four bus tickets to afford one more burger. Therefore, the true cost of an additional burger for Alphonso is the four bus tickets he sacrifices.
Illustrating this further, the tradeoff can be seen on a graph with burgers on the vertical axis and bus tickets on the horizontal axis. Point A (zero bus tickets, five burgers) represents the scenario when Alphonso spends all his money on burgers. Conversely, Point F (20 bus tickets, zero burgers) represents the scenario when Alphonso spends all his money on bus tickets. These points demonstrate the extremes of Alphonso's budget constraint.