Question

Last year Christine worked as a consultant. She hired an administrative assistant for $15,000 per year and rented office space (utilities included) for $3,000 per month. Her total revenue for the year was $100,000. If Christine hadn't worked as a consultant, she would have worked at a real estate firm earning $40,000 a year. Last year, Christine's explicit costs were ______, and her implicit costs were ______.

Answer 1

Explicit costs - $51,000

Explicit costs are those for which a person incurs in actual spending of money. In this case, Christine had to pay $15,000 in wages, and $36,000 in rent ($3,000 x 12). These are expenses that she had to pay money for, and that had to be accounted for in the accounting books, and in the financial statements. These are in other words, explicit costs.

Implicit costs - $40,000

Implicit costs are simply the opportunity costs. An opportunity cost is the cost of the next more valuable alternative when faced with two or more options. No money is paid for this costs. The implicit costs for Christine were the $40,000 that she not receive as wages if she had continued working at a real state firm.