Final answer:
The production possibilities frontier shows the trade-offs between producing different goods. In Tom's lawn service, the opportunity cost of mowing one lawn is approximately 1.67 bushes trimmed. This concept helps in understanding how resources are allocated in production.
Step-by-step explanation:
The concept in question is the production possibilities frontier (PPF), which represents different combinations of goods or services an economy can produce when all resources are fully and efficiently utilized. The slope of the PPF indicates the opportunity cost of producing one good over another, which is key to understanding trade-offs and allocation of resources.
For instance, Tom's landscaping business can mow 3 lawns or trim 5 bushes per hour. With 4 hours, if he devotes all his time to mowing, he can mow 12 lawns (3 lawns/hour * 4 hours) and trim no bushes. Conversely, if he trims bushes for all 4 hours, he can trim 20 bushes (5 bushes/hour * 4 hours). The opportunity cost of mowing one lawn is the number of bushes he could have trimmed instead; from the given information, for every 3 lawns mowed (1 hour), 5 bushes could be trimmed, giving us an opportunity cost of 5/3, or approximately 1.67 bushes per lawn mowed.