Table 9-1

Rob Crusoe and Bill Friday spent their week-long vacation on a desert island where they had to find and make their own food. Rob and Bill spent one day each fishing and picking berries. The following table lists the pounds of output Rob and Bill produced.
-Refer to Table 9-1.Use the table above to select the statement that accurately interprets the data in the table.
A) Bill has a greater opportunity cost than Rob for picking berries.
B) Bill's opportunity cost for catching fish is less than Rob's.
C) Rob has a greater opportunity cost than Bill for picking berries.
D) Bill's opportunity cost for picking berries and catching fish are both greater than Rob's.

Question

Table 9-1
  
Rob Crusoe and Bill Friday spent their week-long vacation on a desert island where they had to find and make their own food. Rob and Bill spent one day each fishing and picking berries. The following table lists the pounds of output Rob and Bill produced.
-Refer to Table 9-1.Use the table above to select the statement that accurately interprets the data in the table.
A) Bill has a greater opportunity cost than Rob for picking berries. 
B) Bill's opportunity cost for catching fish is less than Rob's. 
C) Rob has a greater opportunity cost than Bill for picking berries. 
D) Bill's opportunity cost for picking berries and catching fish are both greater than Rob's.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Opportunity cost is the cost of giving up one option in favor of another. From the table, we can see that Rob produced 5 pounds of fish and 1 pound of berries while Bill produced 3 pounds of fish and 3 pounds of berries. Therefore, Rob's opportunity cost for picking berries was 5 pounds of fish while Bill's opportunity cost for picking berries was only 1 pound of fish. This means that Rob has a greater opportunity cost than Bill for picking berries, making choice C the correct answer.

Table 9-1 Rob Crusoe and Bill Friday Spent Their Week-Long Vacation on Spent