Country A can produce 10 yards of textiles or 6 pounds of food per unit of input.Compute the opportunity cost of producing one additional unit of food instead of textiles.
A)1.67 pounds of food per yard of textiles
B)1.67 yards of textiles per pound of food
C)0.6 pounds of food per yard of textiles
D)0.6 yards of textiles per pound of food

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

To compute the opportunity cost, we need to divide the amount of one good that would be given up (in this case, textiles) by the amount of the other good gained (in this case, food). So, the opportunity cost of producing one additional unit of food instead of textiles is:
6 pounds food / 10 yards textiles = 0.6 pounds of food per yard of textiles. 
However, we want the units in terms of amount of the good gained (food) per amount of the good given up (textiles), so we take the reciprocal: 
1 / (0.6 pounds of food / 1 yard of textiles) = 1.67 yards of textiles per pound of food.
Therefore, the correct answer is B.

Country a Can Produce 10 Yards of Textiles or 6