Trade-offs and Cost

To Nha Notes | Dec. 11, 2022, 10:20 p.m.

What do we mean by cost? We are not only talking about dollars here. “Cost” roughly translates to effort and can involve any or all of these factors:

  • Financial costs (e.g., money)

  • Resource costs (e.g., CPU time)

  • Personnel costs (e.g., engineering effort)

  • Transaction costs (e.g., what does it cost to take action?)

  • Opportunity costs (e.g., what does it cost to not take action?)

  • Societal costs (e.g., what impact will this choice have on society at large?)