我认为,微观经济学中考虑企业生产经营决策活动时,谈及的企业Total Cost就是从机会成本的角度考虑的。一个企业的TC就是等于其所有生产要素的机会成本。在企业生产决策中,所提及的机会成本,可分为显性成本(会计成本)& 隐性成本, 其中显性成本是企业主不拥有的生产资料的机会成本,即其购买价格,隐性成本是企业主已拥有的生产资料的机会成本。通常教科书习惯将TC分为TVC & TFC来进行后述的分析, 但是在介绍成本这个概念的时候,一般都介绍经济学家关心的成本是机会成本rather than 会计成本。
(Below specification is from Wikipedia)
In economics, and cost accounting, total cost (TC) describes the total economic cost of production and is made up of variable costs, which vary according to the quantity of a good produced and include inputs such as labor and raw materials, plus fixed costs, which are independent of the quantity of a good produced and include inputs (capital) that cannot be varied in the short term, such as buildings and machinery. Total cost in economics includes the total opportunity cost of each factor of production as part of its fixed or variable costs.
Opportunity costs in productionOpportunity costs may be assessed in the decision-making process of production. If the workers on a farm can produce either one million pounds of wheat or two million pounds of barley, then the opportunity cost of producing one pound of wheat is the two pounds of barley forgone (assuming the production possibilities frontier is linear). Firms would make rational decisions by weighing the sacrifices involved.
[edit]Explicit costsExplicit costs are opportunity costs that involve direct monetary payment by producers. The opportunity cost of the factors of production not already owned by a producer is the price that the producer has to pay for them. For instance, a firm spends $100 on electrical power consumed, their opportunity cost is $100. The firm has sacrificed $100, which could have been spent on other factors of production.
[edit]Implicit costsImplicit costs are the opportunity costs that in factors of production that a producer already owns. They are equivalent to what the factors could earn for the firm in alternative uses, either operated within the firm or rent out to other firms. For example, a firm pays $300 a month all year for rent on a warehouse that only holds product for six months each year. The firm could rent the warehouse out for the unused six months, at any price (assuming a year-long lease requirement), and that would be the cost that could be spent on other factors of production.Actually implicit cost called by social cost negative effective for any person .