This refers to the difference between the benefit of taking a certain course of action or choosing one <a href="http://wiki.domaincloud.app/index.php?seccion=Contenido&amp;id=2012C0869">option</a> and the forgone benefit or "<a href="http://wiki.domaincloud.app/index.php?seccion=Contenido&amp;id=2013C01170">loss</a>" of taking another course of action or choosing a different <a href="http://wiki.domaincloud.app/index.php?seccion=Contenido&amp;id=2012C0869">option</a>. The New Oxford American Dictionary defines this term outside of economics as "the <a href="http://wiki.domaincloud.app/index.php?seccion=Contenido&amp;id=2013C01170">loss</a> of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen".

If you have made the best choice possible, the <a href="http://wiki.domaincloud.app/index.php?seccion=Contenido&amp;id=2014C01320">opportunity cost</a> would be not receiving the benefit of what would have been gained by making another choice. However, in this case, having made the best choice, you won&acute;t have to incurr any <a href="http://wiki.domaincloud.app/index.php?seccion=Contenido&amp;id=2013C0992">cost</a> and you can compare the benefit you have received (greater) to the benefit you would have received (less). In investing, an <a href="http://wiki.domaincloud.app/index.php?seccion=Contenido&amp;id=2014C01320">opportunity cost</a> is the difference in the return-on-<a href="http://wiki.domaincloud.app/index.php?seccion=Contenido&amp;id=2012C0861">investment</a> made with the possible return-on-<a href="http://wiki.domaincloud.app/index.php?seccion=Contenido&amp;id=2012C0861">investment</a> that could have been made by investing somewhere else, with another <a href="http://wiki.domaincloud.app/index.php?seccion=Contenido&amp;id=2013C01007">company</a> or with a greater/lesser amount of <a href="http://wiki.domaincloud.app/index.php?seccion=Contenido&amp;id=2012C0841">money</a>.