Official definition · 官方定义
“The opportunity cost is the value of the next best alternative foregone.”[1]
— Corporate Finance Institute, CFI Resource Library · corporatefinanceinstitute.com ↗ · accessed 2026-10-25
Opportunity cost is the value of the best alternative you give up when you make a choice. It is not what you spent; it is what you could have had instead.
机会成本是做出选择时放弃的最佳替代方案的价值。它不是「你花了多少」，而是「你本可以得到什么」。
Opportunity cost is why holding cash is not free: in a year when equities return 20%, the cost of safety is 20%. It also explains why companies with cheap funding still destroy value — the capital could have gone somewhere better. Every “we are keeping our options open” is a statement about what those options cost.
机会成本解释了为什么持有现金不是免费的：股票涨 20% 的年份，安全感的成本就是 20%。
它也解释了为什么融资成本很低的公司照样会毁灭价值——那笔钱本可以投到更好的地方。所有「我们保持选择开放」的说法，本质都在说明这些选择的代价。
Opportunity cost is a real payment
It is a forgone gain, never an invoice.
Sunk costs are opportunity costs
Sunk money is gone; only future alternatives count.
Doing nothing has no cost
Doing nothing is a choice with a forgone alternative.
· opportunity cost of capital
· a costly delay
· forgo a return
· the cost of waiting
· trade-off
opportunity cost of capital 资本机会成本；a costly delay 代价高昂的拖延；forgo a return 放弃回报；the cost of waiting 等待的成本；trade-off 取舍。
· opportunity cost vs sunk cost
· accounting cost vs economic cost
opportunity cost 是放弃的替代方案，sunk cost 是已经收不回的钱；accounting cost 只记实际支出，economic cost 还算机会成本。
Holding cash carried an opportunity cost of X points as equities rallied.
分析句：股票上涨时，持有现金的机会成本是 X 个百分点——carried 表示承担了这项成本。