Opportunity cost is a central concept in decision making. It is difficult to measure because it is the value associated with opportunities foregone. In this paper, we characterize three time-based dimensions of resources to help understand and estimate opportunity costs. These dimensions capture...

Many accounting textbooks state that the opportunity cost of idle fixed assets is zero. A few exceptions refer to repair, overhaul, employee vacation and congestion, giving rise to positive opportunity cost. We show that in important and frequently encountered situations, idled assets have...

This paper presents a framework to help decisions makers better measure the opportunity cost of resources with different granularity. We characterize resources by the intrinsic lumpiness of acquisition (acquisition granularity), storability of benefits (expiration granularity), and control over...

Many accounting textbooks state that the opportunity cost of idle fixed assets is zero. A few exceptions may refer to factors such as repair and overhaul, employee vacation and congestion that give rise to strictly positive opportunity cost. We show that in important and frequently encountered...

Using a setting in which an employer seeks information about talent in order to achieve a proper match between talent levels and tasks, we provide a comparative analysis of two performance evaluation systems widely used in practice ― an absolute performance evaluation system (APE) and a...

We examine a principal-agent setting in which the principal uses a performance measurement system for multiple purposes to provide incentives and for retention decisions. The principal chooses the nature and extent of bias in the system, which determines whether the performance report is...