Economic profit in the context of "Explicit cost"

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⭐ Core Definition: Economic profit

In economics, profit is the difference between revenue that an economic entity has received from its outputs and total costs of its inputs, also known as "surplus value". It is equal to total revenue minus total cost, including both explicit and implicit costs.

It is different from accounting profit, which only relates to the explicit costs that appear on a firm's financial statements. An accountant measures the firm's accounting profit as the firm's total revenue minus only the firm's explicit costs. An economist includes all costs, both explicit and implicit costs, when analyzing a firm. Therefore, economic profit is smaller than accounting profit.

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👉 Economic profit in the context of Explicit cost

An explicit cost is a direct payment made to others in the course of running a business, such as wage, rent and materials, as opposed to implicit costs, where no actual payment is made. It is possible still to underestimate these costs, however: for example, pension contributions and other "perks" must be taken into account when considering the cost of labour.

Explicit costs are taken into account along with implicit ones when considering economic profit. Accounting profit only takes explicit costs into account.

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Economic profit in the context of Implicit cost

In economics, an implicit cost, also called an imputed cost, implied cost, or notional cost, is the opportunity cost equal to what a firm must give up in order to use a factor of production for which it already owns and thus does not pay rent. It is the opposite of an explicit cost, which is borne directly. In other words, an implicit cost is any cost that results from using an asset instead of renting it out, selling it, or using it differently. The term also applies to foregone income from choosing not to work.

Implicit costs also represent the divergence between economic profit (total revenues minus total costs, where total costs are the sum of implicit and explicit costs) and accounting profit (total revenues minus only explicit costs). Since economic profit includes these extra opportunity costs, it will always be less than or equal to accounting profit.

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Economic profit in the context of Homo economicus

The term Homo economicus, or economic man, is the portrayal of humans as agents who are consistently rational and narrowly self-interested, and who pursue their subjectively defined ends optimally. It is a wordplay on Homo sapiens, used in some economic theories and in pedagogy.

In game theory, Homo economicus is often (but not necessarily) modelled through the assumption of perfect rationality. It assumes that agents always act in a way that maximize utility as a consumer and profit as a producer, and are capable of arbitrarily complex deductions towards that end. They will always be capable of thinking through all possible outcomes and choosing that course of action which will result in the best possible result.

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Economic profit in the context of Business manager

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a business manager as "a person who manages the business affairs of an individual, institution, organization, or company".Compare manager.

Business managers drive the work of others (if any) in order to operate efficiently and (in the case of for-profit companies) to make a profit.They should have working knowledge of the following areas, and may be a specialist in one or more: finance, marketing and public relations. Other technical areas in which a business manager may have expertise include law, science, and computer programming. In some circumstances, business managers even have oversight over human resources.

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Economic profit in the context of Business value

In management, business value is an informal term that includes all forms of value that determine the health and well-being of the firm in the long run. Business value expands concept of value of the firm beyond economic value (also known as economic profit, economic value added, and shareholder value) to include other forms of value such as employee value, customer value, supplier value, channel partner value, alliance partner value, managerial value, and societal value. Many of these forms of value are not directly measured in monetary terms. According to the Project Management Institute, business value is the "net quantifiable benefit derived from abusiness endeavor that may be tangible, intangible, or both."

Business value often embraces intangible assets not necessarily attributable to any stakeholder group. Examples include intellectual capital and a firm's business model. The balanced scorecard methodology is one of the most popular methods for measuring and managing business value.See Business valuation.

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