Economists define profit a bit differently than in accounting. In addition to explicit costs, we also subtract out implicit costs—what you could have earned from the next best alternative.  For example, suppose that you are making $60,000 as an accountant.  You decide to quit your job and open up your own accounting business.  You end up making a profit of $50,000.  How have you done?  Accountants would call this a profit of $50,000 while economists would say that you just lost $10,000 (relative to what you were making before).  So, economists define profits as being equal to total revenues minus total costs, where costs include the opportunity cost. Suppose that a firm had sales revenue of $1 million last year.  It spent $600,000 on labor, $150,000 on capital, and $200,000 on materials.  Calculate the firm’s accounting profit?  If the firm’s factory sits on land owned by the firm that it could rent for $30,000 per year, calculate economic profits.

Economists define profit a bit differently than in accounting. In addition to explicit costs, we also subtract out implicit costs—what you could have earned from the next best alternative.  For example, suppose that you are making $60,000 as an accountant.  You decide to quit your job and open up your own accounting business.  You end up making a profit of $50,000.  How have you done?  Accountants would call this a profit of $50,000 while economists would say that you just lost $10,000 (relative to what you were making before).  So, economists define profits as being equal to total revenues minus total costs, where costs include the opportunity cost.

Suppose that a firm had sales revenue of $1 million last year.  It spent $600,000 on labor, $150,000 on capital, and $200,000 on materials.  Calculate the firm’s accounting profit?  If the firm’s factory sits on land owned by the firm that it could rent for $30,000 per year, calculate economic profits.