Economic Wages

Economic wages are payments for the worker's opportunity cost of time.

For example, if the best job Charles can find is to earn $7 per hour working for a dry cleaners, then those wages are payments for his opportunity cost of time. He could be working somewhere else making less money. The market rate of $7 implies that his time is worth that much at this stage in his life for his level of experience and education.

See also[edit]

• David Ricardo
• Karl Marx
• Robert Malthus

External links[edit]

• Problems of Modern Industry