cost of producing an additional snowboard at Plant This opportunity cost equals the absolute value of the slope of the production possibilities curve Figure 2.3 The Slope of a Production Possibilities Curve The slope of the linear production possibilities curve in Figure 2.2 "A Production Possibilities Curve" is constant; it is −2 pairs of skis/snowboard In the section of the curve shown here, the slope can be calculated between points B and B′ Expanding snowboard production to 51 snowboards per month from 50 snowboards per month requires a reduction in ski production to 98 pairs of skis per month from 100 pairs The slope equals −2 pairs of skis/snowboard (that is, it must give up two pairs of skis to free up the resources necessary to produce one additional snowboard) To shift from B′ to B″, Alpine Sports must give up two more pairs of skis per snowboard The absolute value of the slope of a production possibilities curve measures the opportunity cost of an additional unit of the good on the horizontal axis measured in terms of the quantity of the good on the vertical axis that must be forgone Attributed to Libby Rittenberg and Timothy Tregarthen Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books/ Saylor.org 67