Which factor is NOT considered in calculating economic costs?

In the context of calculating economic costs, explicit costs, implicit costs, and opportunity costs are all integral components of the overall economic cost analysis. Explicit costs are out-of-pocket expenses that a firm incurs, while implicit costs represent the opportunity costs of resources that are owned by the firm and not purchased or sold in market transactions. Opportunity costs refer to the potential benefits missed when choosing one alternative over another.

Outsourcing costs, however, do not fit neatly into the framework of explicit, implicit, and opportunity costs when calculating economic costs. Outsourcing costs may involve the explicit costs of hiring external services, but they do not represent a distinct category that aligns with the components of economic costs per se. Instead, outsourcing can fall under implicit or explicit costs depending on how expenses are recorded, but it does not constitute a separate factor for economic cost calculations. Thus, considering outsourcing costs as a separate entity for economic cost calculations is not standard practice.