What’s the meaning of the phrase ‘A penny saved
is a penny earned’?
Opportunity Cost
This phenomenon goes by the name of ‘opportunity
cost,’ since by not investing in more equipment and
a more rigid production flow, the company is forgoing the opportunity to earn increased profits. These
costs are every bite as real as the payment of dollars
out-of-pocket.
This notion _______ opportunity cost can be reinforced _________ a famous saying ______ Benjamin
Franklin, no slouch himself _________ operations
management. To make the point, however, we must
make a brief excursion into logic. One truth of logic is
the validity of the so-called contrapositive, which says
simply that if the statement “If A, then B” is true, then
it is also true that “If not B, then not A.” That is, of every
time A occurs B follows, then we can be sure that if B
does not occur, then A did not occur as well. Enough
logic then, and back to Ben Franklin.
One of his Poor Richard sayings is that “A penny saved
is a penny earned.” We have all recognized the truth of
that since childhood, but I assert that by this saying
Ben showed us he knows everything about opportunity cost. After all, what is the contrapositive of “A
penny not earned is a penny not saved (i.e., a penny
sent). All we are saying by this notion of opportunity
cost is that “a penny not earned (an opportunity forgone) is a penny spent.” We shall often have occasion
to consider opportunity costs, in analyzing and deciding various operations issues.
SCHMENNER, Roger W. Production/Operations Management. 5th
Edition. Prentice-Hall, 1993.
Opportunity Cost
This phenomenon goes by the name of ‘opportunity cost,’ since by not investing in more equipment and a more rigid production flow, the company is forgoing the opportunity to earn increased profits. These costs are every bite as real as the payment of dollars out-of-pocket.
This notion _______ opportunity cost can be reinforced _________ a famous saying ______ Benjamin Franklin, no slouch himself _________ operations management. To make the point, however, we must make a brief excursion into logic. One truth of logic is the validity of the so-called contrapositive, which says simply that if the statement “If A, then B” is true, then it is also true that “If not B, then not A.” That is, of every time A occurs B follows, then we can be sure that if B does not occur, then A did not occur as well. Enough logic then, and back to Ben Franklin.
One of his Poor Richard sayings is that “A penny saved is a penny earned.” We have all recognized the truth of that since childhood, but I assert that by this saying Ben showed us he knows everything about opportunity cost. After all, what is the contrapositive of “A penny not earned is a penny not saved (i.e., a penny sent). All we are saying by this notion of opportunity cost is that “a penny not earned (an opportunity forgone) is a penny spent.” We shall often have occasion to consider opportunity costs, in analyzing and deciding various operations issues.
SCHMENNER, Roger W. Production/Operations Management. 5th
Edition. Prentice-Hall, 1993.
Gabarito comentado
Resposta correta: C
Tema central: a questão explora o significado do provérbio “A penny saved is a penny earned” e sua relação com o conceito econômico de opportunity cost (custo de oportunidade). Para resolver, é preciso reconhecer que a frase iguala o efeito de poupar ao de ganhar: ambos aumentam a riqueza disponível.
Resumo teórico (síntese): em economia, um ganho economizado tem o mesmo impacto no patrimônio que um ganho adicional — ou seja, conservar um recurso é equivalente a obtê-lo. Essa ideia aparece em textos sobre custos de oportunidade e é comentada pelo autor citado (Schmenner) e em manuais de microeconomia (ex.: Mankiw, Principles of Economics).
Justificativa da alternativa C: a alternativa afirma que poupar o dinheiro que já se tem é tão útil quanto ganhar mais; isso corresponde exatamente à ideia do provérbio: um centavo poupado aumenta seu poder aquisitivo na mesma medida que um centavo ganho. Logo, C capta o sentido pretendido.
Análise das alternativas incorretas:
A — “A penny spent was never a penny won.” Erro: altera sentido (fala de gastar ≠ economizar) e introduz negação/juízo incorreto.
B — “A penny saved was never a penny earned.” Erro: nega a equivalência; contradiz o provérbio.
D — “It is as useless to save money ... as it is to earn more.” Erro: diz o oposto (que é inútil), enquanto o provérbio valoriza a poupança.
E — “It is important to save money that you don’t have as it is to win more.” Erro: fala em poupar o que não se tem (impraticável) e muda “earn” para “win”, distorcendo o sentido.
Estratégia para provas: identifique palavras-chave (save / earn) e procure equivalência semântica; cuidado com negações (never, not) e com mudanças de foco (spend, win, don’t have) — essas costumam ser pegadinhas.
Fontes: SCHMENNER, Roger W. Production/Operations Management; conceitos complementares em MANKIW, N. G. Principles of Economics.
Gostou do comentário? Deixe sua avaliação aqui embaixo!
