In economics, business, retail, and accounting, a cost's the value of money that's been used up to produce something, and hence isn't available for use anymore. In economics, a cost's an alternative that's given up as a result of a decision. In business, the cost may be one of acquisition, in which case the amount of money expended to acquire it's counted as cost. In this case, money's the input that's gone in order to acquire the thing. This acquisition cost may be the sum of the cost of produ… (More on Cost)