Opportunity Cost of Resource Allocation

Steps:

• Identify opportunity cost as the value of the best alternative use of resources forgone.
• Recognize that golf courses require land and water, which have alternative uses in China.
• Consider land use: expanding golf courses likely converts agricultural land, given China's farmland scarcity.
• Evaluate impacts: water use is direct cost, but land conversion leads to lost food production as the key trade-off.

Why B is correct:

• Opportunity cost definition: the highest-valued alternative forgone; here, land for golf courses means lost farmland productivity, essential for China's food security.

Why the others are wrong:

• A: Direct monetary cost of water, not the forgone alternative.
• C: Potential benefit from golf, not a cost or trade-off.
• D: Explicit labor expense, not an opportunity cost.

Final answer: B