If a commodity is provided free to the public by the Government, then

Q. If a commodity is provided free to the public by the Government, then

1. the opportunity cost is zero. 
2. the opportunity cost is ignored. 
3. the opportunity cost is transferred from the consumers of the product to the tax-paying public.
4. the opportunity cost is transferred from the consumers of the product to the Government.

Answer: the opportunity cost is transferred from the consumers of the product to the tax-paying public.

Opportunity Cost

Opportunity cost is the cost of choosing one alternative over another and missing the benefit offered by the forgone opportunity, investing or otherwise. Opportunity cost refers to a benefit that a person could have received, but gave up, to take another course of action. Stated differently, an opportunity cost represents an alternative given up when a decision is made. This cost is, therefore, most relevant for two mutually exclusive events. In investing, it is the difference in return between a chosen investment and one that is necessarily passed up.

The opportunity cost of a choice is what you gave up to get it. If you have two choices - either an apple or an orange - and you choose the apple, then your opportunity cost is the orange you could have chosen but didn't. You gave up the opportunity to take the orange in order to choose the apple. In this way, opportunity cost is the value of the opportunity lost.