Answer
A trade-off can be viewed as a compromise between two desirable things. In economics, trade-off usually includes opportunity cost: the best alternative foregone. Spending trade-offs are when money is sent on one good or service over another.
Examples of trade-offs include:
1) Spending time to study economics over mathematics.
2) Whether to use your last 15 dollars to purchase a pizza or to buy a study guide for that tough economics course.
3) When a company decides to use a labor-intensive method of production with higher wage cost rather than a capital intensive method of production.
Work Step by Step
Note that the student can find the answer in Principle #1: People Face Trade-offs and write their own examples of "trade-offs" in their own words.