To calculate the opportunity cost for Congo to produce diamonds, we need to understand how much of one good Congo sacrifices to produce another good.
In this question, we are interested in the opportunity cost of diamonds in terms of corn. The opportunity cost can be found using the formula:
[tex]\[ \text{Opportunity Cost} = \frac{\text{Units of Corn Lost}}{\text{Units of Diamonds Gained}} \][/tex]
According to the provided data:
- Congo can produce 20 thousand units of corn per week.
- Congo can produce 5 thousand units of diamonds per week.
When Congo decides to produce diamonds, it sacrifices the production of corn. Therefore, the opportunity cost of producing 1 thousand units of diamonds is the amount of corn that could have been produced instead.
Using the formula:
[tex]\[ \text{Opportunity Cost} = \frac{\text{Congo's Corn Production}}{\text{Congo's Diamonds Production}} \][/tex]
[tex]\[ \text{Opportunity Cost} = \frac{20 \text{ thousand units of corn}}{5 \text{ thousand units of diamonds}} \][/tex]
Simplifying this gives:
[tex]\[ \text{Opportunity Cost} = 4 \text{ thousand units of corn} \][/tex]
Therefore, the correct answer is:
- 4 thousand units of corn
