Should Travelers Treat Extra Time as Part of the Trip Budget?
Time is spent even when money is not.
A traveler saves $20 by choosing a complicated route but spends four additional hours navigating transfers and waiting.
The hidden tradeoff is time-for-money exchange. Travel decisions frequently convert one resource into another.
Economists often describe time as a scarce resource because it cannot be replenished once spent.
The insight is that travel budgets contain more than money. Some of the most important costs appear on a clock rather than on a receipt.
