Have you ever encountered a subpar hotel breakfast while on holiday? You don’t really like the food choices on offer, but since you already paid for the meal as part of your booking, you force ...

The sunk cost fallacy addresses the tendency of people to continue on a suboptimal path because they have committed a lot of time or resources to it already. Investors, for example, may double down on ...

Berlin's new airport was supposed to open in 2011 with a budget of 2 billion euros. Instead, it finally opened in 2020 after costing over 6 billion euros. The project was plagued with problems from ...

Do you have a suit or dress in the closet that you haven't worn for years but are reluctant to get rid of? Maybe you say, “I can’t throw that away because I paid good money for it?” Or you have ...

It was a Words with Friends chat that first gave Megan Phelps-Roper pause. People have a marked tendency to cling to past investments, whether financial, social, or emotional—even when it becomes ...

Sunk costs are unrecoverable and should not influence future spending decisions. Not all fixed costs are sunk; some can be recouped, like equipment resale. Sunk costs can result from both everyday ...

Leaving an unfulfilling relationship is tough, as you might struggle to let go of the time you’ve invested. Here are three reasons behind this “sunk cost” mindset and how to move forward. One of ...