what does the phrase theres no such thing as free lunch mean in economic terms
There ain't no such thing as a free lunch The phrase and the acronym are central to Robert Heinlein's 1966 science-fiction novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, which helped popularize it.[2][3] The free-market economist Milton Friedman also popularized the phrase[1] by using it as the title of a 1975 book,[4] and it is used in economics literature to describe opportunity cost.[5] Campbell McConnell writes that the idea is "at the core of economics".[6]
Olly olly oxen free Cassidy and Hall write that the phrase may be derived from all ye, all ye outs in free, all the outs in free, or possibly calling all the "outs" in free; in other words, all who are out may come in without penalty.[2] Various calls used for such purposes have gone by the collective name of "ollyoxalls" in some places.[3] Tukey and Rowell speculate that the phrase may be a corruption of a hypothetical and ungrammatical German phrase alle, alle, auch sind frei (all, all, are also free).[1]