Opportunity cost refers to the benefit foregone by choosing one alternative over another.

To bolster national defense, government has to increase

spending on defense, and assuming government budget is unchanged, it means government spending on non-defese goods has to decrease. If
government lowers its spending on infrastructure, education and other social goods, not only current real GDP and output will fall, but future
economic growth will also slow down, caused by a fall in human capital. Therefore, opportunity cost of an increase in defense spending is the
current and future output that the economy has to give up.