Beyond this there is the longer-term, more nebulous cost to Britain's competitiveness in having so many potential workers disheartened and disaffected.
But the study predicted that the longer-term costs to agriculture could be far higher if the drought persists another year.
Unfortunately, he may be right about "the loss of life in terms of numbers," even if we do not take into account the longer-term "political cost."
Touche Ross was engaged by the Scottish Office to investigate the short-term and longer-term costs of the planned local government changes.
Rather, the main concern involves the longer-term costs of its all-out program to wrench up the 1998 growth rate to an arbitrarily set target of 8 percent.
What are the short, medium and longer-term costs for the asset system?
The longer-term costs are harder to gauge.
The stimulus of a short-term "quick fix" is giving rise to a much larger, longer-term cost.
All pensions (private and public) need greater protection to prevent them being used to generate short-term finance to benefit a few at the longer-term cost of us all.
Council officials have described the paring-back process as heartbreaking and are worried about what the longer-term costs and consequences will be.