Which term describes the increase in time and cost that usually comes with increasing distance?

• A. Distance Decay
• B. Friction of Distance
• C. Time Penalty Distance
• D. Distance Premium

Answer: (B)

The idea being tested is that moving goods or people over longer distances adds a real burden—the time, money, and effort required increase as distance grows. This burden is called the friction of distance. It explains why transport costs rise, lead times stretch, and why interactions tend to favor closer options unless benefits offset the extra distance. In practice, the friction of distance is the mechanism behind patterns where distant places trade less or take longer to connect, because every extra kilometer adds more cost and time to the journey.

Distance decay describes what happens to interaction as distance increases—the overall tendency for interactions to weaken with distance—so while related, it’s about the outcome rather than naming the burden itself. The other terms aren’t standard labels for this mechanism, as they either don’t capture the breadth of the time-and-cost increase or are used in different, less common ways.