Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Unit 7: Absolute and Comparative Advantage

Absolute Advantage

Individual Absolute Advantage exists when a person can produce more of a certain good/service than someone else in the same amount of time (or can produce a good using the least amount of resources).
National Absolute Advantage exists when a country can produce more a good/service than another country can in the same time period.
Comparative Advantage
A person or a nation has a comparative advantage when it can produce one good and give up less of the other product when comparing to another person or nation.

         Examples of output problems
1.      Words per minute.
2.      Miles per gallons.
3.      Tons per acre
4.      Apples per tree
5.      Televisions produced per hour

         Examples of input problems
1.      Number of hours to do a job.
2.      Number of acres to feed a horse
3.      Number of gallons of paint to paint a house.

 Specialization and trade


 Gains from trade are based on comparative advantage, not absolute advantage. The ratio of trade is established as 1 unit of product 1 : lowest opportunity cost of product 2 to higher opportunity cost of product 2. 

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