ECON 1BB3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Comparative Advantage, Autarky, Absolute Advantage

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cerisegiraffe538

2 Oct 2015

School

McMaster University

Department

Economics

Course

ECON 1BB3

Professor

Bridget O' Shaughnessy

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ECON 1BB3 Full Course Notes

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Econ 1bb3: introductory macroeconomics lecture 3 foundational models - Trade allows for specialization and can make us all better off than doing everything independently. Assumptions: two countries: canada and mexico, two goods: wheat and cars, constant opportunity costs (trade-offs) between the two goods. Production possibilities: shows the extreme values of output that a country (or a person or business) can produce if they devote all their resources to of only one good. This may be illustrated in two ways: table: This table shows that canada can either produce 30 million tonnes of wheat or (not and) 2 million cars. Similarly, mexico can produce 10 million tonnes of wheat or 1 million cars: graph: production possibilities frontier (ppf, the above diagram illustrates canada"s ppf. Due to constant trade-offs, the ppf is a straight line with a constant, decreasing gradient: we can classify the points of the ppf as: Feasible: a combination of goods that lies within or inside the ppf.

Related Questions

PART B â Questions 10 â 27 Use the following assumptions to answer all questions: â¢ There are three countries â Argentina, Britain and Canada. â¢ Each country produces and consumes two kinds of goods â crude oil and beef. â¢ All countries make their goods from a single type of input â labor â and each country has 700 hours of labor available to produce crude oil and beef. â¢ Each country demands 5 (five) barrels of crude oil. This assumption simply means that a country must have exactly 5 barrels of crude oil â it may produce them domestically, it may import them from abroad, or it makes some domestically and imports the rest. â¢ Countries produce goods using the technology described in the table below Technology Hours of labor needed to produce one unit of good Using the above assumptions, answer the following questions: â¢ Calculate the quantities of crude oil and beef produced in each country in autarky (when they do not trade and each country produces its own crude oil and beef) â¢ Order the countries according to their absolute advantage in production of crude oil â¢ Order the countries according to their absolute advantage in production of beef â¢ Consider the case where countries are free to specialize and trade. In the table below calculate each countryâs opportunity cost of producing one unit of each good. â¢ Calculate the quantities of crude oil and beef produced in each country, consistent with the countryâs comparative advantage. Based on the above calculations, answer questions 10 through 27: Consider autarky, when countries do not trade and each country produces its own crude oil and beef. 10. In autarky, Argentina produces _____ barrels of oil. a. 0 b. 5 c. 10 d. 15 11. In autarky, Britain produces _____ barrels of oil. a. 0 b. 5 c. 10 d. 15 12. In autarky, Canada produces _____ barrels of oil. a. 0 b. 5 c. 10 d. 15 13. In autarky, Argentina produces _____ pounds of beef. a. 0 b. 70 c. 150 d. 400 14. In autarky, Britain produces _____ pounds of beef. a. 0 b. 70 c. 150 d. 400 15. In autarky, Canada produces _____ pounds of beef. a. 0 b. 70 c. 150 d. 400 16. Country of _____ has absolute advantage in production of crude oil. a. Argentina b. Britain c. Canada d. No country 17. Country of _____ has absolute advantage in production of beef. a. Argentina b. Britain c. Canada d. No country Consider effects of specialization, when countries are allowed to trade. 18. When countries specialize, Argentina produces _____ barrels of oil. a. 0 b. 5 c. 10 d. 15 19. When countries specialize, Britain produces _____ barrels of oil. a. 0 b. 5 c. 10 d. 15 20. When countries specialize, Canada produces _____ barrels of oil. a. 0 b. 5 c. 10 d. 15 21. When countries specialize, Argentina produces _____ pounds of beef. a. 0 b. 700 c. 150 d. 400 22. When countries specialize, Britain produces _____ pounds of beef. a. 0 b. 700 c. 150 d. 400 23. When countries specialize, Canada produces ____ pounds of beef. a. 0 b. 700 c. 150 d. 400 24. Country of __C___ has comparative advantage in production of crude oil. a. Argentina b. Britain c. Canada d. No country 25. Country of ___A__ has comparative advantage in production of beef. a. Argentina b. Britain c. Canada d. No country 26. Countries gain from trade because specialization increases ____. a. Trade deficit b. Unemployment c. Efficiency d. Inflation 27. Countries should trade with trading partners that _____. a. Are equally technologically advanced b. Use superior technology in every industry c. Use less advanced technology in every industry d. Use different technologies, because trade benefits all

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3. Gains from trade

Consider two neighboring island countries called Felicidad and Arcadia. They each have 4 million labor hours available per month that they can use to produce jeans, rye, or a combination of both. The following table shows the amount of jeans or rye that can be produced using 1 hour of labor.

Country	Jeans	Rye
Country	(Pairs per hour of labor)	(Bushels per hour of labor)
Felicidad	8	32
Arcadia	12	24

Initially, suppose Arcadia uses 1 million hours of labor per month to produce jeans and 3 million hours per month to produce rye, while Felicidad uses 3 million hours of labor per month to produce jeans and 1 million hours per month to produce rye. Consequently, Felicidad produces 24 million pairs of jeans and 32 million bushels of rye, and Arcadia produces 12 million pairs of jeans and 72 million bushels of rye. Assume there are no other countries willing to trade goods, so, in the absence of trade between these two countries, each country consumes the amount of jeans and rye it produces.

Felicidad's opportunity cost of producing 1 pair of jeans is _____ of rye, and Arcadia's opportunity cost of producing 1 pair of jeans is _____ of rye. Therefore, _____ has a comparative advantage in the production of jeans, and ____ has a comparative advantage in the production of rye.

Suppose that each country completely specializes in the production of the good in which it has a comparative advantage, producing only that good. In this case, the country that produces jeans will produce ______ millions pairs per month, and the country that produces rye will produce ______ millions bushels per month.

In the following table, enter each country's production decision on the third row of the table (marked "Production").

Suppose the country that produces jeans trades 26 million pairs of jeans to the other country in exchange for 78 million bushels of rye.

In the following table, select the amount of each good that each country exports and imports in the boxes across the row marked "Trade Action," and enter each country's final consumption of each good on the line marked "Consumption."

When the two countries did not specialize, the total production of jeans was 36 million pairs per month, and the total production of rye was 104 million bushels per month. Because of specialization, the total production of jeans has increased by ____ million pairs per month, and the total production of rye has increased by _____ million bushels per month.

Because the two countries produce more jeans and more rye under specialization, each country is able to gain from trade.

Calculate the gains from tradeâthat is, the amount by which each country has increased its consumption of each good relative to the first row of the table. In the following table, enter this difference in the boxes across the last row (marked "Increase in Consumption").

	Felicidad		Arcadia
	Jeans	Rye	Jeans	Rye
	(Millions of pairs)	(Millions of bushels)	(Millions of pairs)	(Millions of bushels)
Without Trade
Production	24	32	12	72
Consumption	24	32	12	72
With Trade ? ? ? ?
Production	?	?	?	?
Trade action	?	?	?	?
Consumption	?	?	?	?
Gains from Trade ? ? ? ?
Increase in Consumption	?	?	?	?

3. Gains from trade

Consider two neighboring island countries called Euphoria and Contente. They each have 4 million labor hours available per week that they can use to produce rye, jeans, or a combination of both. The following table shows the amount of rye or jeans that can be produced using 1 hour of labor.

Country	Rye	Jeans
Country	(Bushels per hour of labor)	(Pairs per hour of labor)
Euphoria	8	32
Contente	12	24

Initially, suppose Contente uses 1 million hours of labor per week to produce rye and 3 million hours per week to produce jeans, while Euphoria uses 3 million hours of labor per week to produce rye and 1 million hours per week to produce jeans. Consequently, Euphoria produces 24 million bushels of rye and 32 million pairs of jeans, and Contente produces 12 million bushels of rye and 72 million pairs of jeans. Assume there are no other countries willing to trade goods, so, in the absence of trade between these two countries, each country consumes the amount of rye and jeans it produces.

Euphoria's opportunity cost of producing 1 bushel of rye isï¼ ï¼ of jeans, and Contente's opportunity cost of producing 1 bushel of rye isï¼ ï¼ of jeans. Therefore, ï¼ ï¼has a comparative advantage in the production of rye, andï¼ ï¼ has a comparative advantage in the production of jeans.

Suppose that each country completely specializes in the production of the good in which it has a comparative advantage, producing only that good. In this case, the country that produces rye will produce ï¼ ï¼million bushels per week, and the country that produces jeans will produce ï¼ ï¼ million pairs per week.

In the following table, enter each country's prod uction decision on the third row of the table (marked "Production").

Suppose the country that produces rye trades 26 million bushels of rye to the other country in exchange for 78 million pairs of jeans.

When the two countries did not specialize, the total production of rye was 36 million bushels per week, and the total production of jeans was 104 million pairs per week. Because of specialization, the total production of rye has increased byï¼ ï¼million bushels per week, and the total production of jeans has increased by ï¼ ï¼million pairs per week.

Because the two countries produce more rye and more jeans under specialization, each country is able to gain from trade.

	Euphoria		Contente
	Rye	Jeans	Rye	Jeans
	(Millions of bushels)	(Millions of pairs)	(Millions of bushels)	(Millions of pairs)
Without Trade
Production	24	32	12	72
Consumption	24	32	12	72
With Trade
Production
Trade action
Consumption
Gains from Trade
Increase in Consumption

ECON 1BB3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Comparative Advantage, Autarky, Absolute Advantage

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