ECO100Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Absolute Advantage, Comparative Advantage, Opportunity Cost

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18 Jan 2018

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Jane has absolute advantage in production of cloth and corn. Opportunity costs of john and jane [example 2] John"s ppf is unchanged, so his opportunity costs are unchanged. Jane is twice as productive in the production of both goods as in example 1, so her opportunity costs are also unchanged [students should confirm]. John has a comparative advantage in the production of cloth, while jane has a comparative. Before trade, john and jane divide their time equally between the production of cloth and corn. After trade, john specializes completely in the production of cloth, while jane now allocates 75% of her time to the production of corn. Jane allocates 75% of her time to corn and 25% of her time to cloth. Under this assumption, we can readily demonstrate that total output of cloth and corn increases, with unchanged resources for john and jane.

Related Questions

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

Country	Jeans	Corn
Country	(Pairs per hour of labor)	(Bushels per hour of labor)
Felicidad	8	32
Contente	12	24

Initially, suppose Contente uses 1 million hours of labor per month to produce jeans and 3 million hours per month to produce corn, while Felicidad uses 3 million hours of labor per month to produce jeans and 1 million hours per month to produce corn. Consequently, Felicidad produces 24 million pairs of jeans and 32 million bushels of corn, and Contente produces 12 million pairs of jeans and 72 million bushels of corn. 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 corn it produces.

Felicidad's opportunity cost of producing 1 pair of jeans is______ bushels of corn, and Contente's opportunity cost of producing 1 pair of jeans is______â bushels of corn. Therefore,______ has a comparative advantage in the production of jeans, and______ has a comparative advantage in the production of corn.

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______million pairs per month, and the country that produces corn will produce______million 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 corn.

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 corn 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 corn has increased by______million bushels per month.

Because the two countries produce more jeans and more corn 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		Contente
	Jeans	Corn	Jeans	Corn
	(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

The opportunity cost of one more slice of pizza in terms of sodas is the

		the total number of pizza slices that we have divided by the total number of sodas that we have.
		the number of sodas we have to give up to get one extra pizza slice.
		the number of pizza slices we have to give up to get one extra soda.
		the total number of sodas that we have divided by the total number of pizza slices that we have.

1 point

QUESTION 2

A production possibilities frontier shows

		how money can be allocated among two kinds of goods.
		the limits to the future growth of a nation.
		the various combinations of output a nation can produce at a certain time, given its available resources and technology.
		that if the price of one good decreases, the price of the other has to increase.

1 point

QUESTION 3

When a production possibilities frontier is bowed outward, as more of one good is produced, its opportunity cost

		remains constant.
		might increase, decrease, or remain constant depending on how much people value the additional units of the good.
		increases.
		decreases.

1 point

QUESTION 4

When all of the available factors of production are being efficiently employed, the

		the economy is producing at a point within its PPF.
		PPF disappears.
		the economy is producing at a point beyond its PPF.
		the economy is producing at a point on its PPF.

1 point

QUESTION 5

If a nation devotes a larger share of its current production to consumer goods, then

		its PPF will shift inward.
		its economic growth will slow down.
		its PPF will shift outward.
		some productive factors will become unemployed.

1 point

QUESTION 6

A point on the production possibilities frontier reflects an

		the attainable point with full employment of all resources.
		attainable point without full employment of all resources.
		unattainable point without full employment of all resources.
		the unattainable point with full employment of all resources.

1 point

QUESTION 7

When drawing a production possibilities frontier, which of the following is held constant?

		the available factors of production and the state of technology
		the amount of money in the economy
		the prices of goods and services
		the quantity of the goods and services that are produced

1 point

QUESTION 8

As we move along the production possibilities frontier,

		more of both goods can be produced.
		the possibilities of tradeoffs diminish.
		a tradeoff is not possible because nations need all goods.
		the production of one good increases as the production of the other good decreases.

1 point

QUESTION 9

Which of the following is an assumption used when drawing a production possibilities frontier?

i.Human wants and desires are limited to what is available.

ii. Only two goods are considered.

iii. The level of technology is fixed and unchanging.

		I and iii
		ii only
		I, ii, and iii
		I only

1 point

QUESTION 10

To achieve gains from trade, a country

		needs to have an absolute advantage in the production of all goods.
		specializes in producing a good in which it has a lower opportunity cost.
		must produce at a point beyond its PPF.
		should produce at the midpoint of its PPF.

1 point

QUESTION 11

Relative to Al, Joe has ________ if Joe can produce a good at a lower opportunity cost than Al.

		a comparative advantage
		more production efficiency
		a marginal benefit
		a comparative benefit

1 point

QUESTION 12

Does economic growth depend upon which of the following?

i.Improving the quality of labor

ii. Technological advancement

iii. Increasing the amount of capital

		iii only
		ii only
		I only
		I, ii, and iii

1 point

QUESTION 13

In one hour John can produce 20 loaves of bread or 18 cakes. In one hour Phyllis can produce 30 loaves of bread or 15 cakes. Which of the following statements is true?

		John has a comparative advantage in producing cakes.
		Phyllis has an absolute advantage in both goods.
		Phyllis has a comparative advantage in producing cakes.
		John has an absolute advantage in both goods.

1 point

QUESTION 14

As an economy produces more of one of the goods on a bowed out production possibilities frontier, what happens to the opportunity cost of producing the good?

		It decreases.
		It might increase, decrease, or remain constant depending on how much people value the additional units of the good.
		It remains constant.
		It increases.

1 point

QUESTION 15

The production possibilities frontier illustrates the

		goods and services that people want.
		maximum combinations of goods and services that can be produced.
		resources the economy possesses, but not it is the level of technology.
		limits to people's wants.

1 point

QUESTION 16

The United States produced approximately ________ worth of goods and services in 2007.

		$14 billion
		$14 trillion
		$140 billion
		$140 trillion

1 point

QUESTION 17

The fact of increasing opportunity cost when moving on the PPF means that

		to increase the production of one product requires smaller and smaller sacrifices of the other good.
		to decrease the production of one product requires smaller and smaller sacrifices of the other good.
		to increase the production of one product requires larger and larger sacrifices of the other good.
		when the government forces a movement from one point on the PPF to another point, no production is lost.

1 point

QUESTION 18

Other things equal, if India devotes more resources to educate its population than China,

		China will grow faster than India.
		India will be able to eliminate scarcity faster than China.
		India will be able to eliminate opportunity cost faster than China.
		India will grow faster than China.

1 point

QUESTION 19

For Ireland to grow more potatoes, wool production must decrease. This situation is an example of

		zero opportunity cost.
		producing at a point that lies beyond the PPF.
		opportunity benefit.
		a tradeoff.

1 point

QUESTION 20

Moving from one point to another on a production possibilities frontier implies

		increasing the production of both goods.
		increasing the production of one good and decreasing the production of another.
		holding the production levels of both goods constant.
		decreasing the production of both goods.

1 point

QUESTION 21

The United States is one of the richest nations in the world,

		but it can still benefit from specialization and trade.
		so does not need to trade with poor nations to achieve any gains from trade.
		so might not have a comparative advantage in producing any goods.
		so it must have a comparative advantage in the production of all goods.

1 point

QUESTION 22

"Comparative advantage" is defined as a situation in which one person can produce

		more of all goods than another person.
		a good for a lower opportunity cost than another person.
		a good for a lower dollar cost than another person.
		more of a good than another person.

1 point

QUESTION 23

The idea of increasing opportunity cost is reflected in the

		the linear shape of the production possibilities frontier.
		bowed in the shape of the production possibilities frontier.
		bowed out the shape of the production possibilities frontier.
		the positive slope of the production possibilities frontier.

1 point

QUESTION 24

Suppose that after specializing according to comparative advantage, a country is trading with another nation that also specializes according to its comparative advantage. Which of the following statements are true for the first country?

i)It enjoys gains from trade.

ii)It must have an absolute advantage in the production of the good it produces.

iii)It is producing at a point beyond its PPF.

		I only.
		I and ii.
		I and iii.
		ii and iii.

1 point

QUESTION 25

If society moves from a period of time with significant unemployment to a time with full employment, its production possibilities frontier will

		shift rightward.
		not shift because the society moves from one point on the frontier to a point inside the frontier.
		not shift because the society moves from a point inside the frontier to a point on the frontier.
		shift leftward.

1 point

ochresea-lion6

Production per unit of labor hour UK US Wheat 6 1 Furniture 6 3 1. Which country has absolute advantage in the production of Wheat, of Furniture? 2. According to the absolute advantage theory which country will export Wheat?: 3. According to the comparative advantage theory how much is the opportunity cost of Wheat production in UK and in US? 4. According to the comparative advantage theory how much is the opportunity cost of Furniture production in UK and in US? 5. When trade opens according to the comparative advantage theory which country will export wheat? Why? 6. When trade opens according to the comparative advantage theory which country will export Furniture? Why? 7. At autarky price (before trade) what are the relative prices (domestic cost ratios) in UK? 8. At autarky price (before trade) what are the relative prices (domestic cost ratios) in US? 9. If trade between them take place at terms of trade of 1 W for 2 F why each country benefits from trade? Explain.

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ECO100Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Absolute Advantage, Comparative Advantage, Opportunity Cost

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