ECON 160 Lecture Notes - Lecture 24: International Trade, Comparative Advantage, Opportunity Cost
8 Nov 2016
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Document Summary
Chapter 9: international trade this was a pretty dead class. Real wages have stalled for the median income earner. Health care costs: health care costs are rising faster than every other country in the world, and faster than income. Improvement in technology: it has become cheaper for firms to invest in technology than train workers. International trade and improving technology are spurred by competition. The opportunity to trade improves consumption opportunities for countries: which have the best technology, which have low labor costs, always, a and b are true. Everyone above the median income has improved because of international trade. Goods such as clothes have gotten so much cheaper today because the labor is in a third world country with cheap labor, and because of competition. Comparative advantage looks at countries as a whole; the united states is richer overall now, even though wages have stagnated.
