Monday, November 12, 2012

Comparative and Absolute Advantage

Absolute Advantage means that a country can produce more product with the same amount of inputs.

In the illustration at the right you can see that with one hour of time Abba has the absolute advantage in both fish and figs because it can produce more of both products in one hour than Zarin can produce.
  1. How many fish can Abba produce in one hour?
  2. How many fish can Zarin produce in one hour?
  3. How many figs can Abba produce in one hour?
  4. How many figs can Zarin produce in one hour?
  5. Who has the comparative advantage in fish? Explain.
  6. Who has the comparative advantage in figs? Explain.
  7. Should the two nations trade or not? Explain.
Before you try to answer these questions in the comments section of this blog, watch the Khan Academy video below. It does an excellent job of explaining how it may still make sense to trade even if one country has the absolute advantage in both products. (You may have to watch it more than once to be able to apply the concepts in the video to the Abba and Zarin situation.)

Comparative and Absolute Advantage video

9 comments:

  1. 1. 1/6
    2. 1/14
    3. 1/8
    4. 1/10
    5. Abba because the opportunity cost to produce one fish is less than that of Zarin's
    6. Zarin because the opportunity cost to produce one fig is less than that of Abba's.
    7. Yes they should trade because if Abba specializes in fish and Zarin specializes in figs, the two nations can overall produce more goods and increase each of the countries overall goods.
    - Kayla Dempster

    ReplyDelete
  2. 1) 1/6
    2) 1/14
    3) 1/8
    4) 1/10
    5) Abba because they can produce 1 fish in 6 hours, while Zarin can produce 1 in 14 hours. So, Abba's opportunity cost is less that Zarin's.
    6) Zarin has the comparative advantage in figs because its opportunity costs is less than that of Abba's.
    7) Yes, the two nations should trade because if Abba specializes in producing fish, and Zarin specializes in producing figs then the to nations will produce more goods as a total.

    -Mia Fortura

    ReplyDelete
  3. 1. 1/6
    2. 1/14
    3. 1/8
    4. 1/10
    5. Abba because their opportunity cost for fish is less than that of Zarin.
    6. Zarin because their opportunity cost for figs is less than that of Abba.
    7. Yes because by specializing in the product they have the comparative advantage for, they will be able to produce more goods and trade than they would if they continued producing on their own.

    Catherine Baker

    ReplyDelete
  4. 1. 1/6
    2. 1/14
    3. 1/8
    4. 1/10
    5. Abba because their opportunity cost for fish is less than that of Zarin (Abba has the comparative advantage).
    6. Zarin because their opportunity cost for figs is less than that of Abba (Zarin has the comparative advantage).
    7. Yes. If the two nations specialize they will be able to produce more and trade more. They would have less goods to trade if they did not specialize. -Christine Taffe

    ReplyDelete
  5. 1. 1/6
    2. 1/14
    3. 1/8
    4. 1/10
    5. Abba because their opportunity cost for fish is less than that Zarin
    6. Zarin because their opportunity cost for figs is less than that of Abba
    7. Yes. If the two nations specialize they will be able to produce and trade more. They would have less goods to trade if they did not specialize.samyn

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lord Voldemort aka Tess Laurentius
    1.) He can produce 6 fish in one hour.
    2.) He can produce 14 fish in one hour.
    3.) He can produce 8 figs in one hour.
    4.) He can produce 10 figs in one hour.
    5.) Abba has the comparative advantage in fish because he has a lower opportunity cost than Zarin.
    6.) Zarin has the comparative advantage in figs because he has a lower opportunity cost than Abba.
    7.) Yes, the two nations should trade. Since their comparative advantages differ, they would be able to produce more and then be able to increase trade. If they did not specialize, they would have less goods to trade.

    ReplyDelete
  7. 1. 1/6
    2. 1/14
    3. 1/8
    4. 1/10
    5. Abba has the comparative advantage because its opportunity cost is less than that of Zarin.
    6. Zarin has the comparative advantage because its opportunity cost is less than that of Abba.
    7. Yes, the two nations should trade. If they do, then they will be able to produce more goods as a total.

    Naomi Yamashita

    ReplyDelete
  8. 1. 1/6
    2. 1/14
    3. 1/8
    4. 1/10
    5. Abba because the opportunity cost to produce one fish is less than that of Zarin's
    6. Zarin because the opportunity cost to produce one fig is less than that of Abba's.
    7. Yes if the nations specialze in what they are good at making then they will be able to produce more and trade more. If they don;t specialize then they will have less goods

    ReplyDelete