Preview

Read the assignment carefully before you start.

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
354 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Read the assignment carefully before you start.
Read the assignment carefully before you start.
Your writing will be evaluated for its overall quality, including how well your essay addresses the topic and organizes, supports, and expresses the main ideas. Varied sentence structure, accurate word usage, and correct spelling, punctuation, and capitalization will also affect the evaluation of your writing.
Opp Cost & Comp Advantage
Principles of Economics Assignments
Here are some hypothetical numbers used to illustrate the ideas of trade-offs, specialization, and comparative advantage. Assume Sri Lanka, using all her resources efficiently, can produce either 1,000 bags of rice OR 3,000 bags of tea. Let's also assume that, using all her resources efficiently, Kenya can produce either 1,000 bags of rice OR 1,000 bags of tea. Further, assume that the countries have similar resource endowments and that, initially, they are not trading with each other. Therefore, each of the countries has to produce both rice and tea for its citizens. Suppose that, in the no-trade situation, Sri Lanka was consuming 400 bags of rice and 1,800 bags of tea, and in the no-trade situation, Kenya was consuming 500 bags of rice and 500 bags of tea.

Now, let's play a fun game called the "Trading Game" to figure out whether there is any benefit (in terms of increased consumption possibilities) for these two countries if they trade with each other. You are given the following information to start the "Trading Game". The trading price is set at one bag of rice for two bags of tea, and Kenya wishes to keep at least 550 bags of rice after trade.

Apply your knowledge of opportunity cost to identify the comparative advantage enjoyed by each country. Now using your knowledge of specialization and trade, show in a multi-paragraph essay, that the two countries can benefit by consuming more of both goods after trade.

Develop a response that includes examples and evidence to support your ideas, and which clearly communicates the required

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Econ 515

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages

    (NOTE: NUMBERS MAY CHANGE ON EXAM!) Suppose the U.S. can produce 100 pairs of shoes or 1,000 lines of computer code per day per worker and Malaysia can produce 50 pairs of shoes per day per worker or 10 lines of computer code per day per worker. What is the opportunity cost of a pair of shoes in the U.S? What is the opportunity cost of a line of computer code for Malaysia? In the production of what good(s) does the U.S. have absolute advantage? In the production of what good(s) does Malaysia have absolute advantage? In the production of what good(s) does the U.S. have comparative advantage?…

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Prep for Assignment 3hrc

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages

    A new manager is starting in the organisation shortly. You have been asked to provide a ten minute presentation that will give the manager some understanding of the organisation in preparation for their start. The presentation may be made one-to-one or to a larger group.…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Exam 1 Sol

    • 1358 Words
    • 5 Pages

    1. Country A is extremely efficient in the mining of tin. However, its climate and terrain makes it difficult to produce corn. According to the theory of comparative advantage, Country A should:…

    • 1358 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Since the fall of Mercantilism, at the start of the evolutionary path of trade was Adam Smith with his theory of absolute advantage; that countries should specialize in the production of that good in which it produces most efficiently and export it. Subsequently, David Ricardo’s theory of comparative advantage stated that the good that a country is relatively more efficient in producing should be should be specialized in and exported; in exchange for the good that it is relatively less efficient in producing which is imported. An expansion of Ricardo’s theory is the Heckscher-Ohlin theory of trade which, rather than assuming comparative advantage, explains it as it postulates that differences in labour, labour skills, physical capital, land or other factors of production across countries create productive differences that explain…

    • 1657 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Economics 213

    • 618 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Develop a response that includes examples and evidence to support your ideas, and which clearly communicates the required message to your audience. Organize your response in a clear and logical manner as appropriate for the genre of writing. Use well-structured sentences, audience-appropriate language, and correct conventions of standard American English.…

    • 618 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    report

    • 1720 Words
    • 7 Pages

    We live in an interdependent global community and the performance of our economy is increasingly shaped by policies of other nations. International trade is the voluntary exchange of goods and services by people of different nations. This lesson will explore the reasons for trade and explain absolute and comparative advantage.…

    • 1720 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    1. When BMW closes down a plant for alterations it incurs the direct cost of those alterations, but there is also an indirect opportunity cost. If BMW closes down the plant then that means the plant is not producing automobiles which could be sold. Therefore, BMW’s opportunity cost is the profits that it could have earned by operating the plant. BMW incurs direct and indirect costs from shutting down the plant. However, BMW also receives benefits from shutting down the plant: the profits from selling the new sports-activity coupe. If the value of these profits to BMW exceeds the costs of shutting down the plant, then BMW will shut down the plant. 2. No. This chapter discusses the benefits to a country of specializing in the production of those products for which it has a comparative advantage and trading for the other goods. Those benefits are the reduction in the relative price that consumers pay. This reduction in relative price creates gains from trade. This does not mean that trade is costless, but it does mean that the benefits to society are larger than the costs. We will discuss this issue further in the chapter on comparative advantage and gains from international trade (Chapter 8 in the Micro volume; Chapter 6 in the Macro volume). LEARNING OBJECTIVE…

    • 1212 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Comparative advantage theory addresses when a country has abundance in trade. “According to theory of comparative advantage, a country has a comparative advantage in the production of a good or service that it produces at a lower opportunity cost than the others” (Salvatore, 2005, p. 33). In other words, the benefits of a country that is low-producing a good or service would benefit as a country to specialize in producing that good or service and compare with the production of other goods or services.…

    • 990 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    econ101

    • 264 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Give a “two-good” situation , calculate which country will trade which good and indicate the gains from free trade.…

    • 264 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Economics Assessment

    • 5791 Words
    • 24 Pages

    1.1.1 Scarcity, Choice, Opportunity Costs, and Comparative Advantage – Using examples, explain how scarcity, choice, opportunity costs affect decisions that households, businesses, and governments make in the market place and explain how comparative advantage creates gains from trade.…

    • 5791 Words
    • 24 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    LO1

    • 2744 Words
    • 14 Pages

    Higher National Diploma BTEC Unit 35: European Business Tutor: Solomon Learning Outcomes At the end of this session, learner should be able to • Explain the importance of international trade to an open economy such as the UK. • Assess the significance of comparative advantage, absolute advantage, the terms of trade and exchange rates.…

    • 2744 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Qualifying assessment

    • 559 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Given these assumptions, could the conclusion that free trade is mutually beneficial be extended to a world of many countries, goods, positive transportation costs, volatile exchange rates, immobile domestic resources, non-constant return specialization and dynamic changes? Although a detailed extension of the theory of comparative advantage is beyond the scope of this book,…

    • 559 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Exam Paper Econ

    • 1677 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Economics is rich in theory. For economists, theory provides a framework for understanding and analysing economic phenomena. There are several types of theory to provide some insight into the trading activity subject to a nation and industry. For instant Revealed Comparative Advantage, it is a theory or some call an index for indicating how that activity compares to the activity of one or more similar entities. More importantly the initial meaning of this approach is to gain some good understanding of how that export performance accounts for the total exports of certain goods within the world market and how they compare to others who also operate in the same type of exports. Identifying the revealed comparative advantage of a nation or industry will exhibit the trade flow is increasing or decreasing compare with past periods. More importantly this essentially a step to take into before the determination of which or what products to export and import and from this trade activity might be established.…

    • 1677 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Comparative Advantage

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages

    I have chosen the Comparative Advantage Theory for my key term to discuss. I chose this term because it has a great importance on world trade clearly help shape the pattern of world trade, and also to get a better understanding of the concept.…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Theory of Comparative Advantage The notion that although a country may produce both products more cheaply than another country, it is relatively better at producing one product than the other 6 Classical Trade Theory Contributions Adam Smith—Division of Labor Industrial societies increase output using same labor-hours as pre-industrial society David Ricardo—Comparative Advantage Countries with no obvious reason for trade can specialize in production, and trade for products they do not produce Gains From Trade A nation can…

    • 778 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays