Chapter 19: Q 9. (page 461)
Under what conditions does comparative advantage
lead to gains from trade?
The gains from trade are based only on comparative advantage.
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If the removal of trade barriers is so beneficial to international economic growth, why would a nation continue to restrict trade on some imported or exported products?
France and Tunisia both have Mediterranean climates that are excellent for producing/harvesting green beans and tomatoes. In France it takes two hours for each worker to harvest green beans and two hours to harvest a tomato. Tunisian workers need only one hour to harvest the tomatoes but four hours to harvest green beans. Assume there are only two workers, one in each country, and each works 40 hours a week.
a. Draw a production possibilities frontier for each country. Hint: Remember the production possibility frontier is the maximum that all workers can produce at a unit of time which, in this problem, is a week.
b. Identify which country has the absolute advantage in green beans and which country has the absolute advantage in tomatoes.
c. Identify which country has the comparative advantage.
d. How much would France have to give up in terms of tomatoes to gain from trade? How much would it have to give up in terms of green beans?
Can a nation’s comparative advantage change over
time? What factors would make it change?
Table 19.15 shows how the average costs of production for semiconductors (the “chips” in computer memories) change as the quantity of semiconductors built at that factory increases.
a. Based on these data, sketch a curve with quantity produced on the horizontal axis and average cost of production on the vertical axis. How does the curve illustrate economies of scale?
b. If the equilibrium quantity of semiconductors demanded is 90,000, can this economy take full advantage of economies of scale? What about if quantity demanded is 70,000 semiconductors 50,000 semiconductors? 30,000 semiconductors?
c. Explain how international trade could make it possible for even a small economy to take full advantage of economies of scale, while also benefiting from competition and the variety offered by several producers.
Does intra-industry trade contradict the theory of
comparative advantage?
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