{"id":3936,"date":"2015-12-04T16:21:53","date_gmt":"2015-12-04T16:21:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/macroxwaymakerxspring2016\/?post_type=chapter&p=3936"},"modified":"2016-06-20T23:23:21","modified_gmt":"2016-06-20T23:23:21","slug":"reading-absolute-and-comparative-advantage-2","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-macroeconomics\/chapter\/reading-absolute-and-comparative-advantage-2\/","title":{"raw":"Reading: Absolute and Comparative Advantage","rendered":"Reading: Absolute and Comparative Advantage"},"content":{"raw":"

Absolute and Comparative Advantage<\/h2>\r\nThe American statesman Benjamin Franklin (1706\u20131790) once wrote: \"No nation was ever ruined by trade.\" Many economists would express their attitudes toward international trade in an even more positive manner. The evidence that international trade confers overall benefits on economies is pretty strong. Trade has accompanied economic growth in the United States and around the world. Many of the national economies that have shown the most rapid growth in the last few decades\u2014for example, Japan, South Korea, China, and India\u2014have done so by dramatically orienting their economies toward international trade. There is no modern example of a country that has shut itself off from world trade and yet prospered. To understand the benefits of trade, or why we trade in the first place, we need to understand the concepts of comparative and absolute advantage.\r\n\r\nIn 1817,\u00a0David Ricardo<\/em>, a businessman, economist, and member of the British Parliament, wrote a treatise called On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation<\/em><\/span>. In this treatise, Ricardo argued that specialization and free trade benefit all trading partners, even those that may be relatively inefficient. To see what he meant, we must be able to distinguish between absolute and comparative advantage.\r\n\r\nA country has an\u00a0absolute advantage<\/em><\/a> in producing a good over another country if it uses fewer resources to produce that good. Absolute advantage can be the result of a country's natural endowment. For example, extracting oil in Saudi Arabia is pretty much just a matter of \"drilling a hole.\" Producing oil in other countries can require considerable exploration and costly technologies for drilling and extraction\u2014if indeed they have any oil at all. The United States has some of the richest farmland in the world, making it easier to grow corn and wheat than in many other countries. Guatemala and Colombia have climates especially suited for growing coffee. Chile and Zambia have some of the world's richest copper mines. As some have argued, \"geography is destiny.\" Chile will provide copper and Guatemala will produce coffee, and they will trade. When each country has a product others need and it can be produced with fewer resources in one country over another, then it is easy to imagine all parties benefitting from trade. However, thinking about trade just in terms of geography and absolute advantage is incomplete. Trade really occurs because of comparative advantage.\r\n\r\nA country has a\u00a0comparative advantage<\/em><\/a> when a good can be produced at a lower cost in terms of other goods. The question each country or company should be asking when it trades is this: \"What do we give up to produce this good?\" This should sound like the familiar concept of opportunity cost<\/em><\/a> from Choice in a World of Scarcity. For example, if Zambia focuses its resources on producing copper, its labor, land and financial resources cannot be used to produce other goods such as corn. As a result, Zambia gives up the opportunity to produce corn. How do we quantify the cost in terms of other goods? Simplify the problem and assume that Zambia just needs labor to produce copper and corn. The companies that produce either copper or corn tell you that it takes 10 hours to mine a ton of copper and 20 hours to harvest a bushel of corn. This means the opportunity cost of producing a ton of copper is 2 bushels of corn. The next section develops absolute and comparative advantage in greater detail and relates them to trade.\r\n
\r\n

Link It Up<\/h3>\r\nVisit this\u00a0website<\/a> for a list of articles and podcasts pertaining to international trade topics.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nWatch the following video to better understand why countries benefit from specialization.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/38hvvAzgXZY?list=PL336C870BEAD3B58B\r\n

A Numerical Example of Absolute and Comparative Advantage<\/span><\/h2>\r\nConsider a hypothetical world with two countries, Saudi Arabia and the United States, and two products, oil and corn. Further assume that consumers in both countries desire both these goods. These goods are homogeneous, meaning that consumers\/producers cannot differentiate between corn or oil from either country. There is only one resource available in both countries, labor hours. Saudi Arabia can produce oil with fewer resources, while the United States can produce corn with fewer resources. Table 19.1 illustrates the advantages of the two countries, expressed in terms of how many hours it takes to produce one unit of each good.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Table 19.1 How Many Hours It Takes to Produce Oil and Corn<\/span><\/caption>\r\n
Country<\/th>\r\nOil (hours per barrel)<\/th>\r\nCorn (hours per bushel)<\/th>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/thead>\r\n
Saudi Arabia<\/td>\r\n1<\/td>\r\n4<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
United States<\/td>\r\n2<\/td>\r\n1<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\nIn Table 19.1, Saudi Arabia has an absolute advantage in the production of oil because it only takes an hour to produce a barrel of oil compared to two hours in the United States. The United States has an absolute advantage in the production of corn.\r\n\r\nTo simplify, let's say that Saudi Arabia and the United States each have 100 worker hours (see Table 19.2). We illustrate what each country is capable of producing on its own using a\u00a0production possibility frontier (PPF)<\/em> graph, shown in Figure 19.2. Recall from Choice in a World of Scarcity that the production possibilities frontier shows the maximum amount that each country can produce given its limited resources, in this case workers, and its level of technology.\r\n\r\nCorn Production using 100 worker hours (bushels)\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Table 19.2 Production Possibilities before Trade<\/span><\/caption>\r\n
Country<\/th>\r\nOil Production using 100 worker hours (barrels)<\/th>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/thead>\r\n
Saudi Arabia<\/td>\r\n100<\/td>\r\nor<\/td>\r\n25<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
United States<\/td>\r\n50<\/td>\r\nor<\/td>\r\n100<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"768\"]\"Two Figure 19.2.<\/strong> Production Possibilities Frontiers (a) Saudi Arabia can produce 100 barrels of oil at maximum and zero corn (point A), or 25 bushels of corn and zero oil (point B). It can also produce other combinations of oil and corn if it wants to consume both goods, such as at point C. Here it chooses to produce\/consume 60 barrels of oil, leaving 40 work hours that can be allocated to producing 10 bushels of corn, using the data in Table 19.1. (b) If the United States produces only oil, it can produce, at maximum, 50 barrels and zero corn (point A'), or at the other extreme, it can produce a maximum of 100 bushels of corn and no oil (point B'). Other combinations of both oil and corn are possible, such as point C'. All points above the frontiers are impossible to produce given the current level of resources and technology.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nArguably Saudi and U.S. consumers desire both oil and corn to live. Let's say that before trade occurs, both countries produce and consume at point C or C'. Thus, before trade, the Saudi Arabian economy will devote 60 worker hours to produce oil, as shown in Table 19.3. Given the information in Table 19.1, this choice implies that it produces\/consumes 60 barrels of oil. With the remaining 40 worker hours, since it needs four hours to produce a bushel of corn, it can produce only 10 bushels. To be at point C', the U.S. economy devotes 40 worker hours to produce 20 barrels of oil and the remaining worker hours can be allocated to produce 60 bushels of corn.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Production before Trade<\/span><\/caption>\r\n
Country<\/th>\r\nOil Production (barrels)<\/th>\r\nCorn Production (bushels)<\/th>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/thead>\r\n
Saudi Arabia (C)<\/td>\r\n60<\/td>\r\n10<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
United States (C')<\/td>\r\n20<\/td>\r\n60<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
Total World Production<\/strong><\/td>\r\n80<\/strong><\/td>\r\n70<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\nThe slope of the production possibility frontier illustrates the opportunity cost of producing oil in terms of corn. Using all its resources, the United States can produce 50 barrels of oil\u00a0or<\/em><\/span> 100 bushels of corn. So the opportunity cost of one barrel of oil is two bushels of corn\u2014or the slope is 1\/2. Thus, in the U.S. production possibility frontier graph, every increase in oil production of one barrel implies a decrease of two bushels of corn. Saudi Arabia can produce 100 barrels of oil or<\/em><\/span> 25 bushels of corn. The opportunity cost of producing one barrel of oil is the loss of 1\/4 of a bushel of corn that Saudi workers could otherwise have produced. In terms of corn, notice that Saudi Arabia gives up the least to produce a barrel of oil. These calculations are summarized in Table 19.4.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Opportunity Cost and Comparative Advantage<\/span><\/caption>\r\n
Country<\/th>\r\nOpportunity cost of one unit \u2014 Oil (in terms of corn)<\/th>\r\nOpportunity cost of one unit \u2014 Corn (in terms of oil)<\/th>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/thead>\r\n
Saudi Arabia<\/td>\r\n\u00bc<\/td>\r\n4<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
United States<\/td>\r\n2<\/td>\r\n\u00bd<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\nAgain recall that comparative advantage was defined as the opportunity cost of producing goods. Since Saudi Arabia gives up the least to produce a barrel of oil, (\u00bc < 2 in Table 19.4) it has a comparative advantage in oil production. The United States gives up the least to produce a bushel of corn, so it has a comparative advantage in corn production.\r\n\r\nIn this example, there is symmetry between absolute and comparative advantage. Saudi Arabia needs fewer worker hours to produce oil (absolute advantage, see Table 19.1), and also gives up the least in terms of other goods to produce oil (comparative advantage, see Table 19.4). Such symmetry is not always the case, as we will show after we have discussed gains from trade fully. But first, read the following feature to make sure you understand why the PPF line in the graphs is straight.\r\n

Can a production possibility frontier be straight?<\/h3>\r\nWhen you first met the production possibility frontier (PPF) in the module\u00a0on Choice in a World of Scarcity it was drawn with an outward-bending shape. This shape illustrated that as inputs were transferred from producing one good to another\u2014like from education to health services\u2014there were increasing opportunity costs. In the examples in this module, the PPFs are drawn as straight lines, which means that opportunity costs are constant. When a marginal unit of labor is transferred away from growing corn and toward producing oil, the decline in the quantity of corn and the increase in the quantity of oil is always the same. In reality this is possible only if the contribution of additional workers to output did not change as the scale of production changed. The linear production possibilities frontier is a less realistic model, but a straight line simplifies calculations. It also illustrates economic themes like absolute and comparative advantage just as clearly.","rendered":"

Absolute and Comparative Advantage<\/h2>\n

The American statesman Benjamin Franklin (1706\u20131790) once wrote: “No nation was ever ruined by trade.” Many economists would express their attitudes toward international trade in an even more positive manner. The evidence that international trade confers overall benefits on economies is pretty strong. Trade has accompanied economic growth in the United States and around the world. Many of the national economies that have shown the most rapid growth in the last few decades\u2014for example, Japan, South Korea, China, and India\u2014have done so by dramatically orienting their economies toward international trade. There is no modern example of a country that has shut itself off from world trade and yet prospered. To understand the benefits of trade, or why we trade in the first place, we need to understand the concepts of comparative and absolute advantage.<\/p>\n

In 1817,\u00a0David Ricardo<\/em>, a businessman, economist, and member of the British Parliament, wrote a treatise called On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation<\/em><\/span>. In this treatise, Ricardo argued that specialization and free trade benefit all trading partners, even those that may be relatively inefficient. To see what he meant, we must be able to distinguish between absolute and comparative advantage.<\/p>\n

A country has an\u00a0absolute advantage<\/em><\/a> in producing a good over another country if it uses fewer resources to produce that good. Absolute advantage can be the result of a country’s natural endowment. For example, extracting oil in Saudi Arabia is pretty much just a matter of “drilling a hole.” Producing oil in other countries can require considerable exploration and costly technologies for drilling and extraction\u2014if indeed they have any oil at all. The United States has some of the richest farmland in the world, making it easier to grow corn and wheat than in many other countries. Guatemala and Colombia have climates especially suited for growing coffee. Chile and Zambia have some of the world’s richest copper mines. As some have argued, “geography is destiny.” Chile will provide copper and Guatemala will produce coffee, and they will trade. When each country has a product others need and it can be produced with fewer resources in one country over another, then it is easy to imagine all parties benefitting from trade. However, thinking about trade just in terms of geography and absolute advantage is incomplete. Trade really occurs because of comparative advantage.<\/p>\n

A country has a\u00a0comparative advantage<\/em><\/a> when a good can be produced at a lower cost in terms of other goods. The question each country or company should be asking when it trades is this: “What do we give up to produce this good?” This should sound like the familiar concept of opportunity cost<\/em><\/a> from Choice in a World of Scarcity. For example, if Zambia focuses its resources on producing copper, its labor, land and financial resources cannot be used to produce other goods such as corn. As a result, Zambia gives up the opportunity to produce corn. How do we quantify the cost in terms of other goods? Simplify the problem and assume that Zambia just needs labor to produce copper and corn. The companies that produce either copper or corn tell you that it takes 10 hours to mine a ton of copper and 20 hours to harvest a bushel of corn. This means the opportunity cost of producing a ton of copper is 2 bushels of corn. The next section develops absolute and comparative advantage in greater detail and relates them to trade.<\/p>\n

\n

Link It Up<\/h3>\n

Visit this\u00a0website<\/a> for a list of articles and podcasts pertaining to international trade topics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Watch the following video to better understand why countries benefit from specialization.<\/p>\n