The Economy's Growing and the Standard of Living in the United States

If each country specializes in areas where its advantages are greatest or disadvantages are least, the gains from trade will make each country better off than it would be if it remained self-sufficient. [3]

Define the concept of comparative advantage. How can a country gain or lose its comparative advantage in the production of a good?

Comparative advantage in economics is when a country can produce a good at a lower opportunity cost relative to other producers. It is because of this theory that output will increase because a producers within a country specializes Countries will gain the ability to maximize their efficiency and their labor force which facilitates mass-production of products, resulting in higher profits and international trade. This is because the economies of scale reduces overall cost, by producing more units. If the two countries moved towards protectionism and attempted to become self-sufficient then the production of goods would then

Nations trade with one another because it is mutually advantageous for both parties when one is more efficient at producing a certain good and at a lower cost, and the other is proficient at producing a different good or service more efficiently. This is based on Ricaro’s theory of comparative advantage.

Free trade is an important economic policy that has been brought to the forefront of debate. Arguments have varied from the potential harm it brings to specific groups of people, to the idea that free trade is extremely beneficial in the increasing of competition and improving the nationwide economy. Free trade is a policy that practices removing restrictions such as tariffs, taxes, and bans, allowing for free participation among all kinds of economies and producers. In other words, free trade is a way to “break down” economic barriers. Comparative advantage is a term often used to support the policy of free trade. The theory of comparative advantage displays that if trading partners produce where there is the lowest opportunity cost, then

When one country is able to be more efficient in producing one good or service compared to a different country, a comparative advantage has occurred. This usually takes place when a country is able to focus and specialize in a product or service so they will have a stronger dominance in what they do. The United States have exceeded in creativity and innovation, which accounts for the advantage in technology (Macroeconomics, 24-38). The U.S. also has a trade surplus in services and is the forerunner in the worlds’ service exports (Global Trade in Services, 84).

Law of comparative advantage: A country in its trade with another country will export the good at which it has a comparative advantage in producing and import the good in which it has a comparative disadvantage in producing. By trading along the lines of comparative advantage, both countries can experience tgains.

Home has a comparative advantage in the production of cloth and steel, where it is relatively the most efficient. We also say that Foreign has a comparative advantage in the production of cloth, where it is least disadvantaged compared to Foreign. Although Home has an absolute cost advantage for both sectors (Brakman p65).

Comparative advantage is a little trickier. Here you have to do the math or analyze which country or company has the best opportunity cost. In other words, in order for a country or company to have a Comparative advantage, their production goods have to be produced at a lower opportunity cost relative to another company or country.

The country can maximize their wealth by putting the resources in the most competitive industries. Government created comparative advantage rather than free trade because now easier moves the production processes and the machines into countries that can produce more goods (Yeager & Tuereck, 1984). However, many countries now move to new trade theory suggests the ability firms to limit the number of competitors associated with economic scale (reduction of costs with a large scale of output) (Krugman, 1992). The comparative advantage occurs when two-way trade in identical products, it will useful where economic scale is important, but it will create problem with this model. As a result, government must intervene in international trade for protection to domestic firms (Krugman, 1990)

According to InvestorWords.com comparative advantage is defined as the ability of a business entity to engage in production at a lower cost than another entity. Comparative Advantage, rather than absolute advantage is useful in determining what should be produced and what should be acquired through trade.

Comparative advantage is affected by the interplay between the resources available to a country (the relative abundance of factors of production) and the production technology (which affects the intensity through which the factors of production are used in the production process). What we understand from the Heckscher-Ohlin model is that international trade is by and large directed by the differences in resources or in other words, the existence of differences in economies’ resources is the cornerstone of trade.

For instance, suppose Portugal was a more efficient producer of wine than England, yet in England cloth could be produced more efficiently than it could in Portugal. Thus if Portugal specialized in wine and England in cloth, both states would end up better off if they traded. This is an example of the reciprocal benefits of trade due to a comparative advantage. In modern economic theory, trade is not a zero-sum game of cutthroat competition because both sides can benefit.

Absolute Advantage is the comparison of productivity of a person, company, or nation to another person, company, or nation and the ability to produce with fewer inputs (what is used to make the product) than another producer. Comparative Advantage is the opportunity costs (what must be given up to obtain an item) between two producers and the ability to produce at lower opportunity costs than another producer. Absolute Advantage can be found in both goods that are produced by an individual, company, or nation, while Comparative Advantage is impossible to be found in both goods that are produced by an individual, company, or nation. Although Absolute Advantage is important in international trade, Comparative Advantage plays a larger part and is a key factor in international trade. N. George Mankiw states, “The principle of comparative advantage states that each good should be produced by the country that has the smaller opportunity cost of producing that good” (2014, p. 58). The downfall is that some individuals may be worse off from international trade, while the country’s overall well-being is better off. Absolute and Comparative Advantage are a large part of international trade, which can be beneficial to the economy as a whole.

The principle of comparative advantage provides a simplified theory explaining why free trade is possible, even when one country has an economic disadvantage. Both the Ricardian and Heckscher-Ohlin theories rely on fixed economic assumptions of constant return and perfect competition. However, intuitively the basic principle of business is to increase returns through innovation, improving processes and technology or increasing economies of scale. Organizations understand they control pricing and are price setters, rather than price takers as suggested by perfect competition (Krugman & Obstfeld, 2003). The idea of increasing returns and imperfect competition challenge the foundations of comparative advantage.