Question

Sam and Lisa run a catering business in which they have two major tasks: getting new clients and preparing food for events and parties. It takes Sam 12 hours to prepare the food for an event and 3 hours of effort to get each new client. For Lisa, it takes 10 hours to prepare food for an event and 5 hours to get a new client.
In this scenario,_________ advantage in food preparation has an absolute advantage in food preparation, and________has a comparative
Assume that initially, Sam and Lisa are splitting both tasks for a large number of events. Then they decide to start shifting some work according to the principle of comparative advantage. In particular, the person with the comparative advantage in food preparation will take over preparing food for one more event, and the other person will use the freed-up time to get more clients. As a result, the total number of events for which food is prepared will remain unchanged, but the number of new clients will increase by________.

Answer 1

Answer:

In this scenario, LISA has both an absolute advantage in food preparation, and LISA has a comparative advantage in food preparation.

Assume that initially, Sam and Lisa are splitting both tasks for a large number of events. Then they decide to start shifting some work according to the principle of comparative advantage. In particular, the person with the comparative advantage in food preparation will take over preparing food for one more event, and the other person will use the freed-up time to get more clients. As a result, the total number of events for which food is prepared will remain unchanged, but the number of new clients will increase by 1.

Before they were getting 3 new customers since Sam got 2 and Lisa 1, but since Sam will only look for clients, then the total number of clients will be 4 (or 1 more).

Explanation:

It takes Sam 12 hours to prepare the food for an event and 3 hours of effort to get each new client.

• Sam's opportunity cost of preparing food = 12/3 = 4 new clients
• Sam's opportunity cost of getting new clients = 3/12 = 0.25 of food preparation

For Lisa, it takes 10 hours to prepare food for an event and 5 hours to get a new client.

• Lisa's opportunity cost of preparing food = 10/5 = 2 new clients
• Lisa's opportunity cost of getting new clients = 5/10 = 0.5 of food preparation