Question

How can a country gain from specialization and​ trade? A. A country can specialize in producing that for which it has an absolute advantage and then trade for other needed goods and services. B. A country can specialize by using all available resources to produce goods and services to avoid trading with other countries. C. A country can specialize in producing that for which it has a comparative advantage and then trade for other needed goods and services. D. A country can specialize by using all available resources to invest in capital goods to promote economic growth. E. A country can specialize in producing that which is most scarce and then trade for other needed goods and services

Answer 1

Answer:

A country can specialize in producing that for which it has a comparative advantage and then trade for other needed goods and services.

Explanation:

Gulf countries are rich in oil reserves so they have comparative advantage over other countries in producing mineral oil . So they produce oil and trade it with other countries in exchange with other goods in which it has disadvantage  in  producing . This leads to wealth creation with optimum utilization of resources on global scale.

Answer 2

Answer:

C. A country can specialize in producing that for which it has a comparative advantage and then trade for other needed goods and services.

Explanation:

Comparative advantage is simply evaluating the opportunity cost of other benefits or costs, if the country is opting to choose for a specific category of goods for production purposes.

For example, let's say US can produce 20 Television (TV) sets and 50 Air Conditioners in a month. Here, the opportunity cost of producing 1 TV set is 50/20 i.e. 2.5 Air Conditioners. Similarly, the opportunity cost of producing 1 Air Conditioner (AC) is 20/50 i.e. 0.4 TV set. Hence, US should produce Air Conditioners over TV sets as per Comparative Advantage concept.

Take another example, let's say UK can produce 50 Television (TV) sets and 20 Air Conditioners in a month. Hence, the opportunity cost of producing 1 TV set is 20/50 i.e. 0.4 Air Conditioner. On the other hand, the opportunity cost of producing 1 AC is 50/20 i.e. 2.5 TV sets. Thus, UK should produce TV sets over AC's as per Comparative Advantage model.

Hence, US should export AC's to UK and import TV sets from UK to gain from specialization and trade.

In this way nations can gain from specialization and trade by making use of Comparative Advantage theory.

It is to be noted that Absolute Advantage model of Adam Smith is also good as it highlights production of that good by a country, which it can produce in large quantities with fewer resources and minimal time than any other nation in the world. But the Comparative Advantage Model developed by David Ricardo considers opportunity cost and is much more refined than Absolute Advantage Model.