Question

In a given amount of time John can produce either 40 pounds of vegetables or 10 pounds of chicken. In the same amount of time George can produce either 25 pounds of vegetables or 5 pounds of chicken. In this simple economy if John and George decide to specialize and exchange with each other then we can expect ten pounds of chicken to trade for at least ___ pounds of vegetables but not more than ___ pounds of vegetables. Enter numerical values in each blank, rounded to two decimal places as necessary.

Answer 1

Answer:

Ten pounds of chicken to trade for at least 40 pounds of vegetables but not more than 50 pounds of vegetables

Explanation:

                  Vegetables        Chicken        Trade Off Ratio

John             40                     10                4:1 (40/10) or 1:0.25 (10/40)

George          25                      5                 5:1 (25/5) or 1:0.20 (5/25)

John has comparative advantage in Chicken and George has comparative advantage in Veggies because :

• John's chicken opportunity cost, in veggies < George (4<5). George's veggies opportunity cost, in chicken < John (0.20<0.25).
• George is more (5X) productive in veggies than chicken, than John (4X). John is less unproductive in chicken than veggies (1/4th), compared to George (1/5th).  

So,  John will sell Chicken to George & George will sell veggies to John. Gains from trade are when each get trade ratio better than their their own trade off ratio.

• It implies: John gets >' 4 pounds veggies per chicken pound' and George gets > '0.20 pound chicken per veggie pound'.
• Unitary method:-  '1chicken : 4veggies' = '10chickens : 40veggies' and '0.20chicken : 1veggie' = '10chickens : 50 veggies' .