Question

Suppose a worker in Peru can produce 11 lamps or 4 dressers in a day and a worker in Canada can produce 15 lamps or 6 dressers in a day. In order for trade to benefit both countries, a lamp would have to trade for between __

Answer 1

Answer:

4/11 and 6/15 dressers.

Explanation:

Absolute advantage is the ability of a country to produce more of a product given the same resources than another country per unit time. It also applies when a country is able to produce same amount of goods with another country given less inputs.

So a country that produces more goods uses a more efficient process to get more output.

In this scenario a worker in Peru can produce 11 lamps or 4 dressers in a day and a worker in Canada can produce 15 lamps or 6 dressers in a day. Canada has absolute advantage in producing lamps and dressers, so importing these items will not be beneficial.

To get a balance where both countries will benefit a lamp will have to go for a ratio of each countrie's product to the opportunity cost.

That is for Peru to produce 4 dressers it will have opportunity cost of 11 lamps. So the ratio is 4/11.

Also for Canada to produce 6 dressers it will have opportunity cost of 15 lamps. So the ratio is 6/15.

Lamp should trade for between 4/11 to 6/15 dressers for both countries to benefit.