Question

Davis Florist has two employees, Anita and Jerome, and two tasks that need to be completed, floral arrangements and floral delivery. It takes Anita 30 minutes to finish one floral arrangement and 40 minutes to make a delivery. It takes Jerome 10 minutes to finish one floral arrangement and 30 minutes to make a delivery. Each worker works six hours per day.
a. (Anita, Jerome) ______ absolute advantage in floral arrangements. ______ (Anita, Jerome) has an absolute advantage in deliveries.
b. Anita’s opportunity cost of making one floral arrangement is ________
( 1.33, 0.75, .33, 3) deliveries. Anita’s opportunity cost of making one delivery is ______ (1.33, 0.75, .33, 3) floral arrangments.
c. Jerome’s opportunity cost of making one floral arrangement is _______(.75,3,1.33..33) deliveries. Jerome’s opportunity cost of making one delivery is (3, 1.33, .75, .33) floral arrangements.
d. (Jerome, Anita)_____ has a comparative advantage in floral arrangements. (Jerome, Anita)_____ has a comparative advantage in deliveries.
e. Suppose that, initially, both Jerome and Anita spend four hours each day doing floral arrangements and two hours each day doing deliveries. Now suppose they change their tasks, so that each individual does nothing but the task in which she or he has a comparative advantage. How many more floral arrangements and deliveries could they produce each day?
_________ additional floral arrangements
_________ additional deliveries

Answer 1

Answer:

Davis Florist

a. (Anita, Jerome) __Jerome____ absolute advantage in floral arrangements. __Jerome____ (Anita, Jerome) has an absolute advantage in deliveries.

b. Anita’s opportunity cost of making one floral arrangement is ___0.75__

( 1.33, 0.75, .33, 3) deliveries. Anita’s opportunity cost of making one delivery is __1.33_ (1.33, 0.75, .33, 3) floral arrangements.

c. Jerome’s opportunity cost of making one floral arrangement is ___0.33__(.75,3,1.33..33) deliveries. Jerome’s opportunity cost of making one delivery is 3 (3, 1.33, .75, .33) floral arrangements.

d. (Jerome, Anita)_Jerome____ has a comparative advantage in floral arrangements. (Jerome, Anita)__Anita___ has a comparative advantage in deliveries.

e. Suppose that, initially, both Jerome and Anita spend four hours each day doing floral arrangements and two hours each day doing deliveries. Now suppose they change their tasks, so that each individual does nothing but the task in which she or he has a comparative advantage. How many more floral arrangements and deliveries could they produce each day?

____4_____ additional floral arrangements

____5____ additional deliveries

Explanation:

a) Data and Calculations:

Time it takes Anita to finish one floral arrangement = 30 minutes

Time it takes Anita to make a delivery = 40 minutes

Time it takes Jerome to finish one floral arrangement = 10 minutes

Time it takes Jerome to make a delivery = 30 minutes

b) Absolute Advantage: Jerome will finish 3 floral arrangements (30/10), whereas Anita can only finish 1 in 30 minutes.

c) Anita's opportunity cost is the time it will take her to make a delivery using the same time it takes her to finish one floral arrangement.  In 30 minutes time, she can only make (30/40) 0.75 deliveries.  Using 40 minutes of making a delivery, she can finish 1.33 (40/30) floral arrangements.

d) Anita's comparative advantage in making deliveries is based on her opportunity cost when compared with Jerome's opportunity cost of making deliveries.

                                          Floral            Delivery      Total hours

                                    Arrangement

e) Total time spent by

   Anita                                4 hrs              2 hrs          6 hrs

   Jerome                            4 hrs              2 hrs          6 hrs

                                                        Anita                  Jerome      Total

Number of floral arrangements     8 (240/30)        24 (240/10)   32

Number of deliveries                      3 (120/40)           4 (120/30)     7

                                                         Anita                  Jerome

Number of floral arrangements       0                       36 (360/10)  36

Number of deliveries                        12 (360/30)        0                 12