Question

Gains from trade
Consider two neighboring island countries called Contente and Dolorium. They each have 4 million labor hours available per month that they can use to produce rye, jeans, or a combination of both. The following table shows the amount of rye or jeans that can be produced using 1 hour of labor.
Country Rye Jeans
(Bushels per hour of labor) (Pairs per hour of labor)
Contente 8 16
Dolorium 5 20
Initially, suppose Contente uses 1 million hours of labor per week to produce jeans and 3 million hours per week to produce rye, while Dolorium uses 3 million hours of labor per week to produce jeans and 1 million hours per week to produce rye. Consequently, Contente produces 6 million pairs of jeans and 36 million bushels of rye, and Dolorium produces 12 million pairs of jeans and 16 million bushels of rye. Assume there are no other countries willing to trade goods, so, in the absence of trade between these two countries, each country consumes the amount of jeans and rye it produces.
Contente's opportunity cost of producing 1 bushel of rye is _____ of jeans, and Dolorium's opportunity cost of producing 1 bushel of rye is _____ of jeans. Therefore, _______ has a comparative advantage in the production of rye, and _____ has a comparative advantage in the production of jeans.
Suppose that each country completely specializes in the production of the good in which it has a comparative advantage, producing only that good. In this case, the country that produces rye will produce _____ million bushels per month, and the country that produces jeans will produce _____ million pairs per month.
In the following table, enter each country's production decision on the third row of the table (marked "Production").
Suppose the country that produces rye trades 18 million bushels of rye to the other country in exchange for 54 million pairs of jeans.
In the following table, select the amount of each good that each country exports and imports in the boxes across the row marked "Trade Action," and enter each country's final consumption of each good on the line marked "Consumption."
When the two countries did not specialize, the total production of rye was 23 million bushels per month, and the total production of jeans was 68 million pairs per month. Because of specialization, the total production of rye has increased by _____ million bushels per month, and the total production of jeans has increased by _____ million pairs per month.
Because the two countries produce more rye and more jeans under specialization, each country is able to gain from trade.
Calculate the gains from trade—that is, the amount by which each country has increased its consumption of each good relative to the first row of the table. In the following table, enter this difference in the boxes across the last row (marked "Increase in Consumption").
Contente Dolorium
Rye Jeans Rye Jeans
(Millions of (Millions of pairs) (Millions of (Millions of pairs)
bushels) bushels)
Without Trade
Production 8 48 15 20
Consumption 8 48 15 20
With Trade
Production
Trade Action
Consumption
Gains from Trade
Increase in Consumption

Answer 1

Answer:

Contente's opportunity cost of producing 1 bushel of rye is 0.5 of jeans, and Dolorium's opportunity cost of producing 1 bushel of rye is 0.25 of jeans. Therefore, DOLORIUM has a comparative advantage in the production of rye, and CONTENTE has a comparative advantage in the production of jeans.

Suppose that each country completely specializes in the production of the good in which it has a comparative advantage, producing only that good. In this case, the country that produces rye will produce 64 million bushels per month, and the country that produces jeans will produce 24 million pairs per month.

Suppose the country that produces rye trades 54 million bushels of rye to the other country in exchange for 18 million pairs of jeans.

Dolorium:

Export 54 million bushels of rye

Consume 10 million bushels of rye

Import 18 million pairs of jeans

Contente:

Export 18 million pairs of jeans

Consume 6 million pairs of jeans

Import 54 million bushels of rye

Before specialization, the total production of rye = 36 + 16 = 52 million bushels, and the total production of jeans = 6 + 12 = 18 million pairs.

Because of specialization, the total production of rye has increased by 12 million bushels per month, and the total production of jeans has increased by 6 million pairs per month.

Calculate the gains from trade—that is, the amount by which each country has increased its consumption of each good relative to the first row of the table.

Contente:

Before specialization and trade, produced and consumed 6 million pairs of jeans and 36 million bushels of rye.

After specialization and trade, consumed 54 million bushels of rye and 6 million pairs of jeans.

Gain from trade is 18 million bushels of rye.

Dolorium:

Before specialization and trade, produced and consumed 12 million pairs of jeans and 16 million bushels of rye.

After specialization and trade, consumed 10 million bushels of rye and 18 million pairs of jeans.

Gain from trade is -2 million bushels of rye and 6 million pairs of jeans.

Explanation:

There is a mistake in the question, since Contente's production of jeans must be 6 per hour and its production of rye should be 12 bushels per hour. That is the only way that it can produce 6 million pairs of jeans and 36 million bushels of rye. Something similar happens with Dolorium, it must be able to produce 16 bushels of rye per hour and 4 pairs of jeans per hour in order to produce 12 million pairs of jeans and 16 million bushels of rye.

Country               Rye        Jeans

Contente              12             6

Dolorium               16            4

Contente's opportunity cost of producing rye = 6 / 12 = 0.5 pairs of jeans.

Dolorium's opportunity cost of producing rye = 4 / 16 = 0.25 pairs of jeans.

Dolorium's production of rye = 16 bushels x 4,000,000 labor hours = 64,000,000 bushels of rye.

Contente's production of jeans = 6 pairs x 4,000,000 labor hours = 24,000,000 pairs of jeans