C03 Krugman425789 10e GE

Chapter 3
Labor Productivity
and Comparative
Advantage: The
Ricardian Model
© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-1

Preview
• Opportunity costs and comparative

advantage
• A one-factor Ricardian model
• Production possibilities
• Gains from trade
• Wages and trade
• Misconceptions about comparative
advantage
• Transportation costs and non-traded goods
• Empirical evidence

Introduction
• Theories of why trade occurs:

– Differences across countries in labor, labor skills,
physical capital, natural resources, and
technology
– Economies of scale (larger scale of production is
more efficient)

Introduction (cont.)
• Sources of differences across countries that

lead to gains from trade:
– The Ricardian model (Econ/Trade Chapter 3)
examines differences in the productivity of labor
(due to differences in technology) between
countries.
– The Heckscher-Ohlin model (Econ/Trade Chapter
4) examines differences in labor, labor skills,
physical capital, land, or other factors of
production between countries.

Comparative Advantage and
Opportunity Cost
• The Ricardian model uses the concepts of

opportunity cost and comparative
advantage.
• The opportunity cost of producing something
measures the cost of not being able to
produce something else with the resources
used.

Opportunity Cost (cont.)
• For example, a limited number of workers

could produce either roses or computers.
– The opportunity cost of producing computers is the amount
of roses not produced.
– The opportunity cost of producing roses is the amount of
computers not produced.

• Suppose that in the United States 10 million

roses could be produced with the same
resources as 100,000 computers.
• Suppose that in Colombia 10 million roses
could be produced with the same resources
as 30,000 computers.
• Colombia has a lower opportunity cost of
producing roses: has to stop producing
fewer computers.

• A country has a comparative advantage

in producing a good if the opportunity cost
of producing that good is lower in the
country than in other countries.
– The United States has a comparative advantage
in computer production.
– Colombia has a comparative advantage in rose
production.

• Suppose initially that Colombia produces

computers and the United States produces
roses, and that both countries want to
consume computers and roses.
• Can both countries be made better off?

Table 3-1: Hypothetical Changes
in Production

Trade
• When countries specialize in production in which
they have a comparative advantage, more goods
and services can be produced and consumed.
– Have the United States stop growing roses and use those
resources to make 100,000 computers instead. Have
Colombia stop making 30,000 computers and grow roses
instead.
– If produce goods in which have a comparative advantage
(the United States produces computers and Colombia
roses), they could still consume the same 10 million roses,
but could consume 100,000 – 30,000 = 70,000 more
computers.

A One-Factor Ricardian Model
• The simple example with roses and

computers explains the intuition behind the
Ricardian model.
• We formalize these ideas by constructing a
one-factor Ricardian model using the
following assumptions:

(cont.)
1. Labor is the only factor of production.

2. Labor productivity varies across
countries due to differences in
technology, but labor productivity in
each country is constant.
3. The supply of labor in each country is
constant.

(cont.)
4. Two goods: wine and cheese.

5. Competition allows workers to be paid a
wage equal to the value of what they
produce, and allows them to work in
the industry that pays the highest
wage.
6. Two countries: home and foreign.

(cont.)
• A unit labor requirement indicates the constant
number of hours of labor required to produce one
unit of output.
– aLC is the unit labor requirement for cheese in the home
country. For example, aLC = 1 means that 1 hour of labor
produces one pound of cheese in the home country.
– aLW is the unit labor requirement for wine in the home
country. For example, aLW = 2 means that 2 hours of labor
produces one gallon of wine in the home country.
• A high unit labor requirement means low labor

productivity.

(cont.)
• Labor supply L indicates the total number of

hours worked in the home country (a
constant number).
• Cheese production QC indicates how many
pounds of cheese are produced.
• Wine production QW indicates how many
gallons of wine are produced.

Production Possibilities
• The production possibility frontier (PPF) of an economy shows

the maximum amount of a goods that can be produced for a fixed
amount of resources.
• The production possibility frontier of the home economy is:
aLCQC + aLWQW ≤ L Total amount of

labor resources
Total Labor required for

Labor required for Total gallons
pounds of each gallon of
each pound of of wine
cheese wine produced
cheese produced produced
produced

Production Possibilities (cont.)
• Maximum home cheese production is

QC = L/aLC when QW = 0.
• Maximum home wine production is

QW = L/aLW when QC = 0.

• For example, suppose that the economy’s

labor supply is 1,000 hours.
• The PPF equation aLCQC + aLWQW ≤ L

becomes QC + 2QW ≤ 1,000.
• Maximum cheese production is 1,000

pounds.
• Maximum wine production is 500 gallons.

Fig. 3-1: Home’s Production
Possibility Frontier

• The opportunity cost of cheese is how many

gallons of wine Home must stop producing in
order to make one more pound of cheese:
aLC /aLW
• This cost is constant because the unit labor

requirements are both constant.
• The opportunity cost of cheese appears as the

absolute value of the slope of the PPF.
QW = L/aLW – (aLC /aLW )QC

• Producing an additional pound of cheese

requires aLC hours of labor.
• Each hour devoted to cheese production

could have been used instead to produce an
amount of wine equal to
1 hour/(aLW hours/gallon of wine)
= (1/aLW) gallons of wine

• For example, if 1 hour of labor is moved to

cheese production, that additional hour
could have produced
1 hour/(2 hours/gallon of wine)
= ½ gallon of wine.
• Opportunity cost of producing one pound of
cheese is ½ gallon of wine not produced.

Relative Prices, Wages, and
Supply
• Let PC be the price of cheese and PW be the
price of wine.
• Due to competition,
– hourly wages of cheese makers equal the value of the
cheese produced in an hour: PC /aLC
– hourly wages of wine makers equal the value of the wine
produced in an hour: PW /aLW
• Workers will choose to work in the industry

that pays the higher wage.

Relative Prices, Wages, and Supply
(cont.)
• If the price of cheese relative to the price of

wine exceeds the opportunity cost of
producing cheese PC /PW > aLC /aLW ,
– Then the wage in cheese will exceed the wage in
wine wC =PC /aLC > PW/aLW =wW
– So workers will make only cheese (the economy
specializes in cheese production).

Relative Prices, Wages, and Supply
(cont.)

wine is less than the opportunity cost of
producing cheese PC /PW < aLC /aLW ,
– then the wage in cheese will be less than the
wage in wine PC /aLC < PW/aLW
– so workers will make only wine (the economy
specializes in wine production).

Production, Prices, and Wages

wine equals the opportunity cost of
producing cheese PC /PW = aLC /aLW ,
– then the wage in cheese equals the wage in wine
PC /aLC = PW/aLW
– so workers will be willing to make both wine and
cheese.

(cont.)
• For example, suppose cheese sells for PC =
$4/pound and wine sells for PW = $7/gallon.
– Wage paid producing cheese is PC /aLC =
($4/pound)(1 pound/hour) = $4/hour.
– Wage paid producing wine is PW /aLW =

($7/gallon)(1/2 gallon/hour) = $3.50/hour.
– Workers would be willing to make only cheese

(the relative price of cheese 4/7 exceeds the
opportunity cost of cheese of ½).

(cont.)
• If the price of cheese drops to PC = $3/pound:
– Wage paid producing cheese drops to PC /aLC =
($3/pound)(1 pound/hour) = $3/hour.
– Wage paid producing wine is still $3.50/hour if

price of wine is still $7/gallon.
– Now workers would be willing to make only wine

(the relative price of cheese 3/7 is now less than
the opportunity cost of cheese of ½).

(cont.)
• If the home country wants to consume both wine
and cheese (in the absence of international trade),
relative prices must adjust so that wages are equal
in the wine and cheese industries.
– If PC /aLC = PW /aLW workers will not care whether they work
in the cheese industry or the wine industry, so that
production of both goods can occur.
– Production (and consumption) of both goods occurs when
the relative price of a good equals the opportunity cost of
producing that good:
PC /PW = aLC /aLW

Trade in the Ricardian Model
• If the home country is more efficient in

wine and cheese production, then it has
an absolute advantage in all production:
– its unit labor requirements for wine and
cheese production are lower than those in the
foreign country
aLC < a*LC and aLW < a*LW
where “*” notates foreign country variables

(cont.)
• A country can be more efficient in

producing both goods, but it will have a
comparative advantage in only one good.
• Even if a country is the most (or least)
efficient producer of all goods, it still can
benefit from trade.

(cont.)
• Suppose that the home country has a
comparative advantage in cheese
production: its opportunity cost of producing
cheese is lower than in the foreign country.
aLC /aLW < a*LC /a*LW
• When the home country increases cheese
production, it reduces wine production less
than the foreign country would.

(cont.)
• Since the slope of the PPF indicates the

opportunity cost of cheese in terms of wine,
Foreign’s PPF is steeper than Home’s.
– To produce one pound of cheese, must stop
producing more gallons of wine in Foreign than in
Home.

Fig. 3-2: Foreign’s Production
Possibility Frontier

(cont.)
• Before any trade occurs, the relative price of
cheese to wine reflects the opportunity cost of
cheese in terms of wine in each country.
• In the absence of any trade, the relative price
of cheese to wine will be higher in Foreign than
in Home if Foreign has the higher opportunity
cost of cheese.
• It will be profitable to ship cheese from Home
to Foreign (and wine from Foreign to Home) –
where does the relative price of cheese to wine
settle?

(cont.)
• To see how all countries can benefit from

trade, need to find relative prices when
trade exists.
• First calculate the world relative supply of
cheese: the quantity of cheese supplied by
all countries relative to the quantity of wine
supplied by all countries
RS = (QC + Q*C )/(QW + Q*W)

Relative Supply and Relative
Demand
• If the relative price of cheese falls below the
opportunity cost of cheese in both countries PC /PW
< aLC /aLW < a*LC /a*LW,
– no cheese would be produced.
– domestic and foreign workers would be willing to produce

only wine (where wage is higher).

Demand (cont.)
• When the relative price of cheese equals the
opportunity cost in the home country PC /PW = aLC
/aLW < a*LC /a*LW ,
– domestic workers are indifferent about producing wine or
cheese (wage when producing wine same as wage when
producing cheese).
– foreign workers produce only wine.

Demand (cont.)
• When the relative price of cheese settles strictly in
between the opportunity costs of cheese aLC /aLW <
Pc /PW < a*LC /a*LW ,
– domestic workers produce only cheese (where their wages
are higher).
– foreign workers still produce only wine (where their wages
are higher).
– world relative supply of cheese equals Home’s maximum
cheese production divided by Foreign’s maximum wine
production (L / aLC ) / (L*/ a*LW).

Demand (cont.)
• When the relative price of cheese equals the

opportunity cost in the foreign country
aLC /aLW < PC /PW = a*LC /a*LW ,
– foreign workers are indifferent about producing wine or
cheese (wage when producing wine same as wage when
producing cheese).
– domestic workers produce only cheese.

Demand (cont.)
• If the relative price of cheese rises above the

opportunity cost of cheese in both countries
aLC /aLW < a*LC /a*LW < PC /PW,
– no wine is produced.
– home and foreign workers are willing to produce only

cheese (where wage is higher).

Relative Supply and Relative Demand
(cont.)
• World relative supply is a step function:

– First step at relative price of cheese equal to Home’s
opportunity cost aLC /aLW, which equals 1/2 in the example.
– Jumps when world relative supply of cheese equals Home’s

maximum cheese production divided by Foreign’s
maximum wine production (L / aLC ) / (L*/ a*LW), which
equals 1 in the example.
– Second step at relative price of cheese equal to Foreign’s

opportunity cost a*LC /a*LW, which equals 2 in the example.

Demand (cont.)
• Relative demand of cheese is the quantity of cheese
demanded in all countries relative to the quantity of
wine demanded in all countries.
• As the price of cheese relative to the price of wine
rises, consumers in all countries will tend to
purchase less cheese and more wine so that the
relative quantity demanded of cheese falls.

Fig. 3-3: World Relative Supply
and Demand

Gains from Trade
• Gains from trade come from specializing in

the type of production which uses resources
most efficiently, and using the income
generated from that production to buy the
goods and services that countries desire.
– where “using resources most efficiently” means
producing a good in which a country has a
comparative advantage.

Gains from Trade (cont.)
• Domestic workers earn a higher income

from cheese production because the relative
price of cheese increases with trade.
• Foreign workers earn a higher income from
wine production because the relative price of
cheese decreases with trade (making cheese
cheaper) and the relative price of wine
increases with trade.

• Think of trade as an indirect method of

production that converts cheese into wine
or vice versa.
• Without trade, a country has to allocate
resources to produce all of the goods that
it wants to consume.
• With trade, a country can specialize its
production and exchange for the mix of
goods that it wants to consume.

• Consumption possibilities expand beyond

the production possibility frontier when
trade is allowed.
• With trade, consumption in each country is
expanded because world production is
expanded when each country specializes in
producing the good in which it has a
comparative advantage.

Fig. 3-4: Trade Expands
Consumption Possibilities

A Numerical Example
Unit labor requirements for home and foreign countries
Cheese Wine
Home aLC = 1 hour/lb aLW = 2 hours/gallon
Foreign a*LC = 6 hours/lb a*LW = 3 hours/gallon
• What is the home country’s opportunity cost of

producing cheese? aLC /aLW = ½, to produce
one pound of cheese, stop producing ½ gallon
of wine.

A Numerical Example (cont.)
• The home country is more efficient in both

industries, but has a comparative advantage
only in cheese production.
1/2 = aLC /aLW < a*LC /a*LW = 2
• The foreign country is less efficient in both

industries, but has a comparative advantage
in wine production.

• With trade, the equilibrium relative price of

cheese to wine settles between the two
opportunity costs of cheese.
• Suppose that the intersection of RS and RD
occurs at PC /PW = 1 so one pound of cheese
trades for one gallon of wine.
• Trade causes the relative price of cheese to
rise in the home country and fall in foreign.

• With trade, the foreign country can buy one

pound of cheese for PC /PW = one gallon of
wine,
– instead of stopping production of a*LC /a*LW = 2
gallons of wine to free up enough labor to
produce one pound of cheese in the absence of
trade.
– Suppose L* = 3,000. The foreign country can
trade its 1,000 gallons maximum production of
wine for 1,000 pounds of cheese, instead of the
500 pounds of cheese it could produce itself.

• With trade, the home country can buy one

gallon of wine for PW /PC = one pound of
cheese,
– instead of stopping production of aLW /aLC = two
pounds of cheese to free up enough labor to produce
one gallon of wine in the absence of trade.
• The home country can trade its 1,000

pounds maximum production of cheese for
1,000 gallons of wine, instead of the 500
gallons of wine it could produce itself.

Relative Wages
• Relative wages are the wages of the home

country relative to the wages in the foreign country.
• Productivity (technological) differences determine
relative wage differences across countries.
• The home wage relative to the foreign wage will
settle in between the ratio of how much better
Home is at making cheese and how much better it
is at making wine compared to Foreign.
• Relative wages cause Home to have a cost
advantage in only cheese and Foreign to have a
cost advantage in only wine.

Relative Wages (cont.)
• Suppose that PC = $12/pound and PW = $12/gallon.

• Since domestic workers specialize in cheese
production after trade, their hourly wages will be
PC/aLC = $12 /1= $12
• Since foreign workers specialize in wine production
after trade, their hourly wages will be
PW/a*LW = $12/3 = $4
• The relative wage of domestic workers is therefore
$12/$4 = 3

• The relative wage lies between the ratio of the

productivities in each industry.
– The home country is 6/1 = 6 times as productive in cheese

production, but only 3/2 = 1.5 times as productive in wine
production.
– The home country has a wage 3 times higher than the

foreign country.

• These relationships imply that both countries have

a cost advantage in production.
– High wages can be offset by high productivity.
– Low productivity can be offset by low wages.
• In the home economy, producing one pound of

cheese costs $12 (one worker paid $12/hr) but
would have cost $24 (six paid $4/hr) in Foreign.
• In the foreign economy, producing one gallon of

wine costs $12 (three workers paid $4/hr) but
would have cost $24 (two paid $12/hr) in Home.

• Because foreign workers have a wage that is only

1/3 the wage of domestic workers, they are able to
attain a cost advantage in wine production, despite
low productivity.
• Because domestic workers have a productivity that
is 6 times that of foreign workers in cheese
production, they are able to attain a cost advantage
in cheese production, despite high wages.

Do Wages Reflect Productivity?
• Do relative wages reflect relative

productivities of the two countries?
• Evidence shows that low wages are
associated with low productivity.
– Wage of most countries relative to the U.S. is
similar to their productivity relative to the U.S.

Productivity and Wages

Do Wages Reflect Productivity?
(cont.)
• Other evidence shows that wages rise as

productivity rises.
– As recently as 1975, wages in South Korea were
only 5% of those of the United States.
– As South Korea’s labor productivity rose (to
about half of the U.S. level by 2007), so did its
wages.

Misconceptions about
Comparative Advantage
1. Free trade is beneficial only if a country is more

productive than foreign countries.
– But even an unproductive country benefits from free trade
by avoiding the high costs for goods that it would
otherwise have to produce domestically.
– High costs derive from inefficient use of resources.
– The benefits of free trade do not depend on absolute
advantage, rather they depend on comparative
advantage: specializing in industries that use resources
most efficiently.

Comparative Advantage (cont.)
2. Free trade with countries that pay low wages hurts
high wage countries.
– While trade may reduce wages for some workers, thereby
affecting the distribution of income within a country,
trade benefits consumers and other workers.
– Consumers benefit because they can purchase goods
more cheaply.
– Producers/workers benefit by earning a higher income in
the industries that use resources more efficiently,
allowing them to earn higher prices and wages.

Comparative Advantage (cont.)
3. Free trade exploits less productive countries
whose workers make low wages.
– While labor standards in some countries are less than
exemplary compared to Western standards, they are so
with or without trade.
– Are high wages and safe labor practices alternatives to
trade? Deeper poverty and exploitation may result
without export production.
– Consumers benefit from free trade by having access to
cheaply (efficiently) produced goods.
– Producers/workers benefit from having higher
profits/wages—higher compared to the alternative.

Comparative Advantage with
Many Goods
• Suppose now there are N goods produced, indexed
by i = 1,2,…N.
• The home country’s unit labor requirement for good
i is aLi, and the corresponding foreign unit labor
requirement is a*Li .
• Goods will be produced wherever cheapest to
produce them.

Many Goods (cont.)
• Let w represent the wage rate in the home

country and w* represent the wage rate in
the foreign country.
– If waL1 < w*a*L1 then only the home country will
produce good 1, since total wage payments are
less there.
– Or equivalently, if a*L1 /aL1 > w/w*, if the relative
productivity of a country in producing a good is
higher than the relative wage, then the good will
be produced in that country.

Table 3-2: Home and Foreign
Unit Labor Requirements

Many Goods (cont.)
• Suppose there are 5 goods produced in the

world: apples, bananas, caviar, dates, and
enchiladas.
• If w/w* = 3, the home country will produce
apples, bananas, and caviar, while the
foreign country will produce dates and
enchiladas.
– The relative productivities of the home country in
producing apples, bananas, and caviar are higher
than the relative wage.

Many Goods (cont.)
• If each country specializes in goods that use
resources productively and trades the products for
those that it wants to consume, then each benefits.
– If a country tries to produce all goods for itself, resources
are “wasted”.
• The home country has high productivity in apples,
bananas, and caviar that give it a cost advantage,
despite its high wage.
• The foreign country has low wages that give it a
cost advantage, despite its low productivity in date
production.

Many Goods (cont.)
• How is the relative wage determined?
• By the relative supply of and relative (derived)
demand for labor services.
• The relative (derived) demand for home labor
services falls when w/w* rises. As domestic labor
services become more expensive relative to foreign
labor services,
– goods produced in the home country become more
expensive, and demand for these goods and the labor
services to produce them falls.
– fewer goods will be produced in the home country, further
reducing the demand for domestic labor services.

Many Goods (cont.)
• Suppose w/w* increases from 3 to 3.99:
– The home country would produce apples, bananas, and
caviar, but the demand for these goods and the labor to
produce them would fall as the relative wage rises.
• Suppose w/w* increases from 3.99 to 4.01:
– Caviar is now too expensive to produce in the home
country, so the caviar industry moves to the foreign
country, causing a discrete (abrupt) drop in the demand
for domestic labor services.
• Consider similar effects as w/w* rises from 0.75 to

10.

Fig. 3-5: Determination of
Relative Wages

Many Goods (cont.)
• Finally, suppose that relative supply of labor is
independent of w/w* and is fixed at an amount
determined by the populations in the home and
foreign countries.

Transportation Costs and Non-
traded Goods
• The Ricardian model predicts that countries

completely specialize in production.
• But this rarely happens for three main
reasons:
1. More than one factor of production reduces the
tendency of specialization (Econ/Trade Chapters
4-5).
2. Protectionism (Econ/Trade Chapters 9–12).
3. Transportation costs reduce or prevent trade,
which may cause each country to produce the
same good or service.

Transportation Costs and Non-
traded Goods (cont.)
• Nontraded goods and services (ex., haircuts

and auto repairs) exist due to high transport
costs.
– Countries tend to spend a large fraction of
national income on nontraded goods and
services.
– This fact has implications for the gravity model
and for models that consider how income
transfers across countries affect trade.

Empirical Evidence
• Do countries export those goods in which their

productivity is relatively high?
• The ratio of U.S. to British exports in 1951

compared to the ratio of U.S. to British labor
productivity in 26 manufacturing industries
suggests yes.
• At this time the U.S. had an absolute advantage in

all 26 industries, yet the ratio of exports was low in
the least productive sectors of the U.S.

Fig. 3-6: Productivity and Exports

Empirical Evidence (cont.)
• A very poor country like Bangladesh can have

comparative advantage in clothing despite being
less productive in clothing than other countries such
as China because it is even less productive
compared to China in other sectors.
– Productivity (output per worker) in Bangladesh is
only 28 percent of China’s on average.
– In apparel, productivity in Bangladesh was about
77 percent of China’s, creating strong
comparative advantage in apparel for
Bangladesh.

Table 3-3: Bangladesh versus
China, 2011

Empirical Evidence (cont.)
• The main implications of the Ricardian

model are well supported by empirical
evidence:
– productivity differences play an important role in
international trade
– comparative advantage (not absolute advantage)
matters for trade

Summary
1. Differences in the productivity of labor

across countries generate comparative
advantage.
2. A country has a comparative advantage in

producing a good when its opportunity cost
of producing that good is lower than in
other countries.

Summary (cont.)
3. Countries export goods in which they have

a comparative advantage - high
productivity or low wages give countries a
cost advantage.
4. With trade, the relative price settles in
between what the relative prices were in
each country before trade.

Summary (cont.)
5. Trade benefits all countries due to the

relative price of the exported good rising:
income for workers who produce exports
rises, and imported goods become less
expensive.
6. Empirical evidence supports trade based
on comparative advantage, although
transportation costs and other factors
prevent complete specialization in
production.

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Chapter 3

© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-1

• Opportunity costs and comparative

© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-2

• Theories of why trade occurs:

© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-3

• Sources of differences across countries that

© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-4

• The Ricardian model uses the concepts of

© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-5

• For example, a limited number of workers

© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-6

• Suppose that in the United States 10 million

© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-7

• A country has a comparative advantage

© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-8

• Suppose initially that Colombia produces

© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-9

© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-10

© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-11

• The simple example with roses and

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1. Labor is the only factor of production.

© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-13

4. Two goods: wine and cheese.

© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-14

• A high unit labor requirement means low labor

© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-15

• Labor supply L indicates the total number of

© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-16

• The production possibility frontier (PPF) of an economy shows

aLCQC + aLWQW ≤ L Total amount of

Total Labor required for

© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-17

• Maximum home cheese production is

• Maximum home wine production is

© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-18

• For example, suppose that the economy’s

• The PPF equation aLCQC + aLWQW ≤ L

• Maximum cheese production is 1,000

• Maximum wine production is 500 gallons.

© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-19

© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-20

• The opportunity cost of cheese is how many

• This cost is constant because the unit labor

• The opportunity cost of cheese appears as the

© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-21

• Producing an additional pound of cheese

• Each hour devoted to cheese production

= (1/aLW) gallons of wine

© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-22

• For example, if 1 hour of labor is moved to

© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-23

• Workers will choose to work in the industry

© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-24

• If the price of cheese relative to the price of

© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-25

• If the price of cheese relative to the price of

© Pearson Education Limited 2015. All rights reserved. 1-26

Foreign aLC = 6 hours/lb aLW = 3 hours/gallon

1/2 = aLC /aLW < aLC /aLW = 2