Consider two neighboring island countries called Felicidad and Arcadia. They each have 4 million labor hours available per month that they can use to produce corn, jeans, or a combination of both. The following table shows the amount of corn or jeans that can be produced using 1 hour of labor. Country Corn Jeans
(Bushels per hour of labor) (Pairs per hour of labor)
Felicidad 4 16
Arcadia 6 12
Initially, suppose Arcadia uses 1 million hours of labor per month to produce corn and 3 million hours per month to produce jeans, while Felicidad uses 3 million hours of labor per month to produce corn and 1 million hours per month to produce jeans. Consequently, Felicidad produces 12 million bushels of corn and 16 million pairs of jeans, and Arcadia produces 6 million bushels of corn and 36 million pairs of jeans. 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 corn and jeans it produces.
Felicidad's opportunity cost of producing 1 bushel of corn is of jeans, and Arcadia's opportunity cost of producing 1 bushel of corn is of jeans. Therefore, has a comparative advantage in the production of corn, 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 corn 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 corn trades 14 million bushels of corn to the other country in exchange for 42 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 corn was 18 million bushels per month, and the total production of jeans was 52 million pairs per month. Because of specialization, the total production of corn 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 corn 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").
Felicidad Arcadia
Corn Jeans Corn Jeans
(Millions of bushels) (Millions of pairs) (Millions of bushels) (Millions of pairs)
Without Trade
Production 12 16 6 36
Consumption 12 16 6 36
With Trade
Production
Trade action
Consumption
Gains from Trade
Increase in Consumption