国际经济学-克鲁格曼英文版课件-nobel08ch03.pptVIP

Chapter 3 Labor Productivity and Comparative Advantage: The Ricardian Model 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 can be grouped into three categories: Market size and distance between markets determine how much countries buy and sell. These transactions benefit both buyers and sellers. Differences in labor, labor skills, physical capital, natural resources, and technology create productive advantages for countries. Economies of scale (a larger scale is more efficient) create productive advantages for countries. Introduction (cont.) The Ricardian model (chapter 3) says differences in the productivity of labor between countries cause productive differences, leading to gains from trade. Differences in productivity are usually explained by differences in technology. The Heckscher-Ohlin model (chapter 4) says differences in labor, labor skills, physical capital, land, or other factors of production between countries cause productive differences, leading to gains from trade. 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 because resources have already been used. Comparative Advantage and Opportunity Cost (cont.) A country faces opportunity costs when it employs resources to produce goods and services. For example, a limited number of workers could be employed to 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. A country faces a trade off: how many computers or roses should it produce with the l