Labor productivity and comparative advantage: the ricardian model

9 important questions on Labor productivity and comparative advantage: the ricardian model

Discuss the myth: free trade is beneficial only if your country is strong enough to stand up to foreign competition.

The gains from free trade depend on comparative advantage rather than absolute advantage and comparative advantage does not only depend on productivity but also on the domestic wage rate compared to the foreign wage rate.

Discuss the myth: foreign competition is unfair and hurts other countries when it is based on low wages.

Lower costs of production can be due to high productivity or low wages.

Discuss the myth: trade exploits a country's workers and makes it worse off if its workers receive much lower wages than workers in other nations.

To deny the opportunity to export and trade might well be to condemn them to even deeper poverty.
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When is it cheaper in Home to produce in a model with many goods?

Wa_Li < w*a*_Li
a*_Li/a_Li > w/w*
w: wage rate
a_Li home unit labor requirement

How is the relative wage determined in the multigood model?

The equilibrium relative wage is determined by the intersection of RS and RD.

When will the relative demand for Home labor fall?

When the ratio of Home to Foreign wages rises

As Home labor becomes more expensive relative to Foreign labor...

Goods produced in Home will become relatively more expensive, and world demand for these goods will fall.

Why is the actual international economy not this extreme?

1. The existence of more than one factor of production reduces the tendency towards specialization.
2. Countries sometimes protect industries from foreign competition
3. It is costly to transport goods and services

What are misleading predictions of the Ricardian model?

1. The model predicts an extreme degree of specialization.
2. The model assumes away effects of international trade on the distribution of income within countries, that countries will gain as a whole.
3. The model allows no role for differences in resources among countries as a cause of trade.
4. The model neglects the possible role of economies of scale as a cause of trade.

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