In: Economics
Ans : Table showing production possibilities.-:
Country | OIL | BEEF |
SAUDI | 500 | 500 |
USA | 500 | 200 |
a) Both Saudi and USA can produce equal amount of oil i.e. 500. No country has absolute advantage in oil. Both stand on equal footing.
Saudi has an absolute advantage over USA in Beef production. (i.e. 500>200)
b) Saudi's opportunity cost in terms of beef = Saudi beef production/Saudi oil production
= 500 / 500
= 1.
c) To check the specialisation areas for the countries , we must construct an opportunity cost table-:
COUNTRY |
OPPORTUNITY COST FOR OIL |
OPPORTUNITY COST FOR BEEF |
SAUDI | 500/500 = 1 | 500 / 500 = 1 |
USA | 200 / 500 = 0.4 | 500/200 = 2.5 |
The country will specialise in that product whose opportunity cost is low.
So , USA specialises in 'OIL' (because 0.4<1) and SAUDI specialises in'BEEF'(because 1 < 2.5).
Therefore , SAUDI will import oil.
d) If the price is settled at 1.5 oil/beef . It means 1.5 is paid for oil and 1 is paid for beef implying that oil is expensive than beef. Since USA specialises in oil and exports it to Saudi , it will generate high income due to higher prices. This will increase their export income and hence USA will gain from trade.