In: Economics
Suppose that in a year, an American worker can produce 100 shirts or 20 computers, while a Chinese worker can produce 100 shirts or 10 computers. we can describe the production possibilities of the Americans and the Chinese in a table:
Output per Worker per year |
U.S. |
China |
Shirts |
100 |
100 |
Computers |
20 |
10 |
1.Now allow American and China to trade with each other. Find a mutually agreeable trade that makes each country better off than it was before it specialized. What is the range of TOT at which trade can occur?
2. List the determinants of the terms of trade. What do factors affect the level of the terms of trade?
1) For U.S
100 S= 20 C
thus Opportunity cost for Shirts, S = (20/100) C = 1/5 C
and Opportunity cost for Computers, C = (100/20) S = 5S
Similarly, For China
100 S= 10 C
thus Opportunity cost for Shirts, S = (10/100) C = 1/10 C
and Opportunity cost for Computers, C = (100/10) S = 10S
Thus China has comparative advantage in production of Shirts as
its opportunity cost is lower in comparison to US
Similarly, U.S has comparative advantage in production of Computers
as its opportunity cost is lower in comparison to China
Thus the range of TOT at which trade can occur is 9S:1/6C
2) determinants of the term of trade are preferences, scarcity
of the good, size of trade, quality of the traded good, policies of
the government
factors affecting the level of term of trade are availability of
substitutes in home country for the imported good, devaluation of
the home currency, technological changes, tariffs imposed by the
government also plays a major role