...iess_Batch4_A-L 5/11/07 11:14 AM Page 1 A–L ABSOLUTE AND COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the dominant economic philosophy was mercantilism, which advocated severe restrictions on import and aggressive efforts to increase export. The resulting export surplus was supposed to enrich the nation through the inflow of precious metals. Adam Smith (1776), who is regarded as the father of modern economics, countered mercantilist ideas by developing the concept of absolute advantage. He argued that it was impossible for all nations to become rich simultaneously by following mercantilist prescriptions because the export of one nation is another nation’s import. However, all nations would gain simultaneously if they practiced free trade and specialized in accordance with their absolute advantage. Table I, illustrating Smith’s concept of absolute advantage, shows quantities of wheat and cloth produced by one hour’s work in two countries, the United States and the United Kingdom. Division of labor and specialization occupy a central place in Smith’s writing. Table I indicates what the international division of labor should be, as the United States has an absolute advantage in wheat and the U.K. has an absolute advantage in cloth. Smith’s absolute advantage is determined by a simple comparison of labor productivities across countries. Smith’s theory of absolute advantage predicts that the United States will produce only wheat (W) and the U...
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...I would divide the elements in the policies of India that were there against Comparative advantage and international trade into three major groups: extensive bureaucratic controls over production, investment and trade; inward-looking trade and restricted foreign investment policies; and conventional confines of public utilities and infrastructure. The former two adversely affected the private sector’s efficiency. The last, with the inefficient functioning of public sector enterprises, impaired additionally the public sector enterprises’ contribution to the economy. Encouraged joint ventures with multinational firms were a move which would have given India a comparative advantage and boosted its international trade. India embraced the path of liberalization in the early nineties. A gradual opening of the economy and withdrawal of trade barriers were the natural offshoots of the policy option hitherto chosen. With the withering away of ‘protectionist’ policies, the trade pattern of India is likely to march in the direction of its comparative advantage. India’s comparative advantage is in labor and resource-intensive items such as textile, yarn and apparel or in technology and science based manufactures such as chemicals, minerals and metal manufactures. India is a major hub for polishing and cutting of diamonds. Low labor costs and a huge workforce have enabled the industry to thrive. Cheap labor costs in India plays a crucial role in protecting the cost benefits of foreign...
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...This paper will go over the theories of absolute and comparative advantage and will also go over the principal aspects of the Bretton Woods agreement and following its demise the decision of the EU (European Union) countries to create a single currency. Let me remind you of the handouts from The Economist (trade Winds and Comparatively Speaking) and the material from Daniels and Radebaugh. I want us today to look carefully at the assumptions underpinning the theory of specialisation [Daniels and Radebaugh pp 176 - 177]. A handout has already been provided. Full employment is one of the central assumptions for these theories of trade to apply. In the world being described by either Smith or Ricardo unemployment as such was probably an unknown phenomenon. Society was largely agricultural and highly stable. People had to work! They had to be employed. And doubtless wage rates adjusted to the point where there was no unemployment as we know it today. But in the world of today the backdrop is very different. How do we deal with that where wage rates are not downwardly adjustable? We have looked at the specialisation argument. This can be seen very differently depending where you are in the argument. Some analysts have throughout history argued that the notion of specialisation into one particular pattern of output ‘fixes’ that pattern. This may very well disadvantage one nation when compared with another. What about the ‘infant industries’ argument. How would you view...
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...Smith and his work became known as “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”. Adam Smith began by disproving the mercantilistic notion of trade protectionism where exports were maximised in detriment of heavy restrictions on imports. According to Smith, international trade could in fact be beneficial to all participants if each country would specialise in the production of goods where it had an absolute advantage in terms of costs. By producing a good cheaper than everyone else and by importing others, a country could immensely gain from international trade. Although revolutionary, Smith’s theory of absolute advantages was not free from flaws. In fact if a country didn't have such advantage in producing a given good it wouldn't have access to trade, or in another words, trade wouldn't occur if country A couldn't be the most efficient in producing good B. In this context and in attempt to improve Smiths’ theory, David Ricardo a British political economist of Portuguese origin, introduced the theory of comparative advantages. In sum Ricardo argued that even if a country didn't have...
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...Absolute Advantage and Comparative Advantage According to the classic model of international trade introduced by David Ricardo (19th-century English economist) to explain the pattern and the gains from trade in terms of comparative advantage, it assumes a perfect competition and a single factor of production, labor, with constant requirements of labor per unit of output that differ across countries. The basis for trade in the Ricardian model is the differences in technology between countries. As a result, there are two different ways to describe technology differences: the first method, called absolute advantage, is the way most people understand technology differences; and the second method, called comparative advantage, is a much more difficult concept. Absolute advantage is the simplest measure of economic performance. It is the ability to produce a good at a lower cost, in terms of real resources than another country. Absolute Advantage is neither necessary nor sufficient for a country to export a good. In other words, a country has an absolute advantage economically over another, in a particular good, when it can produce that good more cheaply or it can produce more of the good than another country can, with the same amount of resources. In fact, absolute advantage appears when multiple products are being considering. For example, if the country “A” has an economic advantage against the country “B” at producing the product “X”, and the country “A” has an economic...
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...Definition of comparative advantage: The ability of a firm or individual to produce goods and/or services at a lower opportunity cost than other firms or individuals. A comparative advantage gives a company the ability to sell goods and services at a lower price than its competitors and realize stronger sales margins. Having a comparative advantage - or disadvantage - can shape a company's entire focus. For example, if a cruise company found that it had a comparative advantage over a similar company, due ito its closer proximity to a port, it might encourage the latter to focus on other, more productive, aspects of the business. It is important to note that a comparative advantage is not the same as an absolute advantage. The latter implies that one is the best at something, while the former relates more to the costs of the particular endeavour. Comparative advantage is an economic law that demonstrates the ways in which protectionism (mercantilism, at the time it was written) is unnecessary in free trade. Popularized by David Ricardo, comparative advantage argues that free trade works even if one partner in a deal holds absolute advantage in all areas of production - that is, one partner makes products cheaper, better and faster than its trading partner. The primary fear for nations entering free trade is that they will be out-produced by a country with an absolute advantage in several areas, which would lead to imports, but no exports. Comparative advantage stipulates...
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...What are the differences between absolute advantage and comparative advantage? Answer Study Island: A country has comparative advantage if it can produce a good for less cost than any other nation. Absolute advantage and comparative advantage are two basic concepts to international trade. Under absolute advantage, one country can produce more output per unit of productive input than another. With comparative advantage, if one country has an absolute (dis)advantage in every type of output, the other might benefit from specializing in and exporting those products, if any exist. A country has an absolute advantage economically over another, in a particular good, when it can produce that good at a lower cost. Using the same input of resources a country with an absolute advantage will have greater output. Assuming this one good is the only item in the market, beneficial trade is impossible. An absolute advantage is one where trade is not mutually beneficial, as opposed to a comparative advantage where trade is mutually beneficial. A country has a comparative advantage in the production of a good if it can produce that good at a lower opportunity cost relative to another country. The theory of comparative advantage explains why it can be beneficial for two parties (countries, regions, individuals and so on) to trade if one has a lower relative cost of producing some good. What matters is not the absolute cost of production but the opportunity cost, which measures how much production...
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...TRADE THEORIES: International trade theories are simply different theories to explain international trade. Trade is the concept of exchanging goods and services between two people or entities. International trade is then the concept of this exchange between people or entities in two different countries. People or entities trade because they believe that they benefit from the exchange. They may need or want the goods or services. While at the surface, this many sound very simple, there is a great deal of theory, policy, and business strategy that constitutes international trade. MERCHANTALISM Developed in the sixteenth century, mercantilism was one of the earliest efforts to develop an economic theory. This theory stated that a country’s wealth was determined by the amount of its gold and silver holdings. In it’s simplest sense, mercantilists believed that a country should increase its holdings of gold and silver by promoting exports and discouraging imports. In other words, if people in other countries buy more from you (exports) than they sell to you (imports), then they have to pay you the difference in gold and silver. The objective of each country was to have a trade surplus, or a situation where the value of exports are greater than the value of imports, and to avoid a trade deficit, or a situation where the value of imports is greater than the value of exports. A closer look at world history from the 1500s to the late 1800s helps explain why mercantilism flourished...
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...in terms of: d. All of the above 4. Increased foreign competition tends to: c. Place constraints on the wages of domestic workers 5. International trade in goods and services tends to: d. Increase the amount of competition facing home manufacturers Chapter 2 Try to answer the study questions in page 60. Answers of these problems will be provided next week. Try to answer the following multiple choice questions. Page 64-66 1.Mercantilism: Regulation to ensure a positive trade balance.Critics: possible only for short term; assumes static world economy. Absolute advantage (Adam Smith) Countries benefit from exporting what they make cheaper than anyone else But: nations without absolute advantage do not gain from trade. Comparative advantage (David Ricardo) Nations can gain from specialization, even if they lack an absolute advantage 2: Absolute advantage: Countries benefit from exporting what they make cheaper than anyone else But: nations...
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...manufacturing is outsourced, whether for goods or services, many companies downsize their work force. This creates a loss of jobs for the American industries while increasing jobs in places such as China, India and Indonesia, just to mention a few. Outsourcing, undoubtedly has its comparative advantages as far as having lower wages but it also has risks such as rising costs and trade barriers. It is some of these challenges that is believed to have created a slow re-routing of manufacturing to return to the US Industry. The global trend in manufacturing and outsourcing is that many countries rely heavily on China and other developing nations for manufacturing. For this reason many countries outsource their manufacturing to China. In the article, “The end of cheap China,” the writer reminds us that, “China is the world’s largest manufacturing power and they account for a fifth of global manufacturing.” The primary reason for this trend is due to the cheap labor. It should be noted that global manufacturing is also advantageous to China and other developing nations, since it facilitates economic freedom and increase productivity and standard of living for their population. The primary comparative advantage of outsourcing is obviously lower production and manufacturing costs. A typical worker can be paid as low as seventeen US dollars ($17) for daily wages. Whereby the same job if it were to be done in the US could cost seventeen dollars ($17) per...
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...1.5.2 Defining ‘cross-cultural management’ Unsurprisingly, there is no one clear or definitive answer to the question of what defines cross-cultural management. The answer depends on which perspectives on ‘management’ and the relation of this process to ‘culture(s)’ we choose to emphasise. Mead and Andrews define cross-cultural management as the ‘development and application of knowledge about cultures in the practice of international management, when the people involved have different cultural identities’ (Mead and Andrews, 2009: 16). This can be compared with the definition given by Laurie Jackson in his book International HRM: A Cross-Cultural Approach (2002). He emphasises the importance of ‘examining the contributions of different cultures in interaction’. This emphasis on the complexities of ‘interaction’ or ‘communication’ between ‘cultures’ (i.e. groups of people or stakeholders) is one shared by Mead and Andrews, and it is developed throughout this course, where we discuss several case studies from the field of human resource management (HRM) and international human resource management or IHRM (cf. Briscoe and Schuler, 2004; Harris, et al., 2003). The text Cross-cultural Marketing, edited by Rugimbana and Nwankwo (2003, from which you’ll be reading in Unit 5) highlights the importance of communicating one’s cultural identity in international and cross-cultural management. The book eschews the traditional practice of asking how far marketing ideas that...
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...[pic] Logitech Case Study by Esther Rogo & Marjorie Seide International Business GM598 Professor Joan Roberts 1. In a world without trade, what would happen to the costs that American consumers would have to pay for Logitech’s products? The costs that Americans would have to pay for Logitech’s products would be astronomical. This would be due to the fact that the production assembly, resources and the sale of the products would have to be done in the United States. The U.S. labor wage is significantly higher than that of Taiwan or China. Additionally, the company would not be able to manufacture in Taiwan, where manufacturing is cheap and efficient, where the company needs the capacity to produce at high volume and low cost and offer a better designed product-not to mention the Taiwanese factory soon out-producing Logitech’s U.S. facility. Moreover, Taiwan offered a well developed supply base for parts, qualified people, and a locally expanding local computer industry. Without trade, Logitech would be able to rely on China for cheap labor and the assembly of the products with 4,000 employees. In sum, all of these increased expenses and costs would require a rise in the retail price for the consumer. There is also less overall competition in a world without trade, thus allowing Logitech to raise retail price to its consumers. 2. Explain how trade lowers the costs of making computer peripherals such as mice and keyboards? Trade lowers the costs of making...
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...Use the theory of comparative advantage to explain the way in which Logitech has configured its global operations. Why does the company manufacture in China and Taiwan, undertake basic R&D in California and Switzerland, design products in Ireland, and coordinate marketing and operations from California? According to Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage, nations will invest all their resources to produce what they can produce most effectively. They should focus on the product which they can produce most effectively even if they were able to produce a certain product more effectively than other countries. This theory is applied as follows. Regarding China, it is cost effective to assemble and manufacture there. China is the most populous country, and it is important for the Chinese government to provide work environments for its people to earn their living. So a plant for high-volume manufacturing is a good way of employing many people. Even now there are a lot of semi-literature people in China. This resource can manufacture products which need semi-skilled labour most efficiently because of their low wage. Thus, Logitech uses China to manufacture mice. While Taiwan, it is giving land in their industrial parks at very nominal rates. Taiwan’s IT industry is also expanding and the quality is high level. So Taiwan had developed a strong supply base for computer parts, it has skillful people. Logitech is taking advantage of the facilities. As regards California, it is...
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...goods and services to choose from. The importance of international trade to a nation economic welfare and development suggest that economies need to export goods and services in order to generate revenue to finance imported goods and services which cannot be produce indigenously (Coutts and Godley, 1992: McCombie and Thirlwall, 1992). Most theories of international trade such as comparative advantage theory, product life cycle theory, and transaction cost theory are based on trade flows between at least two countries. In theory of absolute advantage, Adam Smith wrote in The Wealth of Nations (1776), "If a foreign country can supply us with a commodity cheaper than we ourselves can make it, better buy it of them with some part of the produce of our own industry, employed in a way in which we have some advantage.” (Book IV, Section ii, 12). It means that a country should produce goods where it is more efficient, and trade for those goods where it is not efficient. Therefore, trading will be beneficial between two countries. It is because with the same amount of input, the country which has absolute advantage than others, is able to produce more of a product. Smith’s thoughts on the division of labour constitute the basis for his theory of international trade. For him, it is the division of labour that leads to “the greatest improvement in the productive powers of labour” (WN, I.i.1). As a result of a more advanced division of labour, more output can be produced with the same amount...
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...1. What are the advantages Blades could gain from importing from and/or exporting to a foreign country such as Thailand? First of all, Blades, Inc. will lower its cost of goods sold from importing from Thailand, leading a increase in the net income due to the fact that the inputs from foreign countries such as Thailand are cheaper than they are in the US. One of the reason making Blades, Inc. ‘s prices to be one of the highest in the roller blade industry is not importing rubber and plastic from foreign countries that their competitors are already doing it. Furthermore, there will be a long rage plans in Thailand that they can seek the opportunities of creating connection which some Thai suppliers. When the chance comes, Blades will be the first firms to sell roller blades in Thailand which its has a huge competitive advantage. 2. What are some of the disadvantages Blades could face as a result of foreign trade in the short run? In the long run? Entering the international business world will bright some potential disadvantages to Blades, Inc. Current fluctuations in the Thai baht is the first problem. Without adjusting the price of the Thai suppliers, the cost of the inputs can become more expensive over time if the bat appreciates. However, if Blades start selling rolling blades in Thailand, the sales would increase in dollar if the baht appreciates, even if Blades does not increase its prices. And the opposite will also be true, when dollar appreciate, it will decrease...
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