Comparative Advantage and Absolute Advantage
______________________________________________________________________________________________
absolute advantage: A country, individual, or firm has an absolute advantage in producing a good if production of the good absorbs fewer resources (or less time, in the case of an individual) than are required in other countries or by other individuals or firms. comparative advantage: A comparative advantage in producing or selling a good is possessed by an individual or country if they experience the lowest opportunity cost in producing the good.
______________________________________________________________________________________________

Comparative Advantage

The division of labor facilitates production of a given good, but how do individuals or groups determine which specific goods or services to produce? The maximum potential gains from trade tend to be realized if you specialize in that activity which you can do at the lowest cost relative to other people’s costs. In 1817, David Ricardo, an influential early economist, focused on international trade when he generalized this idea into an economic law. The law of comparative advantage: Mutually beneficial exchange is possible whenever relative production costs differ prior to trade.
This law applies to all exchanges, whether between individuals or nations. Opportunity cost is the key to comparative advantage: Individuals and nations gain by producing goods at relatively low costs and exchanging their outputs for different goods produced by others at relatively low cost. All potential trading partners can gain enormously through appropriate specialization and exchange. Oranges are grown at lower cost in Florida than in Iowa, for example, while Iowa excels in producing corn. Floridians and Iowans share gains from exchange according to