Comparative Advantage and the Gains from International Trade•Consumers love bargains•Should we let these bargain goods into the country?•Do cheap foreign goods threaten the jobs of

American workers and the profits of American producers?•Over the post-World War II period, there has been a

worldwide movement toward a policy of free trade

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Comparative Advantage and the Gains from International Trade•While many barriers have come down, others are

being put up•Poor countries have imposed tariffs on computers,

semiconductors, and software exported by rich countries•Rich countries have announced their intention to

maintain existing quotas on textiles and clothing sold by poor countries• Is free international trade a good thing that makes us

better off

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The Logic of Free Trade

•Many of us like the idea of being self-reliant

• Defects of self-sufficiency explain why most people do not choose it

• Principle applies not just to individuals, but also to groups of individuals

•What would happen if residents of your state switched from a policy of open trading with other states to one of self-sufficiency?

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The Logic of Free Trade• It would make no sense to insist on the economic self-

sufficiency of each of the 50 states

•What is true for states is also true for entire nations

• Long-term goal of WTO is to remove all barriers to exports and imports

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The Theory of Comparative Advantage• Economists who first considered the benefits of international trade

focused on a country’s absolute advantage• A country has an absolute advantage in a good when it can produce it using

fewer resources than another country

• In 1817, however, British economist David Ricardo disagreed• A nation has a comparative advantage in producing a good if it can produce it

at a lower opportunity cost than some other country

• Mutually beneficial trade between any two countries is possible whenever one country is relatively better at producing a good than the other country • Being relatively better means having ability to produce a good at a lower

opportunity cost

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Opportunity Cost and Comparative Advantage•To illustrate Ricardo’s insight, let’s consider a

hypothetical world of two countries—China and United States•Both countries can gain from trade• If China could be persuaded to produce more suits and

United States more computers• World’s total production of goods will increase

• Each country can come out ahead by trading with the other

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Specialization and World Production• Additional production lies behind the substantial benefits countries

enjoy from free trade• If countries specialize according to comparative advantage, a more

efficient use of given resources occurs• That is, with the same resources, the world can produce more of at least one good

• Without decreasing production of any other good

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The Terms of Trade

•Exchange ratio is known as the terms of trade• Quantity of one good that is exchanged for a unit of the

other

•Determine how gains from international trade are distributed among countries

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How Potential Gains Turn Into Actual Gains•Within framework of WTO, government officials are

supposed to create environment for free trade• But they do not decide who has a comparative advantage

in what, or what should be produced in this or that country• In today’s market economies around the world, it is

individual consumers and firms who decide to buy things—at home or abroad

•What makes China shift resources into its comparative advantage good?• And what makes the U.S. shift resources in the other

direction?• Prices

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How Potential Gains Turn Into Actual Gains•When consumers are free to buy at the lowest prices• They will naturally buy a good from the country that has a

comparative advantage in producing it• That country’s industries respond by producing more of that good and

less of other goods• Countries naturally move toward specializing in those goods in which

they have a comparative advantage

• Conclusion applies even beyond simple example we’ve been considering• Applies when there are many countries and many goods• Applies when countries use a variety of resources to produce goods,

rather than just labor

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Some Important Provisos

• Following real-world considerations can lead to reduced trade or incomplete specialization• Costs of Trading

• If there are high transportation costs or high costs of making deals across national boundaries• Trade may be reduced and even become prohibitively expensive

• Sizes of Countries• Sometimes a very large country trades with a very small one

• If the smaller country specialized completely, its output would be insufficient to fully meet demand of the larger one

• Increasing Opportunity Cost• Have assumed opportunity cost remains constant as production changes• More typically, opportunity cost of a good rises as more of it is produced• In the end, while trading will occur, there will not be complete specialization

• Government Barriers to Trade

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The Sources of Comparative Advantage•What determines comparative advantage in the

first place?• A country that has relatively large amounts of a particular

resource at its disposal • Will tend to have a comparative advantage in goods that make

heavy use of that resource

•Countries often develop strong comparative advantage in the goods they have produced in the past• Regardless of why they initially began producing those

goods

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Why Some People Object to Free Trade•Given the clear benefits that nations can derive by

specializing and trading•Why would anyone ever object to free international

trade?•Despite benefit to nation as a whole, some groups

within the country, in short-run, are likely to lose from free trade• Even while others gain a great deal more

• Instead of finding ways to compensate the losers• Often allow them to block free-trade policies

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Figure 1: The Impact of Trade

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C D

F

Demand

Supply

$350

$250

A B

E

Supply

Demand

150

200 300

160

250 310

China United States

Thousands of Suits

per Month

Price(Dollars)

Price(Dollars)

Thousands of Suits

per Month

Exports

$350

$500

Imports

The Impact of Trade in the Exporting/Importing Country•When opening of trade results in increased exports

of a good• Producers of the good are made better off• Consumers of the good in exporting country will be made

worse off•When opening of trade results in increased imports

of a product• Domestic producers of the product are made worse off• Consumers of the good in importing country are better

off

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Attitudes and Influence on Trade Policy: The Anti-Trade Bias• Distribution of gains and losses create a policy-bias against free trade

• Those who benefit from trade in a specific product either have little incentive to lobby for it (consumers of imports)• Or have limited power to influence policy (producers of exports)

• But one constituency harmed by trade has both a powerful incentive to lobby and ability to influence policy • Domestic producers threatened by imports

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Attitudes and Influence on Trade Policy: The Anti-Trade Bias•Antidotes to this policy bias•Multilateral Agreements• Two or more countries agree to trade freely in many goods—or

even all goods—simultaneously•World Trade Organization• By setting standards for acceptable and unacceptable trade

restrictions, and making rulings in specific cases, WTO has some power to influence nations’ trade policies

• Industries as Consumers• Term can apply to any buyer of a product, including a firm that

uses it as an input

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Figure 2: The Effect of a Tariff on Suits

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C D

K L

Demand

Supply

$300

$350A B

H J

Supply

Demand

150

175

250300 160

310

205 280

Exports $350

$425

China United States

Price(Dollars)

Price(Dollars)

Thousands of Suits

per Month

Thousands of Suits

per Month

Imports

How Free Trade Is Restricted

•When government decides to accommodate opponents of free trade• It is apt to use tariffs or quotes to restrict trade

•Tariffs• Tax on imported goods• Can be a fixed dollar amount per physical unit or a percentage of

good’s value• In either case, effect in tariff-imposing country is similar

• Both countries, as a whole, are worse off • Tariffs reduce volume of trade and raise domestic prices of

imported goods• In the country that imposes the tariff, producers gain and

consumers lose• World as a whole loses, because tariffs decrease volume of trade

and therefore decrease gains from trade

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How Free Trade Is Restricted

•Quotas• Government decree limiting imports of a good to a

specified maximum physical quantity• Because goal is to restrict imports, a quota is set below

the level of imports that would occur under free trade• General effects are same as a tariff• Reduce quantity of imports and raise domestic prices

•While both tariffs and quotas help domestic producers• They reduce benefits of trade to the nation as a whole

•However, a tariff has one saving grace• Increased government revenue

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Protectionism

• Groups who suffer from trade with other nations have developed a number of arguments against free trade• Together, these arguments form a position known as protectionism

• Belief that a nation’s industries should be protected from free trade with other nations

• Myths about international trade• A high-wage country cannot afford free trade with a low-wage country

• High-wage country will either be undersold in everything and lose all of its industries, or else its workers will have to accept equally low wages and equally low living standards

• Low-productivity country cannot afford free trade with a high-productivity country• Former will be clobbered by latter and lose all of its industries

• In recent times, America’s unskilled workers have suffered because of ever-expanding trade between United States and other countries

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Sophisticated Arguments for Protection• Strategic trade policy and support for infant industries are controversial• Opponents stress three problems

• Once government assistance to an industry is accepted• Special interest groups of all kinds will lobby to get the assistance

• Whether it benefits general public or not

• When one country provides assistance to an industry by keeping out foreign goods, other nations may respond in kind• If they respond with tariffs and quotas of their own, result is a shrinking volume of

world trade and falling living standards• If subsidies are used to support a strategic industry, and another country responds

with its own subsidies, then both governments lose revenue• Neither gains the sought-after profits

• Strategic trade policy assumes that government has information to determine which industries, infant or otherwise, are truly strategic and which are not

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Sophisticated Arguments for Protection•Arguments help to remind us of conditions under

which free trade is most beneficial to a nation• Production is most likely to reflect principle of

comparative advantage • When firms can obtain funds for investment projects • When they can freely enter industries that are profitable

• Thus, free trade, without government intervention, works best when markets are working well

•May partly explain why United States has for decades been among the strongest supporters of free trade ideal

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Protectionism in the United States• U.S. consumers have suffered and U.S. producers have

gained, from some persistent barriers to trade• Protection is costly• In some cases, cost per job saved is staggering• In addition to the dozens of industries in U.S. permanently

protected from foreign competition• Dozens more each year are granted temporary protection when the

U.S. government finds a foreign producer or industry guilty of dumping• Selling their products in U.S. at “unfairly” low prices that harm a U.S.

industry• Most economists believe that these low prices are most often the

result of comparative advantage• U.S. as a whole would gain from importing the good

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Using the Theory: The U.S. Sugar Quota• United States has protected U.S. sugar producers from

foreign competition since 1930s• Since 1980s protection has been provided in the form of a price

guarantee• If U.S. sugar prices fall below 22¢, government will buy the sugar at that

price•May not sound like a lot• But in the rest of the world, people and businesses can buy sugar for

a lot less• Government decides how much foreign sugar it will allow in

each year free of any tariff• All sugar beyond the allowed amount faces a heavy tariff of about

16¢ a pound• Sugar producers benefit• Sugar consumers are hurt substantially

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Using the Theory: The U.S. Sugar Quota•Taxpayers pay a cost for the sugar quota• Because as part of its price support program, U.S.

government must occasionally buy excess sugar from producers

•Hurts the poorest countries in the world that rely on sugar as an important source of export revenue• Sugar quota’s harm to these countries has been

estimated at about $1.5 billion per year•Why do we bear these costs?• Because of lobbying by groups who enjoy highly

concentrated benefits

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