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Pearson International 8th Edition.International Economics, (Problems Solving)

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EC 239 Introduction to International Trade Instructor: Sharif F. Khan Department of Economics Wilfrid Laurier University Winter 2010 Suggested Solutions to Assignment 2 (Optional) Part B Short Questions B1. Question # 1 of Ch 2 (8th ed. of the textbook) Canada and Australia are (mainly) English-speaking countries with populations that are not too different in size (Canada’s is 60 percent larger). But Canadian trade is twice as large, relative to GDP, as Australia’s. Why should this be the case? We saw that not only is GDP important in explaining how much two countries trade, but also, distance is crucial. Given its remoteness, Australia faces relatively high costs of transporting imports and exports, thereby reducing the attractiveness …show more content…

While this demonstrates that the United States has an absolute advantage in services, this is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for determining comparative advantage. For this determination, the industry ratios are also required. The competitive advantage of any industry depends on both the relative productivities of the industries and the relative wages across industries. Page 2 of 11 Pages B5. Question # 8 of Ch 3 (8th ed. of the textbook) Anyone who has visited Japan know it is an incredibly expensive place; although Japanese workers earn about the same as their U.S. counterparts, the purchasing power of their incomes is about one-third less. Extend your discussion from question 7 (of Chapter 3) to explain this observation. (Hint: Think about wages and the implied prices of nontraded goods.) While Japanese workers may earn the equivalent wages of U.S. workers, the purchasing power of their income is one-third less. This implies that although w = w* (more or less), p < p* (since 3p = p*). Since the United States is considerably more productive in services, service prices are relatively low. This benefits and enhances U.S. purchasing power. However, many of these services cannot be transported and hence, are not traded. This implies that the Japanese may not benefit from the lower U.S. services costs, and do not face an international price which is lower than their domestic price. Likewise, the price of

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