5. Trading under increasing opportunity costs The following graph shows the production possibilities frontier for the imaginary country of Contente under conditions of increasing costs. In the absence of trade, the relative cost of wheat in Contente in terms of tablets (or the marginal rate of transformation (MRT) of wheat into tablets) is shown by the slope of line , tangent to the production possibilities frontier at point A. 250 WHEAT (Bushels) 200 28xs # 150 100 15 20 25 30 TABLETS 35 40 4. Consumption After Trade (?)

5. The price of trade Suppose that France and Switzerland both produce jeans and olives. France's opportunity cost of producing a crate of olives is 5 pairs of jeans while Switzerland's opportunity cost of producing a crate of olives is 10 pairs of jeans. By comparing the opportunity cost of producing olives in the two countries, you can tell that production of olives and has a comparative advantage in the production of jeans. has a comparative advantage in the Suppose that France and Switzerland consider trading olives and jeans with each other. France can gain from specialization and trade as long as it of jeans for each crate of olives it exports to Switzerland. Similarly, Switzerland can gain from trade as long as it receives more than of olives for each pair of jeans it exports to France. receives more than Based on your answer to the last question, which of the following prices of trade (that is, price of olives in terms of jeans) would allow both Switzerland and France to gain…

LENTILS (Millions of pounds) 80 70 8 60 50 40 30 20 10 + 0 0 PPF 10 Shenandoah 20 30 40 50 60 PEAS (Millions of pounds) 70 80 (?) LENTILS (Millions of pounds) 80 70 60 50 40 30 PPF 20 10 0 0 T 10 Denali 40 20 30 50 60 PEAS (Millions of pounds) 70 80 (?) Shenandoah has a comparative advantage in the production of , while Denali has a comparative advantage in the production of . Suppose that Shenandoah and Denali specialize in the production of the goods in which each has a comparative advantage. After specialization, the two countries can produce a total of peas. million pounds of lentils and million pounds of Suppose that Shenandoah and Denali agree to trade. Each country focuses its resources on producing only the good in which it has a comparative advantage. The countries decide to exchange 20 million pounds of peas for 20 million pounds of lentils. This ratio of goods is known as the price of trade between Shenandoah and Denali. The following graph shows the same PPF for Shenandoah…

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