Suppose there are two countries that are identical in their factor endowments. Both would like to consume both passenger cars and commercial vehicles, industries in which there are economies of scale. In the absence of trade, each country would have both industries. If they could trade, both could benefit by specializing and taking advantage of economies of scale to lower their costs of production. Assume that once trade becomes possible, country A specializes in producing passenger cars and country B specializes in producing commercial vehicles. Because of economies of scale, the cost of passenger cars relative to commercial vehicles is lower in country A than in country B. Explain why we would expect to observe trade in similar products, known as intra- industry trade, when production technology is characterized by economies of scales?
Suppose there are two countries that are identical in their factor endowments. Both would like to consume both passenger cars and commercial vehicles, industries in which there are economies of scale. In the absence of trade, each country would have both industries. If they could trade, both could benefit by specializing and taking advantage of economies of scale to lower their costs of production. Assume that once trade becomes possible, country A specializes in producing passenger cars and country B specializes in producing commercial vehicles. Because of economies of scale, the cost of passenger cars relative to commercial vehicles is lower in country A than in country B. Explain why we would expect to observe trade in similar products, known as intra- industry trade, when production technology is characterized by economies of scales?
Chapter1: Making Economics Decisions
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 1QTC
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Suppose there are two countries that are identical in their factor endowments. Both would like to consume both passenger cars and commercial vehicles, industries in which there are economies of scale. In the absence of trade, each country would have both industries. If they could trade, both could benefit by specializing and taking advantage of economies of scale to lower their costs of production. Assume that once trade becomes possible, country A specializes in producing passenger cars and country B specializes in producing commercial vehicles. Because of economies of scale, the cost of passenger cars relative to commercial vehicles is lower in country A than in country B.
- Explain why we would expect to observe trade in similar products, known as intra- industry trade, when production technology is characterized by economies of scales?
- Who are the winners and losers in this example? How does your result compare with that of the winners and losers in the CORE textbook example of the US and China, where specialization is based on relative factor endowments?
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