ECON 101 Chapter 8: Chapter 8 – International Trade

The fundamental force driving international trade is comparative:

A. Advantage: a country exports those goods that have high prices

B. Abundance: the country that produces more than it needs exports the good

C. Advantage: the country with the lower opportunity cost of production exports the good

D. Cost: a country trades with other countries that produce cheaper goods

The law of comparative advantage states that:

a. each country should specialize in producing the good with the lowest opportunity cost.

b. a country that is able to produce something using fewer resources than other countries would gain from specialization and trade.

c. international trade barriers slow the introduction of new goods and better technologies.

d. countries can gain from trade if production is subject to economies of scale.

e. countries must agree on how much of one good exchanges for another.

what is a key factor that determines a firm's profitability?

A differentiation of a firm's product from other products

B factors affecting a firm's entire market

C a firm's average cost of production relative to that of competing firms

D chance events

E all of the above

economic theory suggests countries benefit from international trade by producing more of those good and services for which they have a comparative advantage (and less of that for which a country does not have a comparative advantage). However, countries rarely specialize completely, why?

even with international trade, countries rarely specialize completely because

A, all goods and services can be traded internationally

B, some countries would lose as a result of free trade

C, consumers in different countries have homogeneous tastes

D, some countries do not have an absolute advantege producing anything

E, production of most goods involves increasing opportunity costs.