Explaining comparative advantage

In an extract from his new book 50 Economic Ideas, Edmund Conway considers the importance of comparative advantage built on the work of David Ricardo.

“Ricardo’s theory of comparative advantage is typically used as the backbone of arguments in favour of free trade – in other words abolishing tariffs and quotas on goods imported from foreign countries. It is claimed that, by trading freely with other countries – even those that, on paper, are more efficient at producing goods and services – one can become more prosperous than by closing one’s borders”

Unit 2 Macro: China’s Trade Engine is Spluttering [10 Feb 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Focus on India - Comparative Advantage [27 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Focus on China - Trade and Growth [27 Jan 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Can the UK Computer Games Industry Grow [24 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Focus on India - Economic Growth [24 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Exporting to the Booming Chinese Economy [23 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Russia Joins the WTO [22 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Videos on Productivity [17 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Frontier Markets - the New BRICS? [15 Jan 2012]
Beyond the Bike - The Importance of Remittances [15 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Competitive Advantage in Trade (Some Videos) [12 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: UK Trade Patterns [11 Jan 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Low Cost Airlines Beat the Recession [1 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Brazil Overtakes UK in Economic Size [26 Dec 2011]
Beyond the Bike - The Value of Money [19 Nov 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Should the EU introduce a Tobin Tax? [14 Nov 2011]
AS Macro: The State of British Business [13 Nov 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Should TNCs make full disclosure on factory wages? [30 Oct 2011]
Can the “invisible hand” solve Africa’s poverty? [13 Oct 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Can Exports Drive a Recovery? [13 Oct 2011]
Skidelsky in Madrid [12 Oct 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: When China Met Africa [1 Oct 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Bangladesh and Comparative Advantage in Textiles [19 Sep 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Economic Growth and Inequality [14 Sep 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Baltic Dry Index and Global Weakening [19 Aug 2011]
Guess where China exports its chopsticks from [7 Aug 2011]
A surprising example of trade between the USA, China, and Korea. [19 Jul 2011]
UK firms wake up to Brazilian opportunities [21 Jun 2011]
Evan Davis ‘Made in Britain’ - and a new trade data tool to play with [21 Jun 2011]
Six Global Trends Shaping Business Strategy [15 Jun 2011]
Invisible Exports - Originating Journalist is remembered [27 May 2011]
Macro Revision: Putting Things in Context [25 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Supply-Side Policies [25 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Recession [23 May 2011]
AQA A2 Economics - European Context [23 May 2011]
A2 Micro:  Monopsony Power in Markets [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Consequences of Price Discrimination [19 May 2011]
AS economics: Using the cost-benefit principle [18 May 2011]
A2 Macro: Revealed Advantage [12 May 2011]
What America makes [4 May 2011]
Video Clips on the Chinese Economy [1 May 2011]
AS Micro Revision: Market Power [21 Apr 2011]
UK Economy at a Glance April 2011 [17 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Economic Structure [6 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term:  Balance of Payments [6 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Current Account Deficit [2 Apr 2011]
AS Micro Revision: Banana Prices [1 Apr 2011]
OCR F585 June 2011: Competitiveness [31 Mar 2011]
Pacific Peso Reaches 29 Year High! [30 Mar 2011]
Keeping Track of UK Macro Objectives [18 Mar 2011]
Focus on Spain [16 Mar 2011]
Global supply chain threatened by Japanese disaster [16 Mar 2011]
Timetric: UK Balance of Trade with China [13 Mar 2011]
Dambisa Moyo - How the West was Lost [11 Mar 2011]
Timetric: UK Balance of Trade in Oil [6 Mar 2011]
Timetric: Trade Balance in Manufactured Goods [4 Mar 2011]
Timetric: UK Trade in Goods and Services [3 Mar 2011]
EU Economics: Germany leads Euro Zone revival [25 Feb 2011]
Protectionism and the demise of the US shipping industry [24 Feb 2011]
Unemployment in Germany and Spain [14 Feb 2011]
The US-China Trade Deficit [14 Feb 2011]
China and Africa - Resources on their relationship [14 Feb 2011]
Economics Q&A: Should the CAP be scrapped? [14 Feb 2011]
Mo Tanweer on Global Currency Wars [10 Feb 2011]
Balance of Payments Data - Free Chart Download [9 Feb 2011]
David Smith on Shifting Sands in the Global Economy [8 Feb 2011]
Theory Thursday! Utility Possibility Frontier [3 Feb 2011]
EU Economics: Hopes for a low carbon future in Europe [3 Feb 2011]
Globalisation - Peering into the MIST? [1 Feb 2011]
WTO finds Boeing guilty of using illegal subsidies [1 Feb 2011]
5 Fresh Links: Reforming the EU Common Agricultural Policy [25 Jan 2011]
Changes in Real Prices [24 Jan 2011]
The US-China power balance, trade and currencies [22 Jan 2011]
Economics Q&A: Will the rise in VAT harm the UK’s economic performance? [17 Jan 2011]
Economics Q&A: What economic factors affect the demand for new cars? [9 Jan 2011]
Economics Q&A: Does the UK economy achieve a trade surplus in anything? [6 Jan 2011]
Economics Q&A: Why might Europe’s weaker economies struggle to grow in the next few years? [2 Jan 2011]
EU Economics: European 2011 Revision Guide Launched [31 Dec 2010]
EU Economics: EU Economy in Charts Jan 2011 [29 Dec 2010]
OCR A2 Economics F585 (Feb 2011) - Suggested Reading [7 Dec 2010]
EU has to reduce its import barriers [4 Dec 2010]
Excellent data for trading patterns [22 Nov 2010]
Cutting up cotton subsidies? [15 Nov 2010]
Economics at the Movies - Four Yorkshiremen and Happiness Economics [31 Oct 2010]
Extend and Enrich with EconoMax [29 Oct 2010]
A2 Micro: Monopoly Price and Output [28 Oct 2010]
The Acid Burns Through - Requiem for Neo Liberalism [28 Oct 2010]
Economics at the Movies - Manufactured Landscapes [19 Oct 2010]
Quangos can go [14 Oct 2010]
Neither a borrower nor a lender be, [13 Oct 2010]
Here we go again - high tariffs and currency wars [9 Oct 2010]
Creative products lead the world and boost UK trade [5 Oct 2010]
Poor countries or poor people? [4 Oct 2010]
Currencies in the News - Two Videos [16 Sep 2010]
The OECD Insights Series [23 Aug 2010]
Pressure for higher minimum wages in Bangladesh [28 Jul 2010]
CEO Summit focuses on supply side support [30 Jun 2010]
Measuring what makes life worthwhile [24 Jun 2010]
Revision Note: China and the World Economy [23 Jun 2010]
Ethiopia’s electronic market place [6 Jun 2010]

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