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ECON101 Tutorial 2 Questions
Chapter 3
Question 4
Suppose that there are 10 million workers in Canada and that each of these workers can produce either 2 cars or 30 bushels of wheat in a year.
a. What is the opportunity cost of producing a car in Canada? What is the opportunity cost of producing a bushel of wheat in Canada? Explain the relationship between the opportunity costs of the two goods.
b. Draw Canada’s production possibilities frontier. If Canada chooses to consume 10 million cars, how much wheat can it consume without trade? Label this point on the production possibilities frontier.
c. Now suppose the United States offers to buy 10 million cars from Canada in exchange for 20 bushels of wheat per car. If Canada continues to consume 10 million cars, how much wheat does this deal allow Canada to consume? Label this point on your diagram. Should Canada accept this deal?
Solution
a. Because a Canadian worker can make either two cars a year or 30 bushels of wheat, the opportunity cost of a car is 15 bushels of wheat. Similarly, the opportunity cost of a bushel of wheat is 1/15 of a car. The opportunity costs are the reciprocals of each other.
b. See Figure 1. If all ten million workers produce two cars each, they produce a total of 20 million cars, which is the vertical intercept of the production possibilities frontier. If all ten million workers produce 30 bushels of wheat each, they produce a total of 300 million bushels, which is the horizontal intercept of the production possibilities frontier. Because the trade-off between cars and wheat is always the same, the production possibilities frontier is a straight line.
If Canada chooses to consume ten million cars, it will need five million workers devoted to car production. That leaves five million workers to produce wheat, who will produce a total of 150 million bushels (five million workers times 30 bushels per worker). This is shown as point A on Figure 1.
c. If the United States
Chapter 3
Question 4
Suppose that there are 10 million workers in Canada and that each of these workers can produce either 2 cars or 30 bushels of wheat in a year.
a. What is the opportunity cost of producing a car in Canada? What is the opportunity cost of producing a bushel of wheat in Canada? Explain the relationship between the opportunity costs of the two goods.
b. Draw Canada’s production possibilities frontier. If Canada chooses to consume 10 million cars, how much wheat can it consume without trade? Label this point on the production possibilities frontier.
c. Now suppose the United States offers to buy 10 million cars from Canada in exchange for 20 bushels of wheat per car. If Canada continues to consume 10 million cars, how much wheat does this deal allow Canada to consume? Label this point on your diagram. Should Canada accept this deal?
Solution
a. Because a Canadian worker can make either two cars a year or 30 bushels of wheat, the opportunity cost of a car is 15 bushels of wheat. Similarly, the opportunity cost of a bushel of wheat is 1/15 of a car. The opportunity costs are the reciprocals of each other.
b. See Figure 1. If all ten million workers produce two cars each, they produce a total of 20 million cars, which is the vertical intercept of the production possibilities frontier. If all ten million workers produce 30 bushels of wheat each, they produce a total of 300 million bushels, which is the horizontal intercept of the production possibilities frontier. Because the trade-off between cars and wheat is always the same, the production possibilities frontier is a straight line.
If Canada chooses to consume ten million cars, it will need five million workers devoted to car production. That leaves five million workers to produce wheat, who will produce a total of 150 million bushels (five million workers times 30 bushels per worker). This is shown as point A on Figure 1.
c. If the United States