"Comparative advantage is not just a theory but a very important fact in the history of many nations. It has been more than a century since Great Britain produced enough food to feed its people. Britons have been able to get enough to eat only because the country has concentrated its efforts on producing those things in which it has had a comparative advantage, such as manufacturing, shipping, and financial services— and using the proceeds to buy food from other countries. British consumers ended up better fed and with more manufactured goods than if the country grew enough of its own food to feed itself. Since the real costs of anything that is produced are the other things that could have been produced with the same efforts, it would cost the British too much industry and commerce to transfer enough resources into agriculture to become self-sufficient in food. They are better off getting food from some other country whose comparative advantage is in agriculture,even if that other country’s farmers are not as efficient as British farmers."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Thomas Sowell, Basic Economics, 4th ed. (2010), Ch. 20. International Trade
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Comparative advantage
3 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Comparative advantage →
Related Quotes
"If there were an Economist's Creed, it would surely contain the affirmations 'I understand the Principle of Comparati…"
"The idea of comparative advantage—with its implication that trade between two nations normally raises the real income…"
"Currency devaluations stimulated recovery in two ways: allowing nominal interest rates to fall and, so long as people…"
"This ground-plan, conceived by a great architect, exhibits a fundamental metaphysical dualism in Plato’s thought. ...…"
"We are called upon in this case to decide whether under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 [1] the Securities and Ex…"
"Once upon a time, capital gains were not taxable in Canada. But the federal government instituted a tax on capital ga…"
"These cases present the same question, that is, whether under the Revenue Act of 1934, 26 U.S.C.A. Int.Rev.Acts, page…"
"The boycott, as Gandhi taught, is the most nearly perfect instrument for nonviolent change, allowing masses of people…"
"Economic power has to precede political power. Gandhi understood this when, in 1930, he and his followers resolved to…"
"Thus in our view the Lange-Lerner-Taylor-Hayek debate comes down to the fundamental distinction between economies whe…"