A) Think of a service you paid for recently.What would you have to go through to be able to perform the task you paid someone else to do (and to perform it equally well)?Please discuss the training, effort, or other costs would you bare to perform the task yourself.
B) Instead of going through all of that training, education, effort, etc., you decided to pay someone else to do the task.How long would you need to work to get the money to pay for the service?(If you don’t have a job, think of a job you are qualified for, guess the wage earned, and estimate how long it would take.)
C) Compare the time and other costs you discuss in A) above, to the time required to earn the money to pay for the service as discussed in B) above.Please explain why it made sense to pay for the service to be performed rather than doing it yourself (use marginal analysis –weigh the costs and benefits of paying for the service, and explain why you paid for the service).Hopefully you paid for the task to be performed by someone else because you gave up fewer resources than you would if you did it yourself-in other words, because they had a lower opportunity cost than you (and therefore the comparative advantage.)If your decision wasn’t rational, explain what mistake you made.You will be graded on your ability to clearly convey your analysis, so it is crucial that you write clearly and revise your submission.
I encourage you to think about the implications of this idea in the context of your educational goals.Many students are in college in large part because they believe they will earn more money as a college graduate.You can only realistically expect this outcome if, while in college, you develop a comparative advantage in performing a highly valued task (like accounting, nursing, or if you continue on to graduate school, you could be a lawyer, doctor, professor, etc.).If you get a degree in a field that doesn’t provide access to jobs, or if you don’t work hard and don’t learn anything, you will not have a comparative advantage in performing a highly valued task and cannot expect higher wages as a result of your schooling.
D) Do you have a comparative advantage in producing any goods or services?(Of course you do!)What are you good at -that you could do at a lower opportunity cost than the typical person?Hint: think about any hobbies you have.Or if you are employed, think about your typical work functions.
