2- mavzu: Iqtisodiy bazis tushunchalari Iqtisodiy extiyoj tushunchasi. I

2.5 Specialization and Trade

People specialize by concentrating their energies on one primary activity. This allows them to make the best use of (and thus gain the most benefit from) their limited resources.

If a person, a region, or a country can produce a good or service at a lower opportunity cost than others, we say that they have a comparative advantage in the production of that good or service. They can gain by specializing in the production of the good in which they have a comparative advantage.

We all specialize to some extent and rely on others to produce most of the goods and services we want. The income earned for that work can then be used to buy goods and services from others who specialize in their production.

Use What You’ve Learned: Specialization, Comparative Advantage, and Baseball

The primary advantages of specialization are that employees acquire greater skill from repetition, they avoid wasted time in shifting from one task to another, and they do the types of work for which they are best suited, and specialization promotes the use of specialized equipment for specialized tasks.

Trade, or voluntary exchange, directly increases wealth by making both parties better off (or they wouldn’t trade). It is the prospect of wealth-increasing exchange that leads to productive specialization. Trade increases wealth by allowing a person, a region, or a nation to specialize in those products that it produces better and to trade for the products that others produce at a lower opportunity cost (e.g., U.S. wheat and Brazilian coffee).

In short, if we divide tasks and produce what we do relatively best and trade for the rest, we will be better off than if we were self-sufficient.

Use What You’ve Learned: Comparative Advantage