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††† (Actually this isn't all what comparative advantage is; comparative advantage says, if there's a market for widgets and a market for photos and you're better at widgets than photos and I'm better at photos than widgets, then I should do widgets and you should do photos, which is a subtly different idea, but the point stands either way.)

Surely this is supposed to be the other way around. If I'm better at photos than widgets, and you're better at widgets than photos, then I should do the photos and you should do the widgets ... right? Crazy pills?



Yep, thanks for catching that.


Comparative advantage is actually even more subtle than that. Even if we're both better at photos than widgets, it's still beneficial for me to produce the one I'm better at relative to you (say photos), and for you to produce widgets. Then we can trade with each other and both gain from trade.


As my econ 101 lecturer used to say 'we have to mangle the english language and use the term more better'

As long as I am more better at photos than you, you produce the widgets, and I produce the photos.

For some reason that hashing of the language sticks in my mind like a beacon and ensures I never lose the concept of comparative advantage.




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