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Each of your two replies must contain at least 1 or 2 paragraphs including a minimum of 100 words
. One of your replies must cover a topic different than the one you discussed in your thread. Seek to understand your classmate’s thread, including the economic theory and facts he/she presented as well as his/her points of view and real-world example. Aim to communicate your own understanding of relevant facts, your values, and your perspective on the topic. Be careful to back up your assertions with source references.

   

REPLIE 1:

 

Gains from trade are only successful when countries produce the goods that they are most successful in producing; this is what economist refers to as the law of comparative advantage. Gwartney, Stroup, Sobel, and Macpherson (2013) define comparative advantage as, “The ability to produce a good at a lower opportunity cost than others can produce it. Relative costs determine comparative advantage” (p. 358). Countries that utilize their strengths in trade will experience gains from trade.
              One online source posed this question and answer, “If you do everything better than anyone else, should you…do everything yourself? By…concentrating on the things you do the “most best” and…trading any excess of those things with someone else for the things that person does the “most best,” you can both be better off” (The Library of Economics and Liberty, 2012). This is a good point, you may be really good at a lot of different things, but if you tried to do all of those things yourself it would prove to be an inefficient process; however, outsourcing a portion of your tasks to others allows you to concentrate on the things you do very well while also benefitting through outsourcing.
              We can see the benefits of trade in our own corner of the world. One government website adds, “American real incomes are 9% higher than they would otherwise have been as a result of trade liberalizing efforts since the Second World War” (Office of the United States Trade Representative, n.d.). Because America exports the products it produces best and imports those that it may or may not adequately produce, we are able to see the monetary gains in our wages.
              International trade is not a new concept; in fact, we can see it all throughout the Bible. Genesis chapters 37-50 tells of one of the most talked about trades in the Bible, when Joseph was traded to Egypt as a slave. Although, at times, it did not appear that there would be any gains made by this trade, in the end, there were some great gains. Joseph became one of the most powerful men in Egypt, God’s blessed Egypt because of Joseph, and Joseph was able to save his family from famine.

References

Gwartney, J. D., Stroup, R. L., Sobel, R. S., & Macpherson, D. A. (2013). Economics private and public choice. (14th ed., p. 358). Mason, OH: South-Western.

Office of the United States Trade Representative. (n.d.). Economy & trade. Retrieved from http://www.ustr.gov/trade-topics/economy-trade

The Library of Economics and Liberty. (2012). Comparative advantage and the benefits of trade. Retrieved from http://www.econlib.org/library/Topics/College/comparativeadvantage.html

  

Reply Quot

   

REPLIE 2:

 

Discussion Board 4

Monopolies

            Monopolies are defined by Gwartney, Stroup, Sobel & Macpherson (2013) as “A market structure characterized by (1) a single seller of a well-defined product for which there are no good substitutes and (2) high barriers to the entry of any other firms into the market for that product.” Monopolies are a detriment to economies across the world and they can slow if not all the stop economic growth.

            Monopolies take their tolls on all kinds of competition, including the medicinal competition. In the article Medicine, Monopoly, and Malice (2013) it discusses the effects that a monopoly on HIV medication from 1996 to 2003 had on people lives. This article points out that the company that had the ability to provide cheap generic drugs to help people with lower incomes were denied permission by the main manufacturers of the HIV medications because they were making more money off of higher income consumers. This type of monopoly not only hurts the economy and its growth but the people on every income class level because there is no way to check and create competitive prices.

            In Tim Wu’s article Monopolies, Our Secret Love he discusses that while monopolies are frowned upon and stiff completion is encouraged, people seem to gravitate to brand names rather than their cheaper generic competitors brands. They article points out that is usually a big brand name that owns majority of the market because of customer loyalty rather than having competition across the board (2011).

            The Bible states in Matthew 20:16 “So the last will be first, and the first last.”(ESV). It is important for us as Christians to remember to put other before ourselves and let others go before us. Being selfless reflects Christ’s ultimate selfless sacrifice on the cross when He died for all our sins. In the economic, Christians need to make sure that while it is ok to be competitive, we should not let our competitive nature cloud our judgment of reflecting all of our work back to God. Creating monopolies runs others out of business and creates greed not only in the economy, but also in ones own heart and is not a reflection of Christ’s love for us. Putting others before our selves and working within the rules of the economy and of the Bible could lead to the opportunity to share ones faith with the world around them.

References 

Gwartney, J. D., Stroup, R. L., Sobel, R. S., & Macpherson, D. A. (2013). Economics: Private and public choice (14th ed.). Independence, KY: Cengage Learning. Bundle* ISBN: 1133808654.

 

Bartlett, S. (2013). Medicine, monopoly, and malice. The Lancet, 381(9869), 795. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(13)60614-5

 

Wu, T. (2011). Monopolies, our secret love. The Wilson Quarterly, 35(3). 62.

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