经济学原理

作者:蜜桃君 分类: 发布于:2008-6-3 14:49

经济学经典教材除了萨缪尔森那本《经济学》就数曼昆的《经济学原理》了,而根据我的体验,曼昆的书读起来比萨缪尔森的有趣。曼昆在讲opportunity cost和comparative advantage的时候,有一个很好的例子,我相信仔细看了这个例子之后大可触类旁通,足以解决很多思想斗争。

SHOULD TIGER WOODS MOW HIS OWN LAWN?

Tiger Woods spends a lot of time walking around on grass. One of the most talented golfers of all time, he can hit a drive and sink a putt in a way that most casual golfers only dream of doing. Most likely, he is talented at other activities too. For example, let’s imagine that Woods can mow his lawn faster than anyone else. But just because he can mow his lawn fast, does this mean he should?

To answer this question, we can use the concepts of opportunity cost and comparative advantage. Let’s say that Woods can mow his lawn in 2 hours. In that same 2 hours, he could film a television commercial for Nike and earn $10,000. By contrast, Forrest Gump, the boy next door, can mow Woods’s lawn in 4 hours. In that same 4 hours, he could work at McDonald’s and earn $20.

In this example, Woods’s opportunity cost of mowing the lawn is $10,000 and Forrest’s opportunity cost is $20. Woods has an absolute advantage in mowing lawns because he can do the work in less time. Yet Forrest has a comparative advantage in mowing lawns because he has the lower opportunity cost.

这段话简单总结一下,就是:如果老虎伍兹和阿甘是邻居,伍兹就算是清理草坪比阿甘快,比阿甘清理得还好,但是如果伍兹自己去做这种事情仍然是很没有效率的!因为单位时间内,伍兹可以为耐克拍个广告赚一万美元,而清理草坪这种事情外包给阿甘,单位时间支付几十美元就可以了。

所以呢,我们认为自己这个也可以做,那也可以做,但真正有效率的人不是这样做事的。这就是为什么会有比较优势和分工这一说了。

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