Lesson Two: Sell What the Market Demands

The law of supply and demand holds true is all situations and can often be cruel to those who do not abide by it. Before you begin your business, make sure you take time to determine the approximate demand for what you will be selling in the marketplace. If you don’t you may find yourself out of business, not able to sell your product at the price your must in order to make a profit. Ask yourself if there is a need? What problems does your product or service solve? How will you differentiate yourself from all the competitors doing the same thing?

Lesson Three: Supply and Demand Works in Factor Markets as well as Goods Markets

While the models above use the example of a good, the widget, the law of supply and demand is equally applicable to factor markets, that is, the market for employees and workers. The difference is that supply is supply of workers and demand is demand for workers. As the business owner, you are no longer the provider, but rather, the consumer of labor. If the supply for labor in your area is low, you will have to pay more to attract the quantity and quality of employees you need to build your business. Similarly, if there are many employers in your area, there will be more choices for workers in the area and thus wages will be driven higher.


An Important Factor behind the World’s Wealth: The Principle of Comparative Advantage

While there is much work still to be done to reduce poverty across the world, over the past five hundred years a tremendous increase in prosperity and standards of living has taken place. There are numerous reasons for this. These include the humanist movement, the scientific revolution, the spread of liberalism, the promotion of innovation, the creation of laws that protect private property and the development of a system which rewards hard work and investment. However one of the most important reasons for the great increase in the standards of living across our world over the past five centuries, however, is the great increase in trade.

Until the economist David Ricardo came, there was mercantilist view of trade persisted. He wrote Principles of Political Economy in 1817 by which he explained and promoted the theory of comparative advantage, the key theory that explains why specialization and free trade is such a beneficial force.

To illustrate this important principle, let’s look at a two goods and two countrie´s market—that of bread and wine in England and France. Assume that France produces both bread and wine cheaper and more efficiently than England can. Will it benefit France to trade with England? Surprisingly, the answer is yes. Let us further assume that before trade, England produced 14 barrels of wine and 350 loaves of bread and France produced 15 barrels of wine and 600 loaves of bread. Since France produces more of both, it has what is called a competitive advantage in the production of wine and bread. Before Ricardo, the analysis would stop there and France would decide not to trade with England. France, however, had not taken into account the principle of comparative advantage. Instead of each producing wine and bread for domestic-only consumption, if the two countries specialize in what they comparatively do best in and then trade, it will in fact increase its both the amount of wine and bread that each country has. Let’s see how.

As we can see from these tables, it costs England 1 barrel of wine for every 50 loaves of bread it produces and France 1 barrel of wine for every 40 loaves of bread it produces. England’s ‘cost-ratio’ is therefore is 1W:50B and France’s is 1W:40B. As both countries desire both wine and bread, before specialization and trade, both choose Production Possibility B. England produces 14 barrels of wine and 350 loaves of bread while France produces 15 barrels of wine and 600 loaves of bread. It is clear that France is better in the production of both goods. However, gains can be made from specialization and trade.

Since France has to give up less loaves of bread than England (40 versus 50) to get 1 barrel of wine, it has a comparative advantage in the production of wine. Vice versa, since England has to give up less barrels of wine to get 1 loaf of bread (.2 versus .25), it has a comparative advantage in the production of bread. Also note that before specialization a total of 29 barrels of wine (14 + 15) are produced as well as 950 loaves of bread (350 + 600). Now let’s see what happens when England specializes in making bread and France specializes in making wine.

From our table, we see that if England specializes in making bread it will choose Production Possibility A and France will choose Production Possibility C and specialize in wine. Now, 1050 loaves of bread (instead of 950) and 30 barrels of wine (instead of 29) are produced. It is clear that specialization has increased the production of both goods. One problem remains, however. This is that England has no wine and France has no bread. This can be solved easily through trade.

Meeting in the middle between the cost-ratio of 1 barrel per 50 loaves for England and 1 barrel per 40 loaves for France, let’s assume the ‘terms of trade’ are set at 1 barrel of wine per 45 loaves of bread. It will always benefit both countries as long as the terms of trade are between 1:40 and 1:50. This exact number will be set based on the supply and demand in the market.

Let see what happens if France trades 14 barrels of wine for 630 loaves of bread (14 x 45 = 630). After the trade, France has 16 barrels of wine remaining and 630 loaves of bread while England has 14 barrels of wine and 420 loaves of bread. France now has 1 more barrels of wine and 30 more loaves of bread while England has the same amount of wine and 70 more loaves of bread. Specialization and trade created 1 extra barrel of wine and 100 extra loaves of bread! All due to comparative advantage.