Suppose that two different castaways, Mr. and
Mrs. Howell, end up on a different island.
Mr. Howell can pick 1 pineapple per hour, or
1 coconut. Mrs. Howell can pick 2 pineapples per
hour, but it takes her two hours to pick a coconut.
a. Construct a table like Table 2 showing Mr. and
Mrs. Howell’s labor requirements.
b. Who—Mr. or Mrs. Howell—has a comparative
advantage in picking pineapples? In picking
coconuts? Which of the two should specialize in
which tasks?
c. [Harder] Assume that Mr. and Mrs. Howell had
originally washed ashore on different parts of
the island, and that they originally each spent
12 hours per day working, spending 6 hours
picking pineapples and 6 hours picking coconuts.
How will their total production change if they
find each other and begin to specialize?