Question

It takes Melissa eight hours to produce a bushel of corn and two hours to wash and polish a car. It takes Greg six hours to produce a bushel of corn and one hour to wash and polish a car. If Greg and Melissa each work 48 hours in one week and produce only the good for which they have the comparative advantage, how much corn is produced and how many cars are washed in total?

Answer 1

0 bushels of corn 72 cars

Explanation:

Melissa produces at the rate:

1 bushel of corn per 8 hrs

Wash and polish a car per 2 hrs

She will wash and polish cars because she has the comparative advantage of requiring less time ( 2 vs 8 hours)

Greg also will only wash and polish cars because he requires 8 hours to produce a bushel of corn vs 1 hour to wash and polish a car

Therefore both Melissa and Greg will wash and polish cars in the 48 hours:

Melissa will work on 24 cars since she requres 2 hours and Greg will produce 48 cars since he needs only an hour per job.

The total corn produced will be 0 bushels and 72 cars ( 24 + 48 )