Final answer:
A nation's production possibilities curve is bowed from the origin because of the law of increasing opportunity costs, which states that as more of one good is produced, greater amounts of another good must be foregone due to the reallocation of specialized resources.
Step-by-step explanation:
Why is a Production Possibilities Frontier Curved?
The reason a nation's production possibilities curve is typically bowed from the origin is because of the law of increasing opportunity costs. This concept is associated with the allocation of resources between the production of two different goods. As production of one good increases, producing each additional unit requires the economy to give up more and more of the other good due to the reallocation of resources, thus the opportunity cost increases. The curve reflects the reality that not all resources are equally efficient in all possible uses. The more resources are specialized, the greater the inefficiency of reallocating them, and therefore, the opportunity cost increases, making the curve concave or bowed out from the origin.
Additionally, the production possibilities frontier (PPF) illustrates scarcity, which implies that a PPF is downward sloping; due to limited resources, producing more of one good necessitates producing less of another. The negative slope of the PPF reflects the necessary trade-offs in production levels.