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International Trade - Theory and Policy, 2010a

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as wCPW. Using the relationship between wages <strong>and</strong> prices when zero profit results in the cheese industry<br />

implies that<br />

wCPW=(PCaLC)PW=1aLCPCPW.<br />

This means that the real wage of cheese workers in terms of wine is the product of labor productivity in<br />

the cheese industry <strong>and</strong> the price ratio. Labor productivity gives the quantity of cheese a cheese worker<br />

makes in an hour of work. The price ratio gives the quantity of wine that exchanges for each unit of<br />

cheese. The product gives the quantity of wine that a cheese worker can buy with a unit of work. To<br />

calculate the autarky real wage, simply plug in the autarky price ratio. To calculate the free trade real<br />

wage, plug in the free trade price ratio.<br />

The Real Wage of Wine Workers in Terms of Wine<br />

The real wage of wine workers in terms of wine is the quantity of wine that a wine worker can buy with a<br />

unit of work. It is calculated by dividing the worker’s wage by the price of wine, written as wW/PW. Since<br />

zero profit results in each producing industry, we can rewrite the relationship to get<br />

wWPW=1aLW.<br />

As with cheese, the real wage of a worker in terms of how much wine can be purchased is equal to labor<br />

productivity in wine production. In other words, the amount of wine that a worker can buy per period of<br />

work is exactly the same as the amount of wine the worker can make in that same period.<br />

The Real Wage of Wine Workers in Terms of Cheese<br />

The real wage of wine workers in terms of cheese is the quantity of cheese that a wine worker can buy with<br />

a unit of work. It is calculated by dividing the wine worker’s wage by the price of cheese, written as<br />

(wW/PC). Using the relationship between prices <strong>and</strong> wages when zero profit results in the wine industry<br />

implies that<br />

wWPC=(PWaLW)PC=1aLWPWPC.<br />

This means that the real wage of wine workers in terms of cheese is the product of labor productivity in<br />

the wine industry <strong>and</strong> the price ratio. Labor productivity gives the quantity of wine a wine worker makes<br />

in an hour of work. The price ratio gives the quantity of cheese that exchanges for each unit of wine. The<br />

product gives the quantity of cheese that a wine worker can buy with a unit of work. To solve for the<br />

autarky real wage, simply plug in the autarky price ratio. To find the free trade real wage, plug in the free<br />

trade price ratio.<br />

Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books<br />

Saylor.org<br />

112

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