Week 13 — Readings & Resources

Your primary reading is Chapter 13 (in this module). Everything below is the optional, go-deeper layer — pick what helps, skip the rest.

How to use this page

This page has 10 items (4 readings and 6 videos). Allow 67–81 minutes for everything. Each group points back to the matching chapter section and class-session segment, so use the full menu when you want more practice, or take the quick path below.

Every video here has captions: turn them on with the CC button in the player. The chapter covers the same ideas in text.

Pick-one quick path (18–22 min total)

• International Trade, Everyday Economics — Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
• Comparative Advantage and Trade - Macro Topic 1.3 (Micro Topic 1.4) — Jacob Clifford
• Trade Surplus And Deficit Explained — EzeSchool

① Who should make what?

Chapter 13, Section “Find the comparative advantage: the lower cost decides” · Session 1, Segment 3, “Who should make what” · Remember: the country that gives up less of the other good should make it, even if the other country makes more of everything.

• International Trade, Everyday Economics — Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas — a short central-bank explainer on why specialization pays; read the pages on absolute and comparative advantage and redo its two-country cost table yourself, one ratio at a time. Its later pages argue for one side of the trade-policy debate, so read them beside the chapter's two cases. This builds on Week 1's work with opportunity cost. (reading, 6–10 min)
• Comparative Advantage and Trade - Macro Topic 1.3 (Micro Topic 1.4) — Jacob Clifford — a fast whiteboard lesson that builds an output table and turns it into opportunity costs; pause before each answer and check that the good given up sits on top of every ratio. (video, 9 min) (captions: automatic)
• Specialization and Trade: Crash Course Economics #2 — CrashCourse — a lively episode on why people and countries specialize and trade instead of making everything themselves; listen for the moment it separates being better at something from giving up less to do it. (video, 9 min) (captions: creator)
• Comparative Advantage - Why Does Trade Take Place? — EconplusDal — a whiteboard walk-through of how to calculate comparative advantage, told for a British exam audience; work its example alongside the video and compare your opportunity costs with its own. (video, 10 min) (captions: automatic)

② What price makes both sides gain?

Chapter 13, Section “Set the price: the terms of trade and the mutually beneficial range” · Session 1, Segment 4, “Setting the price” · Remember: a price between the two countries' opportunity costs leaves both sides better off than making the good at home.

• Terms of Trade Practice- Comparative Advantage — Jacob Clifford — a practice video on finding the range of prices at which two countries will agree to trade; before each answer, write the two opportunity costs and check that the price sits strictly between them. (video, 7 min) (captions: automatic)

③ Is a trade deficit a loss?

Chapter 13, Section “Read the trade balance calmly: a direction, not a defeat” · Session 2, Segment 6, “Reading the trade balance” · Remember: a trade deficit means imports exceeded exports; by itself it describes trade flows, not a loss of income.

• International Trade in Goods and Services — U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis — the agency page for the monthly trade report; read its one-paragraph definition of the trade balance, then find the latest monthly figure and say it in words as exports minus imports, in billions of dollars. Use it while completing the Week-13 module overview. (reading, 4–6 min)
• Trade Surplus And Deficit Explained — EzeSchool — a short animated definition of a trade surplus and a trade deficit; as you watch, restate each example as the chapter does, imports exceeded exports or exports exceeded imports, with no verdict attached. Stop here before exchange rates; next week takes that up. (video, 3 min) (captions: automatic)

④ Tariffs: who gains, and who bears the cost?

Chapter 13, Section “Weigh tariffs and trade policy: both cases at full strength” · Session 2, Segment 7, “Tariffs, both sides” · Remember: both sides accept that specialization raises total output; they differ on how to weigh who bears the adjustment cost.

• Tariffs and Trade Disputes — Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond — a regional central bank's magazine story on how new tariffs reached farms and factories; read the section titled The Trade Debate and list one argument each side makes, labelling each one positive or normative. Treat it as one snapshot from one period, not a verdict. (reading, 6–10 min)
• What is Protectionism? Tariffs, Quotas & Subsidies — Two Teachers — a short animated explainer on the trade barriers a government can use and why it might use them; for each barrier, name who pays more and who is shielded from competition. (video, 5 min) (captions: creator)

Optional one-stop reference (free online reference)

• Comparative Advantage, Concise Encyclopedia of Economics — Econlib — an encyclopedia entry on the principle with a two-person, two-good worked example; read the tables and the part on the range of trade prices, and skip the opening anecdote. It explains the theory rather than any one tariff policy. (reading, 8–12 min)

Heads-up (links rot): these point to outside sites that occasionally move or rename pages. If a link ever fails, tell your instructor and use the reference above in the meantime.

Provenance: Built with The Course Maker · samples.thecoursemaker.com