C04 Krugman 12e Accessible
C04 Krugman 12e Accessible
Chapter 4
Specific Factors and
Income Distribution
QF = QF (T , LF )
The more labor employed in the production of cloth, the larger the
output. As a result of diminishing returns, however, each successive
person-hour increases output by less than the previous one; this is
shown by the fact that the curve relating labor input to output gets
flatter at higher levels of employment.
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Production Possibilities (2 of 6)
• The shape of the production function reflects the law of
diminishing marginal returns.
– Adding one worker to the production process (without
increasing the amount of capital) means that each
worker has less capital to work with.
– Therefore, each additional unit of labor adds less
output than the last.
• Figure 4.2 shows the marginal product of labor, which
is the increase in output that corresponds to an extra unit
of labor.
The marginal product of labor in the cloth sector, equal to the slope of
the production function shown in Figure 4.1, is lower the more labor the
sector employs.
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Production Possibilities (3 of 6)
• For the economy as a whole, the total labor employed in
cloth and food must equal the total labor supply:
LC + LF = L
• Use these equations to derive the production
possibilities frontier of the economy.
MPLF pounds.
– To produce less food and more cloth, employ less in food and more in
cloth.
– The marginal product of labor in food rises and the marginal product of
MPLF
labor in cloth falls, so rises.
MPLC
• The two sectors must pay the same wage because labor
can move between sectors.
• If the wage were higher in the cloth sector, workers would
move from making food to making cloth until the wages
become equal.
– Or if the wage were higher in the food sector, workers
would move in the other direction.
• Where the labor demand curves intersect gives the
equilibrium wage and allocation of labor between the two
sectors.
MPLF PC
− =−
MPLC PF
The labor demand curves in cloth and food both shift up in proportion to
the rise in PC from PC1 to PC 2 and the rise in PF from PF 1 to PF 2 .
The wage rate rises in the same proportion, from w 1 to w 2
but the allocation of labor between the two sectors does not change.
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Prices, Wages, and Labor Allocation (8 of 10)
In the specific factors model, a higher relative price of cloth will lead
to an increase in the output of cloth relative to that of food. Thus, the
relative supply curve RS is upward sloping. Equilibrium relative
quantities and prices are determined by the intersection of RS with
the relative demand curve RD.
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Prices, Wages, and Labor Allocation (9 of 10)
The figure shows the relative supply curve for the specific factors economy along with
the world relative supply curve. The differences between the two relative supply curves
can be due to either technology or resource differences across countries. There are no
differences in relative demand across countries. Opening up to trade induces an
( PC PF ) to ( PC PF ) .
1 2
increase in the relative price from
PC DC + PF DF = PCQC + PFQF
PC
DF − QF = (QC − DC )
PF
Western Europe includes: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,
Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United
Kingdom. Eastern Europe includes: the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia.
Source: The Conference Board International Labor Comparisons, 2016; and Orley Ashenfelter and
Stepan Jurajda, "Comparing Real Wage Rates using McWages", mimeo, 2020.
Labor income is equal to the real wage times employment. The rest of
output accrues as income to the owners of capital.
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Figure 4A.3 A Rise in PC Benefits the Owners
P Sub C
of Capital
The real wage in terms of cloth falls, leading to a rise in the income of
capital owners.
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Figure 4A.4 A Rise in PC Hurts Landowners
P Sub C
The real wage in terms of food rises, reducing the income of land.
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