CEE: AP Macroeconomic Series: Making Sense of Comparative Advantage and Barriers to Trade

Too often, our students memorize formulas and “tricks” for solving comparative advantage problems without gaining a deep understanding of why comparative advantage is important and why economists almost universally support free trade. We can remedy this problem – and make these topics more engaging to students – by embracing a more holistic approach that emphasizes deep understanding and current real-world examples. In this webinar, we’ll focus primarily on three topics: “input” problems, terms of trade, and graphing trade and trade barriers.

In this webinar teachers will be able to:

•  Help students better understand what “input” problems mean and how to solve them
• Develop a more effective strategy for teaching terms of trade
• Articulate why economists promote free trade and how trade barriers affect consumers and producers