Two college roommates are discussing how to divide up the chores for their shared apartment. See the chart below and answer the questions that follow in paragraph form. Sherrod Clarke Clean the Bathroom 60 minutes 45 minutes Dust a room 30 minutes 45 minutes In a one to two paragraphs answer the following questions with thorough explanations: What is Sherrod's opportunity cost of cleaning the bathroom in terms of dusting a room? What is Sherrod's opportunity cost of dusting a room in terms of cleaning the room? What is Clarke's opportunity cost of cleaning the bathroom in terms of dusting a room? What is Clarke's opportunity cost of dusting a room in terms of cleaning the room? Who has the absolute advantage in cleaning the bathroom? In Dusting a room? Who has the comparative advantage in cleaning the bathroom? In dusting a room? Who should do which chore and why? Your answer should be based only on the information you have been given and considering comparative advantage.

a. 0.5 minute of dusting a room.

b. 2 minutes of cleaning the bathroom.

c. 1 minute of dusting a room.

d. 1 minute of cleaning the bathroom.

e. Clarke has the absolute advantage in cleaning the bathroom, while Sherrod has the absolute advantage in Dusting a room.

f. Sherrod has the comparative advantage in cleaning the bathroom, while Clarke has the comparative advantage in dusting a room.

g. Sherrod should clean the room because he has the comparative advantage in cleaning the bathroom, while Clarke should dust the room because he has the comparative advantage in dusting a room.

Explanation:

The chart is merged together and it is first sorted before the questions are answered as follows:

Details Sherrod Clarke

Clean the Bathroom 60 minutes 45 minutes

Dust a room 30 minutes 45 minutes

The questions are now answered as follows:

a. What is Sherrod's opportunity cost of cleaning the bathroom in terms of dusting a room?

Sherrod's opportunity cost of bathroom cleaning = Minutes required for dusting a room / Minutes required for bathroom cleaning = 30 minutes / 60 minutes = 0.5

Therefore, Sherrod's opportunity cost of cleaning the bathroom in terms of dusting a room is 0.5 minutes of dusting a room.

b. What is Sherrod's opportunity cost of dusting a room in terms of cleaning the room?

Sherrod's opportunity cost of dusting a room = Minutes required for bathroom cleaning / Minutes required for dusting a room = 60 minutes / 30 minutes = 2

Therefore, Sherrod's opportunity cost of dusting a room in terms of cleaning the room is 2 minutes of cleaning the bathroom.

c. What is Clarke's opportunity cost of cleaning the bathroom in terms of dusting a room?

Clarke's opportunity cost of bathroom cleaning = Minutes required for dusting a room / Minutes required for bathroom cleaning = 45 minutes / 45 minutes = 1

Therefore, Clarke's opportunity cost of cleaning the bathroom in terms of dusting a room is 1 minutes of dusting a room.

d. What is Clarke's opportunity cost of dusting a room in terms of cleaning the room?

Clarke's opportunity cost of dusting a room = Minutes required for bathroom cleaning / Minutes required for dusting a room = 45 minutes / 45 minutes = 1

Therefore, Clarke's opportunity cost opportunity cost of dusting a room in terms of cleaning the room is 1 minutes of cleaning the bathroom.

e. Who has the absolute advantage in cleaning the bathroom? In Dusting a room?

A person has an absolute advantage in doing a task if he uses lesser resources or time in doing it than the other person. (s). Therefore:

Clarke has the absolute advantage in cleaning the bathroom, because he uses 45 minutes which is lesser than 60 minutes that Sherrod uses in cleaning the room.

Sherrod has the absolute advantage in Dusting a room, because he uses 30 minutes which is lesser than 45 minutes that Carke uses in Dusting the room.

f. Who has the comparative advantage in cleaning the bathroom? In dusting a room?

A person has a comparative advantage in carrying a task if his opportunity cost of doing the task is less than that of the other person (s). Therefore:

Sherrod has the comparative advantage in cleaning the bathroom because his opportunity cost of 0.5 in terms of dusting a room is less than Clarke's opportunity cost of 1 minute in terms of dusting a room.

Clarke has the comparative advantage in dusting a room, because his opportunity cost of 1 in terms of cleaning the bathroom is less than Sherrod's opportunity cost of 2 minutes in terms of dusting a room.

g. Who should do which chore and why?

Sherrod should clean the room because he has the comparative advantage in cleaning the bathroom.

Clarke should dust the room because he has the comparative advantage in dusting a room.

If they follow this recommendation, the total time they will spend in doing the chores for their shared apartment will be lesser than if they did not follow the recommendation that is based on the comparative advantage principle.