A Tale of Two Tribes
Worksheet
Engia Vs. Portigia
The following table shows the productivity of Engia and Portigia.
Daily Output
Wood
Engia
80
Portigia
200
Fish
OR
120
160
Based on the story told, answer the questions below to find out how the plan suggested by David can improve the living standards of both tribes.
In this case, we have assumed that the individual productivity of workers do not increase as a result of specialization. Furthermore, all fish and
wood is homogeneous.
1. Which tribe is better at collecting wood: Engia or Portigia?
2. Which tribe is better at catching fish: Engia or Portigia?
3. Before the arrival of David, how much wood and fish can the tribes get?
perform each task. Complete the following table with your answers.
Remember that the workers were divided into two halves to
1
The initial situation
Daily Output / goods available
Wood
Fish
Engia
and
Portigia
Total
and
4. Suppose the chiefs adopt David's plan and assign the tasks to the workers according to his suggestion. How much wood and fish would they
get? Remember that ALL the Engian workers are assigned to catch fish. In Portigia, 15 workers are assigned to collect wood and 5
workers to catch fish. Complete the following table with your answers.
David's plan
Daily Output
Wood
Fish
Engia
and
Portigia
Total
and
5. After they have adopted David's plan, do they have more output as a whole?
How much additional wood can they collect?
How many fish
can they catch?
That is amazing! They are really more productive than before.
2
6. In order to make them realize the benefit, David arranged an exchange of goods between these two tribes. David asked them to exchange 45
units of wood for 45 units of fish. After the exchange, what quantity of goods is available in each tribe? Complete the table below.
After trade
Goods available
Wood
Fish
Engia
and
Portigia
Total
7. Do they really gain from such an arrangement?
Compare the table in 3. and 6. and find out the gains from trade. Complete the table
below.
Gains from trade
Wood
Fish
Engia
Portigia
and
8. Can you explain why they can produce more output with the same amount of resources?
3