Specialization in Comparative Advantage

Steps:

• Calculate opportunity costs from PPCs: India sacrifices less tea for rice (advantage in rice); Japan sacrifices less rice for tea (advantage in tea).
• Assign specialization: India produces maximum rice (600 units); Japan produces maximum tea (200 units).
• Sum outputs for total production: rice from India only, tea from Japan only.
• Compare to choices: totals match rice 600, tea 200.

Why A is correct:

• Matches total output when countries specialize per comparative advantage, defined as lower opportunity cost, achieving efficient global production on combined PPC.

Why the others are wrong:

• B: Exceeds Japan's tea capacity, ignoring specialization limits.
• C: Doubles rice beyond India's maximum, not feasible without trade inefficiency.
• D: Unrealistic totals surpassing both countries' combined PPC frontiers.

Final answer: A