"A person has a comparative advantage at producing something if he can produce it at lower cost than anyone else." (The Library of Economics and Liberty, 2004)
Self Sufficient people under a market system guided by the prices of products and resources make better decisions. If it is sensible for a person to produce the product for which he has an advantage, it is a lower opportunity cost than another person.
Self Sufficient people are able to provide for oneself without the help of others; able to provide for your own needs independent, having undue confidence, and smug. refers to the state of not requiring any outside aid, support, or (in hard line cases) interaction, for survival; it is therefore a type of extreme personal or collective (group-based) autonomy.
If you add the numbers for both Phil and Francis for a week, you can see that Francis has an absolute advantage over Phil when it comes to producing both products.
English: A table showing absolute advantage for pa...
FRANCIS VAIOTU
St. FrancisWith the two financial planners, Phil and Francis, their out-put can be explained in conjunction with productivity and opportunity costs. Phil can produce one financial statement while Francis can produce 3 statements. Phil can answer 10 phone calls while Francis can answer 12. Francis has the absolute advantage over Phil. Self-sufficiency is usually applied to varieties of sustainable living in which nothing is consumed outside of what is produced by the self-sufficient individuals. Specialization increases productivity through the division of labor, a result of the benefits of repetition, continuity and innovation. These two planners are both exceptional and I would say that both should be specialized, they both can provide the technical skills for the product and responsibility for the task that both members can work on to get the job done. It would benefit Francis to specialize in...