Problem
Consider the case of an engineer and an office assistant with 40 hours available for work each week. The engineer owns her own firm and has no problem finding contracts that pay her $150 per-hour for her available 40 hours per-week. The engineer is also highly skilled at office work, and could complete those tasks in 10 hours per-week if she chose to do so. Alternatively, the engineer can hire an office assistant for $15 per-hour, and the office assistant is currently unemployed and has no income. The office assistant will require 40 hours per-week to complete the office work that the engineer could complete in 10 hours. Use this case to demonstrate absolute advantage and comparative advantage. What is the financially most advantageous thing for the engineer to do?