Editing Internationalization (section)

=== Absolute cost advantage <small>''(Adam Smith, 1776)''</small> ===
{{Main|Absolute advantage}}
[[Adam Smith]] claimed that a country should specialise in, and export, commodities in which it had an absolute advantage.<ref name="ingham">{{cite book |title= International economics: a European focus |last= Ingham |first= Barbara |year= 2004 |publisher= Pearson Education |isbn= 0-273-65507-8 |pages= 336 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=zIaS9R7HUGIC }}</ref> An absolute advantage existed when the country could produce a commodity with less costs per unit produced than could its trading partner.<ref name="ingham" /> By the same reasoning, it should import commodities in which it had an absolute disadvantage.<ref name="ingham" />

While there are possible [[gains from trade]] with absolute advantage, comparative advantage extends the range of possible mutually beneficial exchanges. In other words, it is not necessary to have an absolute advantage to gain from trade, only a comparative advantage.