EconGoneCountry

Supply and demand with a twang

​Classroom Polling

Title: Made in America

​Artist: Toby Keith

Economic Concepts: Trade; Specialization; Comparative Advantage; Opportunity Cost

Details: The elderly farmer is upset by seeing foreign cars on the road filled with gasoline refined from imported oil.  In addition, he realizes that none of our clothing is 'Made in America' because it is manufactured abroad from cotton grown outside of the United States.  He is very patriotic with a U.S. flag flying at home and he is willing to spend extra for products produced domestically.

          Everyone has different preferences for goods and services, which in this case happen to be U.S. made products.  However, from listening to the song one might reach the conclusion that buying foreign goods is bad for the U.S. and that we should make all products domestically.  One of the first concepts learned in economics is that of efficiency and specialization.  Economies have limited resources and can only produce so many goods and services. 

         Furthermore, we also need to consider opportunity costs in the production process.  If we believe that we should produce our own U.S. cotton, then we will have less land to raise other crops such as corn, soybeans, and wheat.  The question becomes how much corn must we give up to get a little extra cotton?  If America has a comparative advantage in producing corn, then we will likely have to give up numerous bushels of corn to get just a few bushels of cotton, thus making the concept of 'Made in America' not a very efficient economic outcome.  Instead, economic theory tells us that people and countries should specialize in what they're relatively good at and then trade with one another.  The end result will be more goods at a lower price which benefits consumers.
         On a side note, this song also raises the question of what is truly an American product.  Is a Nissan Altima, manufactured in Smyrna, Tennessee using U.S. resources, a foreign car while a Ford Focus produced in Mexico an American automobile?  

Lyrics: 

My old man's that old man,
Spent his life livin' off the land
Dirty hands, and a clean soul
It breaks his heart seein' foreign cars
Filled with fuel that isn't ours
And wearin' cotton we didn't grow

He's got the red, white,
And blue flyin' high on the farm
Semper fi tattooed on his left arm
Spends a little more in the store for a tag
In the back that says U.S.A.
He won't buy nothin' that he can't fix
With WD Forty and a Craftsman wrench
He ain't prejudice he's just, made in America

Loves his wife, she's that wife
That decorates on the fourth of July
But says, "Every day's Independence Day"
She's golden rule, teaches school
Some folks say it isn't cool
But she says the Pledge of Allegiance anyway

He's got the red, white, and blue flyin' high on the farm
Semper fi tattooed on his left arm
Spends a little more in the store for a tag
In the back that says U.S.A.
He won't buy nothin' that he can't fix
With WD Forty and a Craftsman wrench
He ain't prejudice he's just, made in America

Born in the heartland, raised up a family
King James and Uncle Sam

Got the red, white, and blue flyin' high on the farm
Semper fi tattooed on his left arm
Spends a little more at the store for a tag
In the back that says U.S.A.
Won't buy nothin' that he can't fix
With WD Forty and a Craftsman wrench
He ain't prejudice he's just, made in America
Made in America, made in America

Yeah my old man's that old man,
Made in America