Question

gains from trade — end of chapter problem
youre working as a paid intern working for a small team of four software developers. each member of the team is facing different deadlines and requires your support at different times. you work only 40 hours per week.

to best allocate your time among the four team members each month, you should

• allocate 10 hours per week to each team member and ensure that your time is distributed fairly between the team members.
• determine which team member is most valuable to the company and allocate all 40 of your work hours to that team member.
• only work on tasks that provide you with the opportunity to further your personal knowledge.
• set up an internal market, allocating 10 hours per week to each team member and allowing them to trade hours among themselves over the course of each month.

Explanation:

• The first option (equal 10 - hour allocation) ignores differing needs/deadlines, so it's inefficient.
• The second option (allocating all to one) is unproductive as others have deadlines too.
• The third option (personal knowledge - focused) neglects team goals.
• The fourth option (internal market with initial 10 - hour allocation and trading) allows flexibility: team members can trade hours based on their varying deadlines/needs, optimizing time use (similar to gains from trade in economics, where reallocation based on relative needs/opportunity costs improves efficiency).

Answer:

D. set up an internal market, allocating 10 hours per week to each team member and allowing them to trade hours among themselves over the course of each month.