Absolute advantage
Etymology
From "absolute" (Latin "absolutus," unconditional) and "advantage" (Old French "avantage," a position ahead). The idea comes from Adam Smith’s "The Wealth of Nations" (1776), his account of why nations gain by specializing.
noun phrase · /AB-suh-loot ad-VAN-tij/
The ability to produce a good using fewer resources than a competitor.
What it names
A basic trade concept — being simply better at making something, in raw efficiency terms.
Example
With its climate and soil, the region has an absolute advantage in growing coffee — it does so more cheaply than anyone.
Related idea
Comparative advantage is the deeper idea that overturned it: even a country worse at everything still gains by specializing in what it sacrifices least to make.