If you are American, have you ever bought medicine in Canada because it was cheaper than back home? During the housing crash, which kicked off the great recession of 2008-2009, did you buy property at bargain basement prices? The goal in these scenarios is to take advantage of disparities between markets (in different geographical locations), which is the meaning of arbitrage. This strategy is used in financial markets everyday and can be expanded into more aspects of our lives.

Companies have been taking advantage of lower labor costs in developing countries for many years and it is becoming more common for individuals to do it too. Health and Medical Tourism is a booming industry, growing particularly fast in India. According to a report from McKinsey and Co, medical tourism in India will grow to USD 2 billion by 2012. [*] And in 2007, over 750,000 Americans spent $2.1 billion on cheaper medical treatments overseas. Medical travel is estimated to be growing at an annual rate of 20%-25%. By 2017, close to 23 million Americans will travel overseas for medical treatment. [*]

Although medical tourism is becoming more and more common, its not the only way to take advantage of price differentials around the world. Increasingly, you can improve your life by getting other people to do tasks that are not worth your time. Some great reading on how to do this can be found in Tim Ferris‘ Four Hour Work Week and A.J. Jacob’s My Life as an Experiment, in which the authors organize clever ways to outsource as many parts of their lives as possible, including “…e-mails, phone calls, shopping, arguments with [his] wife and reading bedtime stories to [his]son.”

How do you shovel tasks off your plate in order to free up time?

Please let us know in a comment below.

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