Real world production-possibility frontier example? I'm reading an economics textbook and trying to make sense of PPF (or PPC) concept. All examples I could find are like producing computers vs food. I can't understand how it can be evaluated and applied to real life situation. Do you know any practical example of PPF?
In the 1940's the RAND corporation put together a series of simulations about war between the USA and the USSR. In the end, they came out with a series of two "good" possibilities, degree of victory and number of crew lives saved. 


  The US Air Force asked RAND to apply systems analysis to design a
  first strike on the Soviets. ....  Paxson and RAND were initially
  proud of their optimization model and the computing power that they
  brought to bear on the problem, which crunched the numbers for over
  400,000 configurations of bombs and bombers using hundreds of
  equations. The massive computations for each configuration involved
  simulated games at each enemy encounter, each of which had first been
  modeled in RAND’s new aerial combat research room. They also involved
  numerous variables for fighters, logistics, procurement, land bases,
  and so on. Completed in 1950, the study recommended that the United
  States fill the skies with numerous inexpensive and vulnerable
  propeller planes, many of them decoys carrying no nuclear weapons, to
  overwhelm the Soviet air defenses. Though losses would be high, the
  bombing objectives would be met. While RAND was initially proud of
  this work, pride and a haughty spirit often go before a fall. RAND’s
  patrons in the US Air Force, some of whom were always skeptical of the
  idea that pencil-necked academics could contribute to military
  strategy, were apoplectic. RAND had chosen a strategy that would
  result in high casualties, in part because the objective function had
  given zero weight to the lives of airplane crews.


Retrospectives: The Cold-War Origins of the Value of Statistical Life


  RAND quickly backpedaled on the study, and instead moved to a more
  cautious approach which spelled out a range of choices: for example,
  some choices might cost more in money but be expected to have fewer
  deaths, while other choices might cost less in money but be expected
  to have more deaths. The idea was that the think tank identified the
  range of choices, and the generals would choose among them. But of
  course, financial resources were limited by political considerations,
  and so the choices made by the military would typically need to
  involve some number of deaths that was higher than the theoretical
  minimum--if more money had been available. In that sense, spelling out
  a range of tradeoffs also spelled out the monetary value that would be
  put on lives lost.


The Origins of the Value of a Statistical Life Concept 

Maybe that's too much like the two input story of Aerandal. Depends on if you consider the saved lives a "savings" or a "good". For a clearer example of the guns vs. butter tradeoff, consider another example from WW II.


  In February 1942, Fisher Body completely stopped making auto bodies
  and began assembling the famous M-4 "Sherman" tank in its No. 1 plant
  in Flint. The operation eventually moved to Grand Blanc and would turn
  out 11,358 tanks by 1945.
  
  Buick tackled the manufacture of ammunition, churning out 75,000
  casings per month for the duration. By the war's end, the division had
  supplied more than 12.5 million casings.
  
  Buick also retooled to meet the demands of making engines for the B-24
  bomber. At first, they talked of about 500 engines a month, but the
  government doubled its order by the time Buick had its tooling in
  place. By 1944, Buick's Melrose Park factory was regularly turning out
  2,000 engines a month....
  
  In all, more than 113,000 employees left GM to serve while the company
  churned out $12.3 billion in aircraft, tanks, vehicles and arms.
  
  When it was all counted up after the war, GM had produced 854,000
  trucks (including the legendary DUKW, or "Duck" amphibious vehicles),
  198,000 diesel engines, 206,000 aircraft engines, and 38,000 tanks,
  tank destroyers, and armored vehicles, not to mention vast quantities
  of guns and ammunition.


How GM's Divisions Tackled the War Effort