This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Demand elasticities in international trade : are they really low?

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Shah, Shekhar
Mishra, Deepak
Panagariya, Arvind

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

The authors analyze the U.S. demandfor Bangladeshi imports for products restricted under the Multifiber Arrangement. Because Bangladesh is only a small supplier of these products and Latin American and Asian countries can supply close substitutes, the authors expected a high elasticity of demand for Bangladeshi imports, and they found consistently high estimates based on statistically significant coefficients. Their finding accords with trade theorists'prejudice that small countries can essentially behave as price takers, but conflicts with the empirical literature view that demand elasticities are low, rarely exceeding 3 and generally between 1 and 2. The authors'analysis differs from the existing literature in three ways: they derive a set of estimation equations from an explicit, utility-maximization model and use the estimated parameters of the utility function to obtain the Marshallian own-price and cross-price elasticities as well as the income elasticity of demand; they take explicit account of U.S. imports from competitors of Bangladesh, relying directly on competitors'prices; and they use highly disaggregated data that make the unit value of exports a better proxy for price than using aggregated export data commonly used in this literature. The authors outline their theoretical model for deriving their estimated equations in Section 1; preliminarily determine who Bangladesh's competitors are in Section 2; and estimate the demand equation derived in Section 1, and derive the price and income elasticities facing Bangladesh in Section 3.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/1996/12/01/000009265_3970625093943/Rendered/PDF/multi0page.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function:
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by The World Bank in its series Policy Research Working Paper Series with number 1712.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length:
Date of creation: 31 Dec 1996
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:1712

Contact details of provider:
Postal: 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433
Email:
Web page: http://www.worldbank.org/
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Roula I. Yazigi).

Related research
Keywords: Environmental Economics&Policies; Economic Theory&Research; Markets and Market Access; Payment Systems&Infrastructure; Consumption; Economic Theory&Research; Environmental Economics&Policies; Access to Markets; Markets and Market Access; Consumption;

Other versions of this item:

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Winters, L. Alan, 1984. "Separability and the specification of foreign trade functions," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3-4), pages 239-263, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Riedel, James, 1989. "The Demand for LDC Exports of Manufactures: Estimates from Hong Kong: A Rejoinder," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(396), pages 467-70, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Riedel, James, 1988. "The Demand for LDC Exports of Manufactures: Estimates from Hong Kong," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 98(389), pages 138-48, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Nguyen, D T, 1989. "The Demand for LDC Exports of Manufactures: Estimates from Hong Kong: A Comment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(396), pages 461-66, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Goldstein, Morris & Khan, Mohsin S., 1985. "Income and price effects in foreign trade," Handbook of International Economics, in: R. W. Jones & P. B. Kenen (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 20, pages 1041-1105 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Trela, I. & Whalley, J., 1989. "Unravelling The Threads Of The Mfa," University of Western Ontario, The Centre for the Study of International Economic Relations Working Papers 8904c, University of Western Ontario, The Centre for the Study of International Economic Relations.
    Other versions:
  7. Krugman, Paul, 1980. "Scale Economies, Product Differentiation, and the Pattern of Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(5), pages 950-59, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Lucas, Robert E. B., 1988. "Demand for India's manufactured exports," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 63-75, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Dixit, Avinash K & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1977. "Monopolistic Competition and Optimum Product Diversity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(3), pages 297-308, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  10. Panagariya, A. & Quibria, M.G. & Rao, N., 1996. "The Emerging Global Trading Environment and Developing Asia," Papers 55, Asian Development Bank.
  11. Goldstein, Morris & Khan, Mohsin S, 1978. "The Supply and Demand for Exports: A Simultaneous Approach," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 60(2), pages 275-86, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Rajesh Mehta & Ashok Parikh, 2005. "Impact of trade liberalization on import demands in India: a panel data analysis for commodity groups," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 37(16), pages 1851-1863, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Limão, Nuno & Olarreaga, Marcelo, 2005. "Trade Preferences to Small Developing Countries and the Welfare Costs of Lost Multilateral Liberalization," CEPR Discussion Papers 5045, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Thomas Christiaans, 2003. "Balance of Payments Constrained Non-Scale Growth and the Population Puzzle," Topics in Macroeconomics, Berkeley Electronic Press, vol. 3(1), pages 1085-1085. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Sajal Lahiri & Anjum Nasim, 2005. "Commercial Policy Reform in Pakistan: Opening up the Economy under Revenue Constraints," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer, vol. 12(6), pages 723-739, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Douglas A. Irwin, 2001. "The Optimal Tax on Antebellum U.S. Cotton Exports," NBER Working Papers 8689, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Ivanova Nadezhda, 2005. "Estimation of own- and cross-price elasticities of disaggregated imported and domestic goods in Russia," EERC Working Paper Series 05-13e, EERC Research Network, Russia and CIS. [Downloadable!]
  7. Marcelo Olarreaga & Hiau Looi Kee & Alessandro Nicita, 2004. "Estimating Import Demand and Export Supply Elasticities," Econometric Society 2004 North American Summer Meetings 368, Econometric Society. [Downloadable!]
  8. Hiau Looi Kee & Nicita, Alessandro & Olarreaga, Marcelo, 2004. "Import demand elasticities and trade distortions," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3452, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Boumahdi, R. & Chaaban, J. & Thomas, A., 2004. "Import demand estimation with country and product effects : application of multi-way unbalanced panel data models to Lebanese imports," Economics Working Paper Archive (Toulouse) 200417, French Institute for Agronomy Research (INRA), Economics Laboratory in Toulouse (ESR Toulouse). [Downloadable!]
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? Want to help out with this project? Look for volunteer opportunities.

This page was last updated on 2009-11-7.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.