IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/reviec/v18y2010i2p307-319.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Estimating an Import Demand Function in Developing Countries: A Structural Econometric Approach with Applications to India and Sri Lanka

Author

Listed:
  • M. Shahe Emran
  • Forhad Shilpi

Abstract

Owing to the unavailability of time‐series data on the domestic market‐clearing price of imports, the estimation of notional price and income elasticities of aggregate import demand remains a daunting task for a large number of developing countries. This paper develops a structural econometric model of a two‐goods representative agent economy that incorporates a binding foreign exchange constraint at the administered prices of imports. A theoretically consistent parameterization of the “virtual relative price” of imports circumvents the data problem, and thus enables the estimation of income and price responses by cointegration approach. The price and income elasticity estimates for India and Sri Lanka, in contrast to the extant literature, have correct signs, high statistical significance, and plausible magnitudes.

Suggested Citation

  • M. Shahe Emran & Forhad Shilpi, 2010. "Estimating an Import Demand Function in Developing Countries: A Structural Econometric Approach with Applications to India and Sri Lanka," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(2), pages 307-319, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:reviec:v:18:y:2010:i:2:p:307-319
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9396.2010.00865.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9396.2010.00865.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-9396.2010.00865.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zeldes, Stephen P, 1989. "Consumption and Liquidity Constraints: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(2), pages 305-346, April.
    2. Devarajan, Shantayanan & Go, Delfin S. & Hongyi Li, 1999. "Quantifying the fiscal effects of trade reform," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2162, The World Bank.
    3. Stock, James H & Watson, Mark W, 1993. "A Simple Estimator of Cointegrating Vectors in Higher Order Integrated Systems," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 61(4), pages 783-820, July.
    4. M. Hashem Pesaran & Yongcheol Shin & Richard J. Smith, 2001. "Bounds testing approaches to the analysis of level relationships," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(3), pages 289-326.
    5. M. Shahe Emran & Forhad Shilpi & M. Imam Alam, 2007. "Economic liberalization and price response of aggregate private investment: time series evidence from India," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 40(3), pages 914-934, August.
    6. Guglielmo Maria Caporale & Nikitas Pittis, 2004. "Estimator Choice and Fisher's Paradox: A Monte Carlo Study," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 25-52.
    7. Neary, J. P. & Roberts, K. W. S., 1980. "The theory of household behaviour under rationing," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 25-42, January.
    8. Clarida, Richard H, 1994. "Cointegration, Aggregate Consumption, and the Demand for Imports: A Structural Econometric Investigation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(1), pages 298-308, March.
    9. Johansen, Soren, 1995. "Likelihood-Based Inference in Cointegrated Vector Autoregressive Models," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198774501.
    10. Allan W. Gregory & Alfred A. Haug & Nicoletta Lomuto, 2004. "Mixed signals among tests for cointegration," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(1), pages 89-98.
    11. Hubbard, R Glenn & Kashyap, Anil K, 1992. "Internal Net Worth and the Investment Process: An Application to U.S. Agriculture," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(3), pages 506-534, June.
    12. Bertola, Giuseppe & Faini, Riccardo, 1990. "Import demand and non-tariff barriers: The impact of trade liberalization : An application to Morocco," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1-2), pages 269-286, November.
    13. Nikitas Pittis, 1999. "Efficient Estimation Of Cointegrating Vectors and Testing for Causality in Vector Autoregressions," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(1), pages 1-35, February.
    14. Abdelhak Senhadji, 1998. "Time-Series Estimation of Structural Import Demand Equations: A Cross-Country Analysis," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 45(2), pages 236-268, June.
    15. Ceglowski, Janet, 1991. "Intertemporal substitution in import demand," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 118-130, March.
    16. Ekaterini Panopoulou & Nikitas Pittis, 2004. "A comparison of autoregressive distributed lag and dynamic OLS cointegration estimators in the case of a serially correlated cointegration error," Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 7(2), pages 585-617, December.
    17. Caporale, Guglielmo Maria & Chui, Michael K F, 1999. "Estimating Income and Price Elasticities of Trade in a Cointegration Framework," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(2), pages 254-264, May.
    18. Shahe Emran, M. & Shilpi, Forhad, 1996. "Foreign exchange rationing and the aggregate import demand function," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 315-322, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jianhong Zhang & Désirée van Gorp & Haico Ebbers, 2019. "What Determines Trade Between China And India During The Recession Of 2008–2012?," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 37(2), pages 389-406, April.
    2. Nabi, Amina Ghulam & Khan, Usman Ullah, 2015. "Exchange Rate Volatility and Import Demand Function: A Comparative Analysis of Selected SAARC Countries," MPRA Paper 105066, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Auboin, Marc & Engemann, Martina, 2012. "Testing the trade credit and trade link: Evidence from data on export credit insurance," WTO Staff Working Papers ERSD-2012-18, World Trade Organization (WTO), Economic Research and Statistics Division.
    4. Auriol, Emmanuelle & Warlters, Michael, 2012. "The marginal cost of public funds and tax reform in Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 58-72.
    5. Marc Auboin & Martina Engemann, 2014. "Testing the trade credit and trade link: evidence from data on export credit insurance," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 150(4), pages 715-743, November.
    6. Bibhuti Ranjan Mishra & Asit Mohanty, 2017. "An Empirical Analysis of Aggregate Import Demand Function for India," Global Economy Journal (GEJ), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 17(4), pages 1-12, December.
    7. Wanissa Suanin, 2021. "Demand Elasticity of Processed Food Exports from Developing Countries: A Panel Analysis of US Imports," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(2), pages 413-429, June.
    8. Arzu Tay Bayramoglu & Deniz Sukruoglu, 2016. "Non-Energy Import Demand Function in Turkey: New Evidence," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 6(12), pages 750-761, December.
    9. Abdul Rashid & Tayyaba Razzaq, 2013. "An Estimation of Structural Import Demand Function for Pakistan," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 2, pages 156-175.
    10. Zuhal Ozbay Das, 2021. "Inequality and the Import Demand in Turkey," Istanbul Journal of Economics-Istanbul Iktisat Dergisi, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 71(71-2), pages 395-410, December.
    11. Bilgehan TEKİN, 2024. "Evaluating Economic Resilience: Lighting The Nexus Between Turkish Imports And Foreign Exchange Reserves," Studies in Business and Economics, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 19(3), pages 257-271, December.
    12. Rashid, Abdul & Razzaq, Tayyaba, 2010. "Estimating Import-Demand Function in ARDL Framework: The Case of Pakistan," MPRA Paper 23702, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. SENE, Mr. SEYDINA OUSMANE & SAGHAIAN, Dr. SAYED H., 2014. "Liberalized World Trade and Food Import Under Foreign Exchange Constraints in the CFA's Franc Zone of Sub-Saharan Africa," 2014 Annual Meeting, February 1-4, 2014, Dallas, Texas 162485, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. M. Shahe Emran & Forhad Shilpi, 2001. "Foreign Trade Regimes and Import Demand Function: Evidence from Sri Lanka," International Trade 0012002, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 04 Apr 2002.
    2. Bibhuti Ranjan Mishra & Asit Mohanty, 2017. "An Empirical Analysis of Aggregate Import Demand Function for India," Global Economy Journal (GEJ), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 17(4), pages 1-12, December.
    3. Abdul Rashid & Tayyaba Razzaq, 2013. "An Estimation of Structural Import Demand Function for Pakistan," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 2, pages 156-175.
    4. Ekaterini Panopoulou, 2005. "A Resolution of the Fisher Effect Puzzle: A Comparison of Estimators," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp067, IIIS.
    5. Wolde-Rufael, Yemane, 2010. "Bounds test approach to cointegration and causality between nuclear energy consumption and economic growth in India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 52-58, January.
    6. Tang, Chor Foon, 2010. "Revisiting the health-income nexus in Malaysia: ARDL cointegration and Rao's F-test for causality," MPRA Paper 27287, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Caner Demir, 2019. "Macroeconomic Determinants of Stock Market Fluctuations: The Case of BIST-100," Economies, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-14, February.
    8. Xu, Xinpeng, 2002. "The dynamic-optimizing approach to import demand: a structural model," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 265-270, January.
    9. Nusair, Salah A., 2019. "Oil price and inflation dynamics in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 997-1011.
    10. M. Shahe Emran & M. Imam Alam & Forhad Shilpi, 2003. "After the "License Raj": Economic Liberalization and Aggregate Private Investment in India," Development and Comp Systems 0305002, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 30 Aug 2003.
    11. Dierk Herzer, 2005. "Does Trade Increase Total Factor Productivity: Cointegration Evidence for Chile," Ibero America Institute for Econ. Research (IAI) Discussion Papers 115, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research.
    12. Georgios A. Savvakis & Dimitris Kenourgios & Theofanis Papageorgiou, 2021. "To EMU or not to EMU: Can TFP “provoke” the capital structure puzzle of SMEs?," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(2), pages 2595-2611, April.
    13. Mansor Ibrahim & Abdullahi Ahmed, 2013. "Stock Market and Aggregate Investment Behavior in Malaysia: An Empirical Analysis," Transition Studies Review, Springer;Central Eastern European University Network (CEEUN), vol. 20(2), pages 265-284, October.
    14. Bernhardt, Thomas, 2016. "South-South trade and South-North trade: which contributes more to development in Asia and South America? Insights from estimating income elasticities of import demand," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), April.
    15. Morlai Bangura & Oluwakemi Ademisola & Olufemi Saibu, 2023. "Estimating Sierra Leone’s Aggregate Import Demand Function Under Binding Foreign Exchange," Applied Economics and Finance, Redfame publishing, vol. 10(1), pages 113127-1131, February.
    16. Zhao, Xingjun & Wu, Yanrui, 2007. "Determinants of China's energy imports: An empirical analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 4235-4246, August.
    17. Stewart, Kenneth G., 2024. "The simple macroeconometrics of the quantity theory and the welfare cost of inflation," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    18. Amano, Robert A. & Wirjanto, Tony S., 1997. "Adjustment costs and import demand behavior: evidence from Canada and the United States," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 461-476, June.
    19. Ang, James, 2009. "The Saving-Investment Dynamics And Financial Sector Reforms in India," MPRA Paper 14498, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Muhammad Arshad Khan & Saima Nawaz, 2018. "Does Pak-Rupee Exchange Rate Respond to Monetary Fundamentals? A Structural Analysis," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 57(2), pages 175-202.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:reviec:v:18:y:2010:i:2:p:307-319. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0965-7576 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.