ABSTRACT
One of the oldest areas of empirical analysis in international economics is the examination and estimation of income and price elasticities of the demand for imports and exports. The income elasticity of the demand for imports and exports is of interest to researchers and policy makers in that these estimates describe how imports or exports respond to changes in domestic (foreign) economic activity. Further, in a world of floating exchange rates, the elasticity of trade flows in response to changes in the exchange rate is of obvious interest. Finally, these elasticities and the impact of international trade are becoming of increasing importance the world economy. Imports and exports as a percentage of world output has been increasing for decades and shows no signs of abating. In many cases relevant elasticities for imports and exports have been published for a wide range of countries, and/or products.
