In the context of introduction of deregulatory policy measures and subsequent wave of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Indian corporate sector since 1991, the present paper attempts to examine the welfare implications of this wave. It is found that M&A do not have any significant impact on consumers’ welfare. Instead, consumers’ welfare is significantly influenced by exports intensity, imports...

We investigate how the division of aggregate income into per capita income and population affects the margins of imports. In the first part, we use data on imports of 123 countries to document a positive relationship between per capita income and both the extensive and quality margin of imports, for a given level of aggregate GDP. These relations hold at various levels of disaggregation. While ...

The U.S. functioned as an engine of growth until the financial crisis. Now, U.S. imports have plummeted. This paper considers whether East Asia can be an engine of growth. Using data on consumption imports from 27 countries, the results indicate that income increases in East Asian countries would cause large increases in imports. The evidence also implies that an RMB appreciation would raise Ch...

Under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) tariffs on U.S. potato imports to Mexico were phased out by 1993. Citing phytosanitary issues, in 1996, the Mexican government placed quantitative restrictions on U.S. potato imports and restricted their import only to designated border areas. This article estimates the welfare cost of restricting U.S. potato imports into Mexico. We find tha...

The paper investigates the effects of imports and foreign capital inflows on economic growth in case of Pakistan over the period of 1990Q1-2008Q4. We have applied ARDL bounds testing approach to examine the long run relationship and investigated the direction of causality by using VECM multivariate framework. Our analysis confirms the long run relationship between imports, foreign capital inflo...

In Fiji, imports as a share of GDP has been rising strongly, particularly over the past three decades. Over these years imports have fluctuated considerably, generally in line with fluctuations in aggregate demand. Fiji is a small island state, heavily dependent on external trade for many of our essential goods. It is vital, therefore to always ensure that we have adequate foreign reserves to p...

Policy-makers and analysts are often concerned with the effect of tariff reductions, as part of trade liberalisation, on the volume of imports, and in particular adverse effects on domestic import-competing sectors. While there is limited evidence at an aggregate country level that imports increase following trade liberalisation, there is very little empirical evidence at a sector level. In the...

Inconsistent and inefficient policies, climate issues general poor funding have been adjudged to hinder increased domestic rice production in Nigeria. Rather than tackling these challenges, the nation has continued opt for importation supplement her production, if not recently, as a ‘stop-gap’ food security. Geared towards strengthening resilient efforts of small holder farmers driving this pap...

Does Japanese trade in manufactured goods differ from the rest-of-the world average and from the U.S.? We use a simple industry-level gravity model and 1981-1998 data to answer this question. We construct a measure of normalized imports by dividing bilateral industry-level imports by the importer's aggregate absorption and the exporter's industry output. We find that Japan imports less than oth...