China's Foreign Trade Behavior in the 1980's: An Empirical Analysis
Summary:
This paper studies the behavior of China’s foreign trade in the 1980s. Chinese customs data are used to construct, for the first time, quarterly unit value and volume series that are then used to estimate foreign trade income and price elasticities. The estimated export supply price elasticities are negative and became even more negative after the reforms in 1985. The import price elasticity is very close to minus one. These results suggest that administrative controls still have a dominant effect on China’s trade and may also suggest that reforms in the management system of Chinese enterprises were not sufficient to create profit maximizing behavior by managers.
Series:
Working Paper No. 1992/005
Subject:
Commodities Export prices Exports Imports International trade Price elasticity Prices
English
Publication Date:
January 1, 1992
ISBN/ISSN:
9781451842098/1018-5941
Stock No:
WPIEA0051992
Pages:
64
Please address any questions about this title to publications@imf.org