Income Distribution and the Composition of Imports

Charles Braymen and Eddery Lam ()

The International Trade Journal, 2014, vol. 28, issue 2, 121-139

Abstract: Are similar types of goods imported to countries that have similar characteristics? It is possible that the total volume of trade is similar and yet the types of goods are different. This article investigates the trading pattern of countries with similar characteristics. More specifically, we analyze the relationship between the import patterns and income distributions of importers. We develop an import similarity index to portray the composition of imports and utilize the idea of "market overlap" (Bohman & Nilsson 2007a) to represent the similarity of income distributions across different importing countries. We provide empirical evidence to support the notion that countries with similar income distributions display similar import patterns.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1080/08853908.2013.841553

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