Estimating import supply and demand elasticities: Analysis and implications

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Soderbery, Anson
• 署名单位: Purdue University System; Purdue University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2015.01.003
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 1-17
• 关键词: Import elasticity; Limited information maximum likelihood; Variety gains

摘要

Feenstra (1994) developed, and Broda and Weinstein (2006) refined, a structural estimator of import demand and supply elasticities. Working through the first principles of the methodology from Learner (1981), this paper analyzes and improves the technique to provide a unified estimator of import supply and demand elasticities. The proposed LIML routine corrects small sample biases and constrained search inefficiencies. Previously used estimates are shown to overestimate the median elasticity of substitution by over 35%. Applied to US import data from 1993 to 2007, the biases of the standard estimates translate into an understatement of consumer gains from product variety by a factor of 6. To conclude, I investigate the implications of violations to the underlying assumptions of the model. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.