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Measuring Changes in International Trade
Author(s) -
Abel Martin E.,
Waugh Frederick V.
Publication year - 1966
Publication title -
american journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.949
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1467-8276
pISSN - 0002-9092
DOI - 10.2307/1236617
Subject(s) - international trade , economics , international economics , environmental science , business
This article presents and discusses a zero‐axial skew‐symmetric matrix (ZSM) that is useful for measuring changes in international trade. Such a matrix, E, has the property that the element e ij , which represents exports from country i to country j, is equal to —e ji , except that e ii = 0. It provides a convenient and analytically useful way to present data on international trade among countries; both imports and exports appear in one matrix and separate matrices are not required. The ZSM can be used to measure changes in the level and composition of trade over a period of time. Transition matrices can be computed from long time‐series of international trade data. The coefficients of these transition matrices provide useful data for summarizing changes in trade patterns. Both trends and annual variations in exports (or imports) from (or by) countries or regions can be measured.