THE RECENT BEHAVIOR OF JAPANESE IMPORTS - A DISAGGREGATED ANALYSIS

This study investigates the factors behind the recent surge in Japanes e imports. It finds evidence of a rise in the long-run income elastici ty of total real imports in the mid-1980s. The increase derives from s imilar behavioral changes at the end-use level and, to a lesser extent , major compositional shifts in the structure of Japanese imports. The behavioral changes in aggregate and end-use imports are likely to ref lect important structural developments in the Japanese import market a nd have potentially significant implications for the impact of macroec onomic policies in Japan on future import performance.