INTERNATIONAL-TRADE AND STRUCTURAL-CHANGE

In light of the substantial movement towards trade liberalization duri ng the postwar period, this paper attempts to determine if, and when, countries experienced statistically significant changes in the paths o f their export-GDP and import-GDP ratios. We find that: (1) most trade ratios exhibited a structural break in their time paths; (2) postbrea k trade exceeded prebreak trade for the majority of countries; (3) the coincidence in timing between the import and export breaks does not a ppear to be particularly strong, and; (4) there is little relation bet ween the extent of changes in imports and the extent of changes in exp orts for most countries. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.