Title: The import penetration rate and the size of an economy: analysis by trade in value added

Authors: Małgorzata Fronczek

Addresses: International Relations Department, University of Economics in Katowice, 1 Maja 50, 40-287 Katowice, Poland

Abstract: The paper aims to estimate the level of market import penetration in selected countries using the traditional import penetration rate (IPR) and the modified formula, taking into account the concept of measuring foreign trade in added value (IPR_cor). It also aims to examine the relationship between the IPR_cor and the size of the country's economy (measuring by GDP). The calculations made for 64 countries (37 developed countries and 27 developing countries) indicated a strong negative relationship between IPR_cor and GDP in years 2005-2015 (Spearman's rank correlation R_s stood about -0.7), i.e., in reality the market import penetration of larger economies was lower than in smaller economies. The separation of developed and developing countries in the analysis showed that the average level of market import penetration of developing countries was slightly lower (R_s between -0.63 and -0.78) than in the group of developed countries (R_s between -0.66 and -0.83).

Keywords: IPR; import penetration rate; trade in value added; globalisation; international trade.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTGM.2022.121437

International Journal of Trade and Global Markets, 2022 Vol.15 No.2, pp.149 - 166

Received: 03 Apr 2020
Accepted: 15 Sep 2020
Published online: 14 Mar 2022 *

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