An International Comparative Study Of Per Capita Consumption Of Import: Implications For U.S-Japan Trade

Abstract

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 37.8pt 0pt 0.5in; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: "CG Times","serif"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This paper discusses the per-capita consumption of imports aspect of international trade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>A research hypothesis is tested to investigate if there is a significant difference among G-7 countries in per-capita consumption of imports and the implication of the testing results for the U.S. - Japan bilateral trade deficit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The results of the ANOVA and the Kruskal-Wallis test yield insignificant variation in per-capita consumption of imported goods/services among the G-7 countries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The study recapitulates the reason(s) for the U.S. trade deficit with Japan and essentially states that factors other than trade barriers and restrictions cause the U.S. trade deficit with Japan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>While this result may initially seem counterintuitive and inconsistent with popular wisdom, it may actually help uncover the true causes for the sustained trade deficit with Japan.</span></span></p>