The Import Content of British Exports

Abstract

It is generally assumed in discussion of foreign trade problems that the volume of exports is independent of the volume of imports, although it is acknowledged that exports may embody imported raw materials. Only in a few cases[1 ],2 however, is a specific assumption as to the magnitude of this ' foreign element' embodied in exports made. The magnitude of the Import Content, as the ' foreign element' will be called subsequently, is of interest from the point of view of economic planning. For example, to estimate total import requirements compatible with a certain postulated level of home consumption and investment and a certain level of exports, or to estimate the level of exports necessary to limit foreign disinvestment to a certain figure, one must either know or make assumptions as to the magnitude of the Import Content. This short paper attempts to investigate the changes in the Import Content of British exports. Estimates of the Import Content are presented here for 1924, 1930, 1938 and 1946. Figures for the first two years are based on estimates presented for a different purpose by G. W. Daniels and H. Campion[2]; figures for the last two years are the author's own estimates.