How Pervasive is the Product Cycle? The Empirical Dynamics of American and Japanese Trade Flows

This paper looks for dynamic patterns in international trade flows using comprehensive multilateral American and Japanese data disaggregated to the four-digit SITC level. Little evidence is found of product-cycle dynamics between 1962 and 1988. Rather, goods that begin the sample in surplus (deficit) almost always remain in surplus (deficit) throughout the sample.