importation

1 the commercial activity of buying and bringing in goods from a foreign country [syn: importing]

2 commodities (goods or services) bought from a foreign country [syn: import] [ant: export]

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -eɪʃǝn

Noun

1. The act of carrying, conveying, or delivering.
2. The act or practice of importing, or bringing into a country or state; -- opposed to exportation.
3. That which is imported; commodities or wares introduced into a country from abroad.

In economics, an import is any good or commodity, brought into one country from another country in a legitimate fashion, typically for use in trade. Import goods or services are provided to domestic consumers by foreign producers. Import of commercial quantities of goods normally requires involvement of the Customs authorities in both the country of import and the country of export.

The amount of goods and commodities imported into a nation, I, is a function of two variables, the domestic absorption, A, and the real exchange rate, σ. These two are the two largest factors of imports and they both affect imports positively.

I = I(A,σ)

Absorption, or domestic spendings, include both domestically produced and imported goods and services. When a nation increases its domestic spendings, the imports are naturally following the increase, therefore the plus sign. The real exchange rate, σ, is a nations competitiveness towards other nations since it is the relative price of goods produced at home compared to goods produced abroad. When the real exchange rate increases foreign goods become less expensive and imports then increase.

Notes and References

See also

• International trade
• List of countries by imports
• Export function