Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
The structure of prices of goods entering into international trade relative to those that do not plays a key role in the Balassa-Samuelson explanation of why countries' exchange rates differ systematically from their currencies' purchasing power. The B-S analysis leads to the proposition that the tradable-nontradable price difference is lower for rich countries than for poor. This paper examines the gap, using prices collected by the International Comparison Program. A variety of regressions were run to see if indeed the difference between tradable and nontradable price parities moved with income in the way B-S expected. They did. Copyright 1994 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.