Elasticities of Demand for Imports during the Period 1920-21 to 1929-30

Viner lists out some of the sources of downward bias, that are likely to be present in the estimation of price-elasticities of demand. In the first place the data should be adjusted for long-term and cyclical variations in the demand function. Trends in the import demand may follow much more faithfully trends in domestic economic activity than price-level fluctuations. In cyclical situations prices and demand are more often positively associated.