Najibullah Arshad , Khairullah Khairkhah
Import is one of the important commercial and economic activities in all countries,
which has been prevalent among different societies for the purpose of meeting the
needs of the society for a long time, and paying attention to this economic activity
in the progress and development of each country is known to be important and vital.
Import helps the progress and development of countries when the factors affecting it
are considered. In most of the empirical studies, the import of goods and services is
a function of the per capita income and real exchange rate, and the impact of the
intensity of income inequality on imports has been less investigated. However, the
increase in income inequality increases the purchasing power of high-income
groups and increases the demand of elastic goods, especially luxury goods, and
changes in the composition of domestic and imported consumer goods. The present
research has investigated the effect of inequality of income on import in selected
ECO member countries (Turkey, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan) during the period of
(2001-2020) using method of generalized least squares (GLS). In this study, Per
capita income, real exchange rate and income inequality have been considered as
factors affecting imports. The obtained results indicate the existence of a positive
and significant relationship between income inequality and imports in the countries
under study. In addition, the relationship between per capita income and import is
also positive and significant in these countries, but the relationship between real
exchange rate and import is not significant.