China's Impact on the Exports of Other Asian Countries: A Note

Despite widespread interest in China's growing trade surplus and its impact on other countries, empirical research in these issues is handicapped by the lack of reliable statistics on aggregate import and export prices. Although researchers estimate the trade volumes of China and other East Asian countries using a variety of surrogate price indices, an inappropriate deflator can cause a significant bias in econometric analysis. This paper discusses the potential seriousness of this problem by examining recent studies on the export competition between China and other Asian countries.