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Abstract
The purpose of this article is to investigate the effect of differences in the inflation
rates of trade-partner countries on their foreign trade patterns. The results of the analysis of a
simple trade model served as the basis for an empirical study of Russia's foreign trade. For the
purposes of experimental verification, we built Russia's export and import gravity models, using
trade data for 2005-2012, as well as indicators reflecting the ratio of inflation rates in Russia and
its trade-partner countries by the main commodity groups (inflation data for 1995-2012). The
results of the empirical verification have basically confirmed the conclusions derived from the
trade model analysis: Russia intensifies its export of fuel and raw-material commodities to
countries with lower inflation rates and, simultaneously, increases its import of engineering,
chemical, and agricultural products from countries with lower inflation rates.