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Abstract
The 1971 and 1973 official devaluations of the U.S. dollar have
often been cited as a pivotal cause for the enormous price rises in
agricultural products in 1972 and 1973. This article presents two
studies that test the hypothesis that exchange rate changes have
a significant effect on the demand for U.S. agricultural exports.
The first is a cross-sectional study of the demand for U.S. agricultural
exports by major U.S. trading partners in 1971-73. The
second looks at the exchange rate changes of other countries and
their demand for five agricultural commodities imported from
the United States as well as the world during 1954-69. Both
studies support the thesis that the special circumstances present
in the agricultural sector negate the effects of exchange rate
changes on the demand for U.S. agricultural exports.