Earlier studies that examined the response of trade flows to exchange rate volatility relied on the assumption that increased volatility and decreased volatility behave in a symmetric way; however, due to change in expectations of traders toward increasing volatility and decreasing volatility, the effects could be asymmetric; hence, the empirical results of these studies are supposed to have masked by the restricted assumption of symmetry between exchange rate and trade flows. This study investigates both the symmetric and asymmetric effects of exchange rate volatility on trade flows between Pakistan and USA at industry level over the period 1981–2018. We find evidence of a significant effect of asymmetric exchange rate volatility on trade flows in almost one-half (1/2) of importing and exporting industries of Pakistan that trade with the USA both in the short run and in the long run.

较早的研究检验了贸易流量对汇率波动性的反应，是基于以下假设：波动性增加和波动性降低是对称的。但是，由于交易者对波动率的期望值不断变化而波动性不断降低，其影响可能是不对称的；因此，这些研究的经验结果被汇率和贸易流量之间对称性的有限假设所掩盖。这项研究调查了1981-2018年期间汇率波动对巴基斯坦和美国之间在行业水平上的贸易流量的对称和非对称影响。