This doctoral dissertation consists of four individual essays and an introductory chapter. The common features of the four separate essays are that they analyse international trade flows focusing on the role of demand structures.

The first essay uses a gravity model to detect the effects of income-dependent differences in preferences within a country on the export and import of different types of goods.

The second essay analyses the effect of income-dependent differences in preferences within a country on the likelihood of firms selecting that particular destination for their exports.

The third essay explores the globalisation of Swedish exports during the period 1965-2000.

The last essay investigates the changes in production and export structures of the OECD countries and relates these changes to the development of export market shares for these countries.