Travel and communication and international differences in GDP per capita

Economic theory predicts that wage and income levels will be higher in those developing countries to which business travel and telecommunication from developed countries is cheaper and easier. Cross-country regression analysis, using data from the World Tourism Organisation and the method of two-stage least squares, supports this prediction. Levels of per capita GDP are higher in those developing countries which receive higher inflows of business travel from other countries, even when controlling for other influences on per capita GDP with which those inflows are correlated. There is also evidence that governments in developing countries can attract higher inflows of business travel from developed countries by investing in travel and communications infrastructure. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.