|
Table of Contents | Background
& Objective | Contributors
Spatially Integrated Social Science: Chapter 20
< Chapter 19 - Chapter
21 >
Spatial
Interaction Models of International Telecommunication Flows
Jean-Michel Guldmann
Abstract
Spatial interaction modeling is used to
analyze international telephone flows, in conjunction with
a new data set for 4137 country-to-country routes, involving
103 origin and 204 destination countries. These data are matched
with several country-related technological and socio-economic
data, making up a very rich set of exploratory variables,
that allows for analyses of the effects of telecommunication
equipment, including Internet access, trade and tourism, income
per capita, geographical distance, isolation, and contiguity,
language, cultural, religious, political, and geographical
commonalities, and the international spatial structure. The
results point to both the stimulation and substitution effects
of new technologies (Internet, ISDN), suggesting that electronic
mail via the Internet may substitute for international telephone
flows. The results also underscore the critical role of a
country’s level of telecommunication equipment, size
of the business sector, exports and imports, and tourists
attraction, the importance of membership in trade, political,
and cultural groups, the impacts of language and religion
commonalities, and, of course, the role of geography, as measured
by great-circle distances, contiguity, time zone differences,
island status, and spatial structure variables.
Tables
|