Air cargo as an economic development engine: A note on opportunities and constraints

This note examines the role that air cargo plays in economic development and factors that condition its impact. After presenting basic empirical relationships between air cargo and both trade and gross domestic product per capita, we discuss three factors that can enhance air cargo's positive impact: air service liberalization, improving customs quality, and reducing corruption. We then model and assess the effects of these three factors on per capita net inward foreign investment and gross domestic product per capita in 63 countries around the world.