International labor visits and knowledge transfers

This paper presents new data on international work-related visits collected from a survey of about 2,000 people traveling to/from Australia. Visits emerge as the prime medium for face-to-face interactions to exchange knowledge rather than as a substitute for migration. Exchanging knowledge through visits is strong among outgoing visitors but statistically insignificant among incoming ones, implying that benefits to Australia's knowledge stock are more likely to come from the former rather than the latter. Governments and universities use visits to exchange information and data. In contrast, Australian small- and medium-size enterprises are more likely to exchange knowledge related to operative competences, like product development, manufacturing and distribution.