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Notes on the Origin of Passport
The origin of passports can be traced back to ancient times, although the concept has evolved significantly over the centuries. The earliest precursors to passports were more akin to letters of introduction or…
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Wealth, Geopolitics, and the Great Mobility Divide
By Omer Zarpli and Ugur Altundal. Published in Global Mobility Report 2022 Q1. While most countries have increased their visa-free access since 2006, some regions and nations have performed significantly better than others. By…
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International Travel Shows Faint Signs of Life
By Ugur Altundal and Omer Zarpli. Published in Global Mobility Report 2021/Q3. Although halfway through 2021 most countries maintain relatively open borders, except to visitors from high-risk countries, the situation remains extremely volatile.…
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The Ethical Dilemmas Related to Covid-19 Vaccine Passports
By Ugur Altundal and Omer Zarpli. Published in Global Mobility Report 2021/Q2. Vaccine passports have been proposed as a solution that will allow cross-border travel to resume, thereby partially alleviating the negative economic…
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Airport Traffic in the US (2019 vs. 2020)
This graph highlights a significant decrease in air travel due to Covid-19 pandemic. It displays the number of daily transits (and the 5-day moving average) through airports in the US in 2020 and 2019, based…
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The Impact of Health Security on Travel Freedom
By Ugur Altundal and Omer Zarpli. Published in Henley Passport Index Q2 2020. “In general, governments adopt travel restrictions temporarily, in response to short-term health needs. For example, measures such as social distancing,…
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The Relationship Between Political, Economic, and Travel Freedom
By Ugur Altundal and Omer Zarpli. Published in Global Mobility Report 2020. “Using historic data from the Henley Passport Index and a range of other indices, we have discovered a strongly positive correlation…
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Trends in Travel Freedom: The Effect of Travel Freedom on Economic Growth and Democracy
By Ugur Altundal and Omer Zarpli. Published in Global Citizenship Review. January 9, 2019 "Over the past decade, travel freedom has expanded precipitously thanks to the rising number of bilateral visa-waiver agreements and…
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International Travel and the Spread of Covid-19
The scatterplots below show that countries that are more open to international travel have been affected by Covid-19 more. In addition to the number of tourist arrivals, cover-19 cases, and population, countries are…
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