Ronald Ravinesh Kumar

Exploring the nexus between information and communications technology, tourism and growth in Fiji

With annual data for the period 1980–2008, the authors explore the nexus between information and communications technology (ICT), tourism and growth in Fijis economy. A growth equation estimation using the bounds test shows that tourism contributes about 0.23% in the long run and 0.19% in the short run, and ICT contributions are 1.07% and 0.89%, respectively. The Granger causality test reveals a unidirectional causality going from capital stock to ICT, ICT to tourism and real per capita GDP to tourism. Hence, the study finds that ICT investment and tourism market development are crucial for Fijis growth and development.

Role of remittances in small Pacific Island economies: an empirical study of Fiji

In the context of the ongoing current global economic downturn, mobilisation of foreign exchange earnings has assumed considerable importance. By adopting an augmented Solow model approach, this paper examines the long-run growth effects of Fijis inward remittances during a three-decade period (1979-2008). The study finds that remittances have had a positive and significant effect on economic activities. This paper also discusses some important policy implications arising out of the study findings.

Role of Remittances in Economic Growth in Pacific Island Countries: A Study of Samoa

Remittances have been a great support to Pacific island countries (PICs). Aside from providing additions to domestic savings and, hence, real resources, they have been one of the major sources of foreign exchange earnings. In the context of falling exports and limited options to diversify their exports, inward remittances have assumed greater importance. This paper examines the nexus between growth and remittances in Samoa.

Exploring the interactive effects of remittances, financial development and ICT in Sub-Saharan Africa: an ARDL bounds approach

In this paper, using the ARDL bounds approach and augmented Solow framework, we explore the impacts of capital inflows (remittances, foreign direct investment and overseas development assistance) and financial-technology inclusion viz. remittance on per worker income in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for the periods 1970-2010. The results show that growth in the region is lead by capital productivity. Although information and communications technology (ICT) per se has a negative effect on income, when ICT is associated with financial development and remittances, the effects are positive in both short run and long run. Thus, there is a need for greater financial and technology inclusion - linking remittance industry with financial and ICT services. Overseas development assistance (ODA) shows a negative elasticity while FDI and remittances per se is negative and not statistically significant. SSAs predominantly ruralised economic structure further calls for greater accessibility, affordability and inclusivity of financial and ICT services linked to remittances market, development of critical, infrastructures, key sector reforms, and well managed and assessed ODA and FDI inflows for sustainable pro-growth development.

Linking remittances with financial development and ICT: a study of the Philippines

The Philippines is the fourth largest recipient of remittances in the world with booming information and communications (ICT) services. In this study, we therefore explore the short-run and long-run nexus between remittance inflows, remittances interaction with financial development and ICT, trade openness and overseas development assistance (ODA) vis-a-vis income for the period 1976 to 2010 using ARDL bounds approach. The results show remittances and remittances interaction with ICT have positive effects on income. However, aid and remittances interaction with financial development have negative effects whereas trade openness is not statistically significant. Subsequently, encouraging remittance inflows though labour mobility, minimising transfer cost, harnessing benefits from mobile network operations, and reviewing remittance transfer fees via banking systems are would be ideal for scaling up ICT, and ensuring greater financial inclusion and sustainability of remittance inflows. Assessing aid-for-trade initiatives and building necessary infrastructure and institutions are equally crucial for long term development of the economy.

Role of remittances in India’s economic growth

India has been among the top ten remittance recipient countries in the world since the 1970s. In the context of the ongoing worldwide recession and uncertain export prospects, mobilisation of foreign exchange earnings has assumed greater importance. Given the intensification of financial sector development together with relatively stable capital inflows (FDI and ODA) and the efforts towards formalising the channels of remittance inflows, we find that remittances and the interaction between remittances and financial sector development have had a positive and significant effect on growth over the last four decades (1970–2009). In the light of these findings, it is proposed that the proactive policy measures in India should continue for encouraging remittance inflows for long-term growth and development.

The nexus between tourism demand and output per capita with the relative importance of trade openness and financial development A study of Malaysia

This article revisits the tourism-growth nexus in Malaysia using time series quarterly data over the period 1975–2013. The authors examine the impact of tourism using two separate indicators – tourism receipts per capita and visitor arrivals per capita. Using the augmented Solow production function and the autoregressive distributed lag bounds procedure, they also incorporate trade openness and financial development and account for structural breaks in series. The results show the evidence of cointegration between the variables. Assessing the long-run results using both indicators of tourism demand, it is noted that the elasticity coefficient of tourism is 0.13 and 0.10 when considering visitor arrivals and tourism receipts (in per capita terms), respectively. Notably, the impact of tourism demand is marginally higher with visitor arrivals. The elasticity of trade openness is 0.19, that of financial development is 0.09 and that of capital share is 0.15. In the short run, the coefficient of tourism is marginally negative, and for financial development and trade openness, it is 0.01 and 0.18, respectively. The Granger causality tests show bidirectional causation between tourism and output per capita, financial development and tourism and trade openness and tourism demand, duly indicating the feedback or mutually reinforcing impact between the variables and providing evidence that tourism is central to enhancing the key sectors and the overall income level.

Sustainability of a Pay‐As‐You‐Go Pension System in a Small Open Economy with Ageing, Human Capital and Endogenous Fertility

The aim of the article is to theoretically investigate if a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) pension system is sustainable in the presence of a declining population and increasing longevity of the retired generation. For this purpose, we use an overlapping generation model with endogenous fertility, endogenous longevity and human capital accumulation in a small open economy. We find that pensions will always increase as long as it is beneficial for parents to invest in human capital. Furthermore, we get the result that the ratio between pension benefits and the consumption of the young generation will strive to a positive limit value, and that a pure PAYG pension system will not run into any solvency problem due to a decreasing fertility rate or ageing.

Dataset for an analysis of tourism and economic growth: A study of Sri Lanka.

We use the sample from 1978 to 2014 for the paper (doi:10.1016/j.tmp.2016.05.005). The data on GDP at constant 2005 USD (US dollar), and the gross fixed capital formation at constant 2005 USD are extracted from the World Bank (2015). The labour stock which includes direct and indirect employment and the tourism receipts (in USD) are sourced from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (http://www.sltda.lk/statistics). Tourism receipts as a per cent of GDP is used to measure tourism demand. The capital stock data is computed using perpetual inventory method, where a depreciation rate of 8 per cent is assumed with the initial capital stock as 1.05 times the GDP of 1969 at constant 2005 USD. The output per worker and capital per worker is computed by dividing the GDP and capital stock by the labour stock, respectively.

Revisiting the threshold effect of remittances on total factor productivity growth in South Asia: a study of Bangladesh and India

ABSTRACT Both Bangladesh and India are among the top recipient of remittances in absolute terms. However, in relative terms – remittances as a per cent of GDP – the two countries stand at 6.1% and 2.8%, respectively, well below the levels of the top 10 recipients. In this article, we explore the effect of remittances on the total factor productivity (TFP) growth considering Bangladesh and India, as reference countries over the periods 1980–2012 and 1977–2012, respectively. We examine the presence of a long-run association between remittances and TFP using a number of tests. The results indicate that remittances have threshold effects on TFP growth in both countries. Despite the two countries receiving substantial amount of remittances, we note that Bangladesh has a U-shaped relationship whereas India has an inverted U-shaped relationship with TFP growth. For Bangladesh, a minimum threshold of remittances (% GDP) is 5.3% and for India, a tipping point of remittances (% GDP) is at 1.8%. The causality tests confirm a bidirectional effect, which implies that remittances and TFP growth are mutually reinforcing. Interestingly, while the two economies have similar remittances impact in regards to causality, the study highlights two different tipping points of remittances.