Saroja Selvanathan

Foreign Direct Investment, Domestic Investment and Economic Growth in China: A Time Series Analysis

This paper investigates the causal link between foreign direct investment (FDI), domestic investment and economic growth in China for the period 1988-2003 using a multivariate VAR system with error correction model (ECM) and the innovation accounting (variance decomposition and impulse response function analysis) techniques. The results show that while there is a bi-directional causality between domestic investment and economic growth, there is only a single-directional causality from FDI to domestic investment and to economic growth. Rather than crowding out domestic investment, FDI is found to be complementary with domestic investment. Thus, FDI has not only assisted in overcoming shortage of capital, it has also stimulated economic growth through complementing domestic investment in China. Copyright 2008 United Nations University. Journal compilation 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Remittances and Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence from Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka

Abstract In many developing countries, remittance payments from migrant workers are increasingly becoming a significant source of export income. This article investigates the causal link between remittances and economic growth in three countries, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, by employing the Granger causality test under a Vector Autoregression (VAR) framework (Granger, C.W.J. (1988) Some recent developments in the concept of causality. Journal of Econometrics, 39, pp. 199–211). Using time series data over a 25-year period, we found that growth in remittances does lead to economic growth in Bangladesh. In India, there seems to be no causal relationship between growth in remittances and economic growth; but in Sri Lanka, a two-way directional causality is found; namely economic growth influences growth in remittances and vice-versa. The article also discusses a number of policy issues arising from the causality results.

The relationship between foreign direct investment and tourism: empirical evidence from China.

This paper investigates the causal link between foreign direct investment and tourism in China by employing the Granger causality test under a VAR framework proposed by Zapata and Rambaldi (1997). Only a one-directional causality is found from foreign direct investment to tourism. This explains the rapid growth in the tourism market in China during the past decade.

The Demand for Transport and Communication in the United Kingdom and Australia

This paper investigates the substitution/complementarity relationship among the demands for private transport, public transport and communication in the United Kingdom and Australia for the period 1960-1986. We use the Rotterdam Demand System for the analysis. The results identify major similarities and some important differences in consumption of these goods in the two countries. Further, they show that in both countries (a) private transport is a luxury and public transport is a necessity; (b) the demand for all three goods are price inelastic and (c) public transport, private transport and communications are pair-wise substitutes.

A cross-country analysis of consumption patterns

This paper uses the system-wide approach to analyse the consumption patterns in 18 OECD countries. The results show that, on average, the OECD per capita consumption increased by 3% per annum and prices increased by about 7% per annum; OECD consumers spend about half of their income on food, housing and transport. It is also shown that, in most OECD countries, food, housing and medical care are necessities and clothing, durables, transport and recreation are luxuries, and that the demand for all goods considered are price inelastic. The controversial hypothesis of Stigler and Becker (1977) that tastes are the same across countries is also tested and it is found that the OECD consumption data do not support their claim.

Understanding Consumption Patterns

The analysis of consumer demand is one of the major successes of economics as it represents the near perfect marriage of theory and econometrics. This paper reviews, distills and systematises some of the major empirical findings on consumption patterns, concentrating in particular on the more recent (and, in some cases, more controversial) evidence. One of the key conclusions of the paper is that on the basis on new methods, the hypotheses of homogeneity, symmetry and preference independence are not at such wide variance with the data as was once thought to be the case.

Economic and demographic factors in Australian alcohol demand

In the last two decades, total (pure) alcohol consumption in Australia has declined by about 31% and currently it is at the same level as it was in the 1950s. Australians consumed about 10 litres of pure alcohol per person in 1982 and now the level has declined to about 7 litres of pure alcohol per person. During the last four decades, per capita beer consumption has reached a peak of 140 litres in 1975 and has fallen to a low 93 litres in 1999; wine consumption has increased four-fold while spirits consumption has stayed around the same level. This paper, using the Australian consumption data for beer, wine and spirits for the period 1956–1999, aims to explain the change in consumption patterns of beer, wine and spirits by considering the effects due to changes in economic and demographic factors. The results show that while income and prices significantly influence the consumption patterns of alcohol, the increasing Australian elderly population also plays an important role.

The Demand for Alcohol, Tobacco and Marijuana: International Evidence

Introduction Food, soft-drinks, tobacco, alcohol and marijuana consumption: an overview Tobacco consumption Alcohol consumption Marijuana consumption A differential approach to demand analysis Parameterization, estimation and testing hypotheses Demand for food, tobacco, alcohol and soft drinks Demand for beer, wine and spirits The economics of marijuana consumption Alcohol misuse and control policies Tobacco control policies Consumption patterns of five consumer goods A summary Bibliography Index.

Consumption patterns of food, tobacco and beverages: a cross-country analysis

This study considers the consumption patterns of food, tobacco, soft drinks, and alcohol in 43 developed and developing countries. Such an analysis is important for policy issues associated with tobacco, alcohol, and soft drinks. The results show that consumers in the developing countries spend a much higher proportion of their income on food than consumers in developed countries. The proportion of expenditure allocated to the other three commodities, tobacco, alcohol, and soft drinks, are similar in the two groups of countries. On average, people around the world allocate about one quarter of their income on food, 2.6% on tobacco, 3.2% on alcohol and 1.2% on soft drinks. The income elasticity estimates reveal that food is a necessity in most countries, while tobacco and alcohol are necessities in most of the developed countries and luxuries in a majority of developing countries. Soft drinks are a luxury in a majority of the developing as well as the developed countries. The own-price elasticities show that demand for all four commodities is price inelastic in all countries.

The effect of the price of gold on its production: a time-series analysis

Abstract Production of gold in Australia has grown strongly in recent years. Australia is ranked the worlds third largest gold producer, only South Africa and the US produce more than Australia. Most of the Australian gold production comes from one of its states, Western Australia. In this paper, we use recent developments in econometric time series analysis to present an analysis of gold production and prices during the period 1948–1994. The results show that if the price of gold (relative to costs) increases by 10% and the price (in levels) remain the same for the next 5 years, then in the first year gold production will rise by 0.3%; in the second year by 2.2%; in the third year by 7.4%; in the fourth year by 8.9% and in the fifth year by 10.7%.