- Port Louis, Port Louis District, Mauritius
boopen seetanah
University of Mauritius, FLM, Faculty Member
- Boopen Seetanah is a Professor at the University of Mauritius (UoM) with research interest in tourism and transport,... moreBoopen Seetanah is a Professor at the University of Mauritius (UoM) with research interest in tourism and transport, international trade and finance and development economics. He is currently the Co Chair of the WTO Chair (UoM) and the Director of Research at the International Centre for Sustainable Tourism and Hospitality (ICSTH) at the UoM. Boopen is an editorial board member and a reviewer for numerous high rated journals. He has been consulting with the government and also numerous international organizations including the UNEP, UNDP, UNCTAD, World Bank, ADB, ILO and RMCE amongst others.edit
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Existing literature has dealt inadequately with the causality issue in the link between financial development and economic growth. The paper investigates the empirical link between financial development and economic performance for the... more
Existing literature has dealt inadequately with the causality issue in the link between financial development and economic growth. The paper investigates the empirical link between financial development and economic performance for the case of the small island developing state of Mauritius, using a unique time series data set for the period 1952-2004. The analysis uses a Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) framework, which allows for dynamic and feedback effects. The results suggest that financial developments have been contributing to the output level of the economy in both short- and long-run. It, thus, highlights the economic importance of financial development and provides new evidence for the case of island economies using recent cointegration approach.
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In the recent past, with the phenomenal growth of equity markets, a burgeoning number of policy makers and researchers began to query about the possible impact that equity market development might have on economic growth. Indeed, an... more
In the recent past, with the phenomenal growth of equity markets, a burgeoning number of policy makers and researchers began to query about the possible impact that equity market development might have on economic growth. Indeed, an overwhelming number of studies have been carried out worldwide to investigate the links which might exist between stock market development and economic growth. As a result, this has strengthened the view that stock markets around the world play a key role in fueling a powerful and resilient economy. However, most of these studies have focused solely on developed countries and not on developing countries or small island developing economies like Mauritius. As such, since studies analyzing this link in the African region are rather scant, this paper endeavors to scrutinize the relationship between equity market development and economic growth in Mauritius. To this end, this paper analyzes the relationship between stock market development, banking development and economic growth in a unified framework using semi-annual data for the period 1988-2011, through a dynamic Vector Error Correction Model (VECM). The VECM is used extensively to determine the link between stock market development and economic growth while simultaneously allowing identification of any bi-directional and/or uni-directional causality between the variables of interest. Moreover, this model divulges both the direct and the indirect impacts, if any, which stock market development might have on economic growth. Possible determinants of stock market development and the effect of stock market development on the control variables are also analyzed through the VECM. The results suggest that stock market development does play an important role in generating gains in terms of economic growth in the long run in the island. In the short run however, stock market development fails to significantly boost economic growth in Mauritius. Moreover, stock market development is also seen to indirectly stimulate economic growth in the short run, through banking development. Interestingly, banking development is seen to have a positive impact on economic growth, both in the short run and in the long run. This indicates that banking development and stock market development both complement each other. As such, it is believed that further steps have to be taken to promote stock market development in the island, with the aim of boosting both the economy and the banking sector in the long run.
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The article investigates the dynamic empirical link between financial development and economic performance for the case of the developing small island state of Mauritius using a unique time-series data set over the period 1952 to 2004.... more
The article investigates the dynamic empirical link between financial development and economic performance for the case of the developing small island state of Mauritius using a unique time-series data set over the period 1952 to 2004. The analysis was performed using two different proxies for financial development in an ARDL framework. The results suggest that financial development have been contributing to the output level of the economy in both short and long run. It thus highlights the economic importance of financial development and provides new evidence for the case of island economies using recent cointegration approach.
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Existing literature has delat inadequately with the casuality lissue in the ink between financial development and economic growth. The paper investigates the empirical link between financial development and economic performance for the... more
Existing literature has delat inadequately with the casuality lissue in the ink between financial development and economic growth. The paper investigates the empirical link between financial development and economic performance for the small island developing state of Mauritius using a unique time series data set over the period 1952-2004. The analysis uses a VECM framework which allows for dynamic and feedback effects. The results suggest that financial development has been contributing to the output level of the economy in both the short and long-run. It thus highlights the economic importance of financial development and provides new evidence for the case of island economies using the recent cointegration approach.
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This paper focuses on transport infrastructure as an element in poverty alleviation for the case of a sample of 21 African economies for the period 1980-2007. Using an aggregate poverty function at the macroeconomic level, both the static... more
This paper focuses on transport infrastructure as an element in poverty alleviation for the case of a sample of 21 African economies for the period 1980-2007. Using an aggregate poverty function at the macroeconomic level, both the static and dynamic panel estimates suggest a pro-poor impact of transport infrastructure. Growth of the country, financial development, human capital, communication infrastructure and employment are all found to be important ingredients in the poverty fight while inequality exacerbates it. The GMM estimates interestingly validated that poverty is essentially a dynamic phenomenon and constitutes a vicious cycle and a dynamic phenomenon. Further analysis using panel causality consolidated
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Purpose Mauritius’s residential real estate sector has undergone an increase in foreign investment over the past decades. This study aims to establish if the increasing level of foreign real estate investments (FREI) has increased land... more
Purpose Mauritius’s residential real estate sector has undergone an increase in foreign investment over the past decades. This study aims to establish if the increasing level of foreign real estate investments (FREI) has increased land demand and land prices. The study also aims to depict whether the relation between FREI and land prices prevails at an aggregate and/ or a regional level. Design/methodology/approach Data from 26 regions, classified as urban, rural and coastal is collected on an annual basis over the period 2000 to 2019, and a dynamic panel regression framework, namely, an autoregressive distributed lag model, is used to take into account the dynamic nature of land price modeling. Findings The findings show that, at the aggregate level, in the long-term, FREI does not have a significant influence on land prices, while in the short term, a positive significant relationship is noted between the two variables. A regional breakdown of the data into urban, rural and coastal was done. In the long term, only in coastal regions, a positive significant link was observed, whereas in urban and rural regions FREI did not influence land prices. In the short term, the positive link subsists in the coastal regions, and in rural regions also land prices are positively affected by FREI. Originality/value Unlike other studies which have used quite general measures of FREI, the present research has focused on FREI mainly undertaken in the residential real estate market and how these have affected residential land prices. This study also contributes to research on the determinants of land prices which is relatively scarce compared to research on housing prices.
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This paper analyses the factors affecting the adoption of Internet Banking among SMEs in Mauritius, especially at a time when the country is being promoted as a cyber island and the empowerment of SMEs has been at the forefront of the... more
This paper analyses the factors affecting the adoption of Internet Banking among SMEs in Mauritius, especially at a time when the country is being promoted as a cyber island and the empowerment of SMEs has been at the forefront of the economic programme of the Government. The purpose of this study are to identify the push factors and barriers affecting the adoption of internet banking among SMEs. The paper also examines sectoral differences in the adoption and use of internet banking, identifies the internet banking services mostly used by the Mauritian SMEs and determines the prospects of use of Internet Banking in the future among current non-users. For this purpose, a questionnaire was administered to owner managers of SMEs operating in diverse sectors of the economy. A probit model is used to identify the correlation between the use of Internet Banking and some related factors. The results reveal that female SME owner/managers are more inclined to use Internet Banking. Furthermore firms’ profiles and owner managers’ characteristics, such as age group, good relationship with banks, high level of education, higher annual turnover, subscription to an internet package, presence of a computerized accounting system and operations in sophisticated sectors, were positive determinants that contributed towards Internet Banking usage. The other factors that determine the adoption of Internet Banking among SMEs are related to trust and security, awareness, convenience and accessibility. On the other hand, the internet services that are most widely used are inter-account funds transfer, payments by office cheque, receiving payments from customers, foreign transfer, request for the issue of current account statement and transactions related to savings/current or fixed deposit accounts. Among the current non-users, owner managers of the younger generation are the ones who are more likely to use Internet Banking in the future.
Research Interests: Business and The Internet
PurposeThis study aims to examine the influence of corporate governance (CG) mechanisms and ownership structures on corporate governance disclosure (CGD) in listed Mauritian companies.Design/methodology/approachMultivariate regression... more
PurposeThis study aims to examine the influence of corporate governance (CG) mechanisms and ownership structures on corporate governance disclosure (CGD) in listed Mauritian companies.Design/methodology/approachMultivariate regression techniques, both static and dynamic panel data models, were employed to analyse the effect of the determinants on the CGD level of 42 Mauritian listed companies (38 non-financial and four financial firms) from 2009 to 2019.FindingsIn the static model comprising 42 firms, CG attributes such as board size, board meeting frequency, CG committee meeting frequency and audit committee meeting frequency are major determinants of CGD, whereas ownership structure variables such as managerial ownership and institutional ownership do not influence CGD. In the dynamic model, only the CG meeting frequency is a major determinant. The determinants of CGD vary between non-financial and financial firms.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is limited to CGD in listed firms, excluding mandatory disclosures and unlisted firms. Future research can use qualitative approaches to better understand CGD behaviour with an extension to mandatory disclosures and non-listed firms.Practical implicationsPolicymakers can rely on determinants to draw policy measures to raise CG standards further. Domestic and foreign investors may also depend on the determinants of their expectations of CGD while making investment and credit decisions.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the extant literature by examining a new determinant of CGD: CG committee meeting frequency. It also investigates any differences in the determinants between financial and non-financial firms with different listing status.
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The focus of this study is to assess the determinants of daily bid-ask spread. Following Ng (2007), the study uses an effective spread rather than a quoted one. Ng, argues that an effective spread is based on the deviation between trade... more
The focus of this study is to assess the determinants of daily bid-ask spread. Following Ng (2007), the study uses an effective spread rather than a quoted one. Ng, argues that an effective spread is based on the deviation between trade price (true price) of the transaction. First, a daily spread of the individual stocks is modeled to see whether it is determined by the same variables and then, the effects of the variables are analyzed using panel data. The study also analyzes the day of the week effect in the daily average spread, to see if the spread is dependent on any day of the week. Similar to Demsetz (1968), the panel data results obtained show that the bid-ask spread is dependent on the closing price of stock, level of market activity, the firm size and the liquidity of the stock. Also, the firm size exhibits an inverse relationship with the daily spread. Contrary to McInish and Wood (1992), this study concludes a positive relationship between the level of market activity and the daily bid-ask spread.
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Using growth accounting framework and panel data analysis, while accounting for dynamics and endogeneity issues in growth modelling, this paper analyses the sources of growth in selected COMESA member countries. The growth accounting... more
Using growth accounting framework and panel data analysis, while accounting for dynamics and endogeneity issues in growth modelling, this paper analyses the sources of growth in selected COMESA member countries. The growth accounting suggests a moderate level of TFP and that the contribution of capital and labour has been more or less the same. The results from the econometrics study are also along the same line with capital accumulation, openness and education observed to be among the most important ingredient of growth. The econometric study has also shown the importance of some other variables like political and institutional stability, financial development, IMF assistance funds and spill over effects as potential factors that may affect growth.
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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to supplement the literature on the determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) by bringing new evidences for the case of a successful FDI recipient country in Africa, namely... more
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to supplement the literature on the determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) by bringing new evidences for the case of a successful FDI recipient country in Africa, namely Mauritius.Design/methodology/approachThe determinants of FDI are examined by specifying a reduced‐form specification for a demand for inward direct investment function, and by making use of a dynamic framework. In the absence of cointegration, a differenced vector autoregressive (DVAR) model is used to capture the short‐run dynamics of the growth rate of the different specified variables.FindingsThe most instrumental factors appear to be trade openness, wages and the quality of labour in the country. Size of the market is reported to have a relatively lesser impact on FDI, probably related to the limited size of the population and the domestic market on the one hand and the good export opportunities from Mauritius on the other. The significant coefficient of the lagged dependent variable suggests the presence of dynamism in the system.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper is based mainly on the case study of a single country and therefore, imposes limitations on the generalizability of some of the findings to the region. As such, availability of a longer time series would have been better.Practical implicationsResearch findings suggest that in addition to giving fiscal investment incentives, the government should also ensure that labour costs remain competitive and do not increase relatively faster than other FDI recipient countries. Moreover, the state should realize that labour cost alone is not a stand‐alone ingredient and that productivity of workers remains a big challenge. As such, adoption of appropriate but prudent measures in further opening up of the economy to international trade remains an interesting avenue given the limited potential for foreign direct investors.Originality/valueAn overwhelming number of studies have focused on samples of developed countries with relatively very few works conducted on the determinants of FDI to Africa. This paper attempts to supplement the related literature and additionally uses rigorous time series analysis to model the dynamism in FDI modelling, an element largely ignored by past studies.
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This research investigates the effects of monetary and fiscal policies on the Stock exchange of Mauritius. Money supply, interest rate and inflation have been used as proxies for monetary policy and budget deficit has been used as a proxy... more
This research investigates the effects of monetary and fiscal policies on the Stock exchange of Mauritius. Money supply, interest rate and inflation have been used as proxies for monetary policy and budget deficit has been used as a proxy for fiscal policy. The SEMDEX was used as a proxy for the stock exchange of Mauritius. A unit root test was initially performed to test for the stationary of the variables. A combination of I(0) and I(1) was obtained and consequently an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model was used. A bound test was then performed to test for cointegration. After cointegration was obtained, the long run and short term coefficients were estimated using the ARDL approach. The research findings showed that significant long run relationships exist between the monetary variables: money supply, interest rate and inflation with stock price. However, only a short run significant relationship was obtained between money supply and stock price. Concerning the fiscal policy variable, neither a significant short term nor a long term relationship was obtained between budget deficit and stock price. Furthermore the Granger causality test confirmed a unidirectional causality from interest rate to stock price only.
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... www.ippg.org.uk Page 2. 2 *Sawkut Rojid, sawkutrojid@uom.ac.m, University of Mauritius Boopen Seetanah, b.seetanah@uom.ac.mu, University of Mauritius Ramessur Shalini, rsshalini@utm. intnet ... cohabitate for the mutual benefit of... more
... www.ippg.org.uk Page 2. 2 *Sawkut Rojid, sawkutrojid@uom.ac.m, University of Mauritius Boopen Seetanah, b.seetanah@uom.ac.mu, University of Mauritius Ramessur Shalini, rsshalini@utm. intnet ... cohabitate for the mutual benefit of both parties even though the relationship ...
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PurposeThis study aims to focus on the direct, mediating and moderating effects of corporate governance (CG) and capital structure (CS) in their relationships with firm performance (FP).Design/methodology/approachMultivariate panel data... more
PurposeThis study aims to focus on the direct, mediating and moderating effects of corporate governance (CG) and capital structure (CS) in their relationships with firm performance (FP).Design/methodology/approachMultivariate panel data regression techniques are employed to analyse the direct, mediating and moderating impacts of the CG and CS on FP of 38 listed Mauritian non-financial companies from 2009 to 2019.FindingsThis study shows that CG has a positive but insignificant influence on return on equity (ROE) and Tobin's Q. CS has a significant negative impact on both ROE and Tobin's Q and supports the pecking order theory (POT). The interaction of CG and CS influences FP, but the strength of the moderating effects depends on the performance measure being used. Both CS and CG have no mediation effects in their relationship with FP measured by ROE and Tobin's Q.Practical implicationsThe results indicate that the combination of the high leverage ratio and good governanc...
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The primary aim of this research is to analyse the effect of Foreign Real Estate Investment (FREI) on tourist development using a panel dataset of 33 countries over the time period 2000–2016. Given...
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This paper employs a nonparametric approach to estimate the efficiency and productivity of the Mauritian banking sector during 2001-2006. The measurement of efficiency is done using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Productivity growth... more
This paper employs a nonparametric approach to estimate the efficiency and productivity of the Mauritian banking sector during 2001-2006. The measurement of efficiency is done using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Productivity growth is decomposed into technical efficiency and technological change using the Malmquist indices. Using labour, fixed assets and loanable funds as inputs and total loans and fee based income as outputs in the analysis, it is observed that the mean efficiency score of banks in Mauritius when compared to other countries is lower. The Malmquist Total Factor Productivity results obtained indicate that annual productivity growth averaged 4.9% across all commercial banks and was largely attributable to technological progress. The results have important implications for bank managers, policy makers, bank regulators and other stakeholders of the Mauritian economy. It is believed that there is considerable scope for efficiency improvements in this sector, particularly for Mauritian Bank to consolidate and enhance their competiveness in the region.
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Foreign direct investment (FDI) has acquired considerable importance as a tool for the economic development of host countries and for accelerating their growth. As such, inward FDI boosts aggregate investment and the level of economic... more
Foreign direct investment (FDI) has acquired considerable importance as a tool for the economic development of host countries and for accelerating their growth. As such, inward FDI boosts aggregate investment and the level of economic activity, thereby giving positive signals as to the soundness of the host economy. In addition, FDI has numerous benefits which include employment creation, improved productivity, enhanced exports, and technological and knowledge transfers. The significance of FDI lies in its primary difference with other forms of capital investment. In fact, empirical evidence suggests that FDI flows are relatively less volatile as compared to other capital flows (IMF, World Economic Outlook, 2007). Hence, it entails a longer duration of commitment (Barrell and Holland, 2000). Moreover, evidence suggests that, given specific country prerequisites, FDI indeed results in better growth outcomes (Borensztein et al., 1995; Alfaro, 2004). Unsurprisingly sub-Saharan African ...
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The study employs the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to examine the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) in the mining sector on the Zimbabwe economy, while controlling for both non-mining FDI and domestic... more
The study employs the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to examine the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) in the mining sector on the Zimbabwe economy, while controlling for both non-mining FDI and domestic investment. Using data over the period 1988–2018, this research results show that foreign direct investment in the mining sector has a significant positive relationship with the country’s GDP in the long run. Mining FDI is revealed to have relatively higher effects as compared to FDI in non-mining sector and domestic investment. The short-run analysis observed that mining FDI as well as non-mining and domestic investment still has positive and significant impacts on growth but at a relatively lower extent. This implies that it takes some time for such investments to have their full effect on the economy.
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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to find out the impact of real exchange rate on foreign direct investment (FDI) in Mauritius.Design/methodology/approachAutoregressive distributed lag time series methodology is used.FindingsReal... more
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to find out the impact of real exchange rate on foreign direct investment (FDI) in Mauritius.Design/methodology/approachAutoregressive distributed lag time series methodology is used.FindingsReal exchange rate depreciation enhances inflows of FDI in both the short and long run.Originality/valueThe research is original, and data used are from official sources.
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This paper analyzes the performance of Mauritian mutual funds by initially investigating the performance of the mutual funds on a risk-adjusted basis and then on an individual basis with respect to their respective benchmark performances.... more
This paper analyzes the performance of Mauritian mutual funds by initially investigating the performance of the mutual funds on a risk-adjusted basis and then on an individual basis with respect to their respective benchmark performances. The results show that the rankings obtained by applying both the Sharpe and Treynor rules are almost the same, implying that the funds appear to be well-diversified. Moreover, the majority of funds selected are reported to have a relatively high Sharpe ratio, thus indicating a pretty good performance. However, the positive Jensen’s alpha indicates that fund managers through their stock picking skills, privileged information or intuition have ‘beaten the market’. Individual analysis revealed that funds are heavily dependent on the performance of the local stock market, that is, they move in line with the market index. Interestingly, those mutual funds investing heavily in the local stock market are reported to ‘beat the market’.
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The capital-intensive nature of tourism means that the industry relies heavily on the provision of transport infrastructure, hotels, airports and other amenities. Several countries, especially developing ones, have to rely on foreign... more
The capital-intensive nature of tourism means that the industry relies heavily on the provision of transport infrastructure, hotels, airports and other amenities. Several countries, especially developing ones, have to rely on foreign direct investment (FDI) for tourism development due to lack of capital and expertise. FDI therefore plays an important role in the tourism economy and is often considered as one of the most effective engines supporting the critical elements the industry requires. Despite the accepted role of FDI in boosting tourism development, studies investigating the causal relationships between FDI and tourism development are scare in the existing literature. This chapter reviews the theoretical underpinnings of the FDI-tourism nexus and the key empirical research on the topic. Overall, the review suggests that there is a positive relationship between FDI and tourism development and such a relationship is bi-directional. In terms of literature gaps, we note that more research on the FDI-tourism relationship in small islands and developing countries are needed given their unique economic, political, and environmental characteristics. Researchers should also be more opened to other methodological approaches to study the relationships between FDI and tourism development.
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This study focuses on the link between tourists' satisfaction with the quality of airport services at a destination and their intention to revisit. The influence of tourists' overall satisfaction with a destination on their behavioral... more
This study focuses on the link between tourists' satisfaction with the quality of airport services at a destination and their intention to revisit. The influence of tourists' overall satisfaction with a destination on their behavioral intentions has been well established both at theoretical and empirical levels; however, the particular role of satisfaction with airport services has been so far largely neglected. Researchers have recognized the vital importance of tourists' experience with airport services because of the fact that the airport is the first and last encounter that they experience when visiting a country. As such, the focus of the present study pertains to evaluating the satisfaction level of tourists visiting Mauritius and examining its resulting effect on their behavioral intentions. The study uses the survey methodology for data collection and involved the distribution of self-administered questionnaires to a sample of 1,721 tourists at the SSR airport in Mauritius. Exploratory factor analysis is used to extract meaningful dimensions of airport services and a multinomial probit analysis is conducted to test for the impact of satisfaction with airport services on revisit intention while taking into account other control variables. Interestingly, airport services are seen to significantly influence the probability of repeat tourism.
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Since the diffusion of the principles of sustainable development in tourism studies, the term has influenced the ways in which tourism research is carried out and how governments and other organizations plan for and manage tourism... more
Since the diffusion of the principles of sustainable development in tourism studies, the term has influenced the ways in which tourism research is carried out and how governments and other organizations plan for and manage tourism development. In this article, we argue that for sustainable tourism research to progress, constant innovation is vital. The issue comprises of 12 articles authored by scholars from diverse educational and research backgrounds and varied geographical locations, while ensuring an adequate representation of female authors. We position each article in the light of compelling theoretical and empirical arguments, enabling us to situate the special issue in light of the broader literature on sustainable tourism. The collection of articles reflects the diverse research topics, theoretical underpinnings, and methodologies used by various scholars world-wide to research sustainable tourism. The innovative aspects of each article are identified and discussed in light of existing literature. While the articles in this special issue are not enough to do justice to this topic, it is our hope that the volume has contributed to constructive discourses, debates, and critiques that will foster innovative research in sustainable tourism. We advocate that innovations in sustainable tourism research require (1) a broadening of the problem framing that involves a clear definition of the purpose and outcomes of the research activity and a clear understanding of the “object” of innovation; and (2) a broadening of the analytical framing to include the economic, social, cultural, political, and technological factors that shape innovation processes.