Impacts of Service Sector Policy Reform:CGE model Analysis based on Sri Lanka

This paper investigates the macroeconomic effects of services sector reform policies using two computable general equilibrium models of Sri Lankan economy. First model assumes perfect competitive market and second one assumes monopoly supplier economy. Both models have been calibrated using Sri Lanka’s social accounting matrix currently available. Impacts of both services sector production tax reduction and import tariff increase have been simulated. Simulation results imply that reduction of services sector production tax is better than increase of import tariff in both perfect competition case and monopoly supplier case.Sri Lanka Services sector; Production Tax; Import tariff; CGE model

Demand for private tuition classes under the free education policy. Evidence based on Sri Lanka

Private tuition classes are growing phenomenon in Sri Lanka especially among students who prepare for competitive national school qualifying examinations. It is one of major education issues under the free education policy in Sri Lanka. It can tarnish the real purpose of free education policy. In this paper, we examine the demand for private tuition classes in Sri Lanka by using two waves of Household Income and Expenditure Surveys (HIES) conducted by the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) of Sri Lanka in 1995/96 and 2006/07. We find that the demand for private tuition classes has increased in recent time among households. It seems that the private tuition expenditure has changed from a luxury good in 1995/96 to a necessity good in 2006/07. If the increased demand for private tuition classes is reflecting parents’ concerns on inadequate and poor, but free education in public schools, the Sri Lanka government needs to reconsider its free education policy.Economics of education; Private tutoring; Tobit model,Demand analysis

Dynamic relationships between stock market performance and short term interest rate Empirical evidence from Sri Lanka

This study examines the dynamic relationships between stock market performance and the interest rates in Sri Lanka during June 2004 to April 2011. We use all share price index in the Colombo stock exchange as a measure of stock market performance indicator and Sri Lanka interbank offer rate as a measure of interest rate. We employ some conventional time series econometric techniques namely Unit root test, cointegration test, vector auto correction model (VECM), Granger-Causality test and Impulse response functions (IRF) to trace out the relationships between stock market index and interest rate. The findings of interest include stock market performance is negatively associated with interest rate in the long run while no causal relationship is found in the short run

Impacts of Service Sector Policy Reform:CGE model Analysis based on Sri Lanka

This paper investigates the macroeconomic effects of services sector reform policies using two computable general equilibrium models of Sri Lankan economy. First model assumes perfect competitive market and second one assumes monopoly supplier economy. Both models have been calibrated using Sri Lanka’s social accounting matrix currently available. Impacts of both services sector production tax reduction and import tariff increase have been simulated. Simulation results imply that reduction of services sector production tax is better than increase of import tariff in both perfect competition case and monopoly supplier case

Demand for private tuition classes under the free education policy. Evidence based on Sri Lanka

Private tuition classes are growing phenomenon in Sri Lanka especially among students who prepare for competitive national school qualifying examinations. It is one of major education issues under the free education policy in Sri Lanka. It can tarnish the real purpose of free education policy. In this paper, we examine the demand for private tuition classes in Sri Lanka by using two waves of Household Income and Expenditure Surveys (HIES) conducted by the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) of Sri Lanka in 1995/96 and 2006/07. We find that the demand for private tuition classes has increased in recent time among households. It seems that the private tuition expenditure has changed from a luxury good in 1995/96 to a necessity good in 2006/07. If the increased demand for private tuition classes is reflecting parents’ concerns on inadequate and poor, but free education in public schools, the Sri Lanka government needs to reconsider its free education policy

途上国における教育経済学に関する研究

政策分析プログラム / Policy Analysis Program政策研究大学院大学 / National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies論文審査委員: 山野 峰（主査）, 大山 達雄, Roberto Leon-Gonzalez, 鈴木 綾, 西村 幹子（ICU

Demand for private tuition classes under the free education policy. Evidence based on Sri Lanka

Private tuition classes are growing phenomenon in Sri Lanka especially among students who prepare for competitive national school qualifying examinations. It is one of major education issues under the free education policy in Sri Lanka. It can tarnish the real purpose of free education policy. In this paper, we examine the demand for private tuition classes in Sri Lanka by using two waves of Household Income and Expenditure Surveys (HIES) conducted by the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) of Sri Lanka in 1995/96 and 2006/07. We find that the demand for private tuition classes has increased in recent time among households. It seems that the private tuition expenditure has changed from a luxury good in 1995/96 to a necessity good in 2006/07. If the increased demand for private tuition classes is reflecting parents’ concerns on inadequate and poor, but free education in public schools, the Sri Lanka government needs to reconsider its free education policy

Impacts of Service Sector Policy Reform:CGE model Analysis based on Sri Lanka

This paper investigates the macroeconomic effects of services sector reform policies using two computable general equilibrium models of Sri Lankan economy. First model assumes perfect competitive market and second one assumes monopoly supplier economy. Both models have been calibrated using Sri Lanka’s social accounting matrix currently available. Impacts of both services sector production tax reduction and import tariff increase have been simulated. Simulation results imply that reduction of services sector production tax is better than increase of import tariff in both perfect competition case and monopoly supplier case

Dynamic relationships between stock market performance and short term interest rate Empirical evidence from Sri Lanka

This study examines the dynamic relationships between stock market performance and the interest rates in Sri Lanka during June 2004 to April 2011. We use all share price index in the Colombo stock exchange as a measure of stock market performance indicator and Sri Lanka interbank offer rate as a measure of interest rate. We employ some conventional time series econometric techniques namely Unit root test, cointegration test, vector auto correction model (VECM), Granger-Causality test and Impulse response functions (IRF) to trace out the relationships between stock market index and interest rate. The findings of interest include stock market performance is negatively associated with interest rate in the long run while no causal relationship is found in the short run

Have out-of-pocket health care payments risen under free health care policy?

Compared to its neighbors, Sri Lanka performs well in terms of health. Health care is provided for free in the public sector, yet households' out-of-pocket health expenditures are steadily increasing. We explore whether this increase can be explained by supply shortages and insufficient public health care financing or whether it is rather the result of an income-induced demand for supplementary and higher quality services from the private sector. We focus on total health care expenditures and health care expenditures for specific services such as expenses on private outpatient treatments and expenses on laboratory and other diagnostic services. Overall, we find little indication that limited supply of public health care per se pushes patients into the private sector. Yet income is identified as one key driver of rising health care expenditures, ie, as households get richer, they spend an increasing amount on private services suggesting a dissatisfaction with the quality offered by the public sector. Hence, quality improvements in the public sector seem to be necessary to ensure sustainability of the public health care sector. If the rich and the middle class increasingly opt out of public health care, the willingness to pay taxes to finance the free health care policy will certainly shrink