Empirical test of the Balassa-Samuelson Effect in Selected African Countries

The purpose of this study investigates the validity of the Balassa-Samuelson effect in selected African countries. The kernel of the Balassa-Samuelson (BS) effect is the relationship between productivity and real exchange rate. The study therefore, estimates the equilibrium real exchange with total factor productivity as the main explanatory variable. The results revealed that Balassa-Samuelson effect holds in the selected African countries. The results show a positive relationship between real exchange rate and productivity. An increase in total factor productivity causes real exchange rate appreciation. An improvement in productivity can cause countries to experience an increase in prices of their products relative to trading partners. The study recommends that the selected African countries should pursue policies that maintain competitive real exchange rate

Retracted: Understanding the relationship of tourism demands connecting with economy and tourism stock index in an extreme case of Thailand bivariate extreme value copula approach

This article was withdrawn and retracted by the Journal of Fundamental and Applied Sciences and has been removed from AJOL at the request of the journal Editor in Chief and the organisers of the conference at which the articles were presented (www.iccmit.net). Please address any queries to [email protected]

A meta-analysis of international tourism demand elasticities

This study uses meta-analysis to examine the relationship between estimated international tourism demand elasticities and the data characteristics and study features that may affect such empirical estimates. By reviewing 195 studies published during the period 1961–2011, the meta-regression analysis shows that origin, destination, time period, modeling method, data frequency, the inclusion/omission of other explanatory variables and their measures, and sample size all significantly influence the estimates of the demand elasticities generated by a model. Moreover, the demand elasticities at both product and destination levels are generalized by statistically integrating previous empirical estimates. The findings of this meta-analysis will be useful wherever an understanding of the drivers of tourism demand is critically important