The Impact Of Education On Economic Growth: The Case Of Mauritius

This paper focuses on the impact of investment in education on economic growth in Mauritius. It is an attempt to explore the extent to which education level of the Mauritian labour force affects its economic growth that is its output level. We have used the Cobb-Douglas production function with constant returns to scale where human capital is treated as an independent factor of production in the human capital augmented growth model. We expect to contribute to the existing literature by bringing evidence from a data set for the period 1990 to 2006 obtained from the central statistical office and Bank of Mauritius reports. The results reveal that human capital plays an important role in economic growth mainly as an engine for improvement of the output level. There is compelling evidence that human capital increases productivity, suggesting that education really is productivity-enhancing rather than just a device that individuals use to signal their level of ability to the employer

Climate change, governance and economic growth : the case of small island developing states

The paper investigates the climate change, governance and development nexus for 19 small island developing states (SIDS) from 1995 to 2018. The study uses the Vector Error Correction Model and the results point out that climate change and environmental degradation deter economic growth. Governance has a positive and significant impact on economic growth across the selected SIDS. The findings also confirm a bi-directional causal link between economic growth and governance, and that increasing growth contributes to higher levels of pollution. Finally, governance has no statistically significant effect on environmental degradation. This is attributed to weak governance arrangements in small (and mainly island) states, which fail to have well defined goals and strategies in the climate change sector. There is thus a need to administer policies, programmes, legal instruments, reforms and institutional interventions in a holistic and coordinated manner among and within various institutions across SIDS to build a proper governance structure to curb the impacts of climate change.peer-reviewe

A GARCH Approach for the Assessment of Weak-Form-Efficiency and Seasonality Effect: Evidence from Mauritius

During the past decades, the efficient market hypothesis (EMH) has been at the heart of the debate in the financial literature. Ultimately, the consequence of the efficiency of a market is that prices always fully reflect all available information. The objective of this study is to test whether the Stock exchange of Mauritius (SEM) and Development and Enterprise market (DEM) are weak form efficient. The autocorrelation test, variance ratio test, run test and calendar effects testing, made under OLS regression and GARCH-M were used to examine weak-form EMH. Two indices namely the DEMEX and SEMDEX are tested by using both daily and monthly return data for the period from 1st January 2007 to 31st October 2012. Results obtained are mixed. For instance, from the autocorrelation test shows evidence to reject the null hypothesis of random walk for both daily and monthly returns. On the other hand, the run test indicates that the null hypothesis of random walk is rejected only for daily returns of SEMDEX and DEMEX while not rejected for the monthly series. The Lo and MacKinley's variance ratio test fails to support weak-form-efficiency. Under both a daily perspective as well as on a monthly one, the returns of DEMEX has consistently proven to follow a random walk by using OLS and GARCH. While SEMDEX proved otherwise. Keywords: Weak form efficiency, Seasonality effect, GARCH model JEL Classifications: C1, G1

The impact of FDI on CO2 emission in a small island developing state: A cointegration approach

This paper examines the long run and short run impact of FDI (disaggregated into manufacturing and non- manufacturing sector), on CO2 emission in Mauritius. In this study the bounds testing approach to cointegration is used. For instance, the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model is used on time series data over the period 1980 to 2012. The main findings of this study show that foreign investment in the manufacturing sector is harmful for the environment whereas FDI in non-manufacturing sectors does not really affect the environment. Moreover, an increase in growth is as well seen to increase the level of CO2 emission. Energy use in the country also proved to result in an increase in CO2 emission. The findings further confirm the stability of the model for the small island economy of Mauritius

The mediating effect of attitude on adoption of mobile payment services in small island developing states. The case of Mauritius

Purpose: This study assesses the factors that impacts on an individual's adoption (ADOP) of mobile payment services (MPS) in the setting of a small island developing state (SIDS), Mauritius. Design/methodology/approach: The theoretical model for this study draws upon prior research, synthesizing elements from various established theories, including the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), as well as its variants, UTAUT 1, UTAUT 2, and Meta-UTAUT. These theories are augmented with factors pertinent to MPS ADOP. A significant contribution of this study lies in the inclusion of attitude (ATTI) as a mediator, elucidating its role in mediating the direct effects on ADOP. The study's sample comprises of 186 participants hailing from densely populated regions in Mauritius. To assess the influence of the various constructs on MPS ADOP, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is employed. Main findings: The findings indicate that, while Perceived Trust (PT) and Perceived Risk (PR) were not directly associated with the Adoption (ADOP) of MPS, there exists a direct relationship between Subjective Norms (SN), Compatibility (COM), and Intention to use (INT) with MPS Adoption. Furthermore, it was observed that Subjective Norms (SN), Compatibility (COM), Perceived Risk (PR), Perceived Trust (PT), and Intention to use (INT) are directly linked to Attitude (ATTI). Moreover, this analysis reveals that Attitude (ATTI) partially mediates the relationship between Subjective Norms (SN), Compatibility (COM), Perceived Risk (PR), Perceived Trust (PT), Intention to use (INT), and the Adoption (ADOP) of MPS. Practical implications: The outcomes provide a clearer understanding of the theoretical understanding of MPS ADOP and also enhance our understanding of important variables influencing adoption of MPS by customers. Recommendations are also made based on the research findings. Originality/value: The primary motivation behind this study is to bring to light an unexplored and pivotal dimension in the existing research landscape. While previous studies have examined the direct connections between SN, COM, PR, PT, and INT with respect to consumers' adoption of MPS, a significant research gap exists in comprehending the role of ATTI as a mediator within these associations. This study endeavors to unveil the intricate underpinnings of the adoption process among consumers in Mauritius. By concentrating on this aspect, the study aspires to bridge a substantial void in the scholarly literature, offering a nuanced perspective on the adoption of MPS

Impact of the Global COVID-19 Pandemic on FDI: Evidence from a Small Open Economy

This study sets out to empirically examine the effect of the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic on the foreign direct investment flows of a small open economy, Mauritius. A preliminary analysis of the monthly gross direct investment flows data clearly shows that in general, the series departed from their original trends after the outbreak of the pandemic. As such, we employ the newly developed Bayesian structural time series (BSTS) framework for causal analysis to determine the initial impact of the pandemic on the gross direct investment flows of the country. The results indicate that the outbreak of the pandemic negatively affected investments coming from South Africa, Switzerland, Belgium, China and Reunion and those in the “Real Estate Activities” sector. Surprisingly, a considerable increase was observed for the “Manufacturing” sector. Our findings also reveal that in the long run, gross direct investment flows from some countries and in some sectors will surely be influenced by the pandemic although this was not obvious at the time of the investigation. However, this will be highly dependent upon the measures taken by the country and worldwide to contain the spread of the pandemic

Impact of the Global COVID-19 Pandemic on FDI: Evidence from a Small Open Economy

This study sets out to empirically examine the effect of the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic on the foreign direct investment flows of a small open economy, Mauritius. A preliminary analysis of the monthly gross direct investment flows data clearly shows that in general, the series departed from their original trends after the outbreak of the pandemic. As such, we employ the newly developed Bayesian structural time series (BSTS) framework for causal analysis to determine the initial impact of the pandemic on the gross direct investment flows of the country. The results indicate that the outbreak of the pandemic negatively affected investments coming from South Africa, Switzerland, Belgium, China and Reunion and those in the “Real Estate Activities” sector. Surprisingly, a considerable increase was observed for the “Manufacturing” sector. Our findings also reveal that in the long run, gross direct investment flows from some countries and in some sectors will surely be influenced by the pandemic although this was not obvious at the time of the investigation. However, this will be highly dependent upon the measures taken by the country and worldwide to contain the spread of the pandemic

Impact of Economic and Financial Development on Environmental Degradation: Evidence from Small Island Developing States (SIDS)

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of economic and financial development (FD) on environmental degradation (ED) for a sample of 12 selected small island developing states for the period 20002016 using a panel vector autoregressive model which accounts for the issue of dynamism and endogeneity. Results from the long-run cointegration analysis confirmed that GDP per capita has a negative and significant impact on emissions implying that higher degree of economic development decreases the ED for our sample of island economies. The smaller long-run income elasticity as compared to the short run validates the environment Kuznets curve hypothesis. Although an insignificant impact of FD on CO2 emissions is reported, the joint effect of economic and FD on the environment indicates that FD will have an affirmative influence on the environment with island economies attaining a relatively good income level as well