Saroja Selvanathan

Bio: Saroja Selvanathan is an academic researcher from Griffith University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Consumption (economics) & Foreign direct investment. The author has an hindex of 24, co-authored 110 publications receiving 1968 citations. Previous affiliations of Saroja Selvanathan include Murdoch University & University of Western Australia.

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

Abstract: 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.

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 paper 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 VAR framework (Granger 1988). 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 remittences and vice-versa. The paper also discusses a number of policy issues arising from the results of the analysis in relation to remittances in association with liberalisation of financial institutions, gender issues, regulation and enforcement, investment and savings schemes, and promotion and education.

The Relationship between Foreign Direct Investment and Tourism: Empirical Evidence from China:

Abstract: 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.

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...

Learning Experience and Learning Effectiveness in Undergraduate Statistics: Modeling Performance in Traditional and Flexible Learning Environments

Abstract: This project investigates the relationship between student performance, past mathematics experience, and perceptions of statistics education for two groups of university students studying statistics in different learning environments. One group received the traditional form of teaching with lectures, whereas the other group studied in a more flexible learning mode where lectures were replaced with a computer-managed learning tool and optional small-group workshops facilitated by written lecture notes. The results on student learning experience show that, for both groups, student enjoyment of the course is positively related to their learning attitudes and to their perceived value of statistics education, and is negatively related to anxiety with regard to their performance in the course. There is some evidence that the group studying in the technology-supported flexible learning environment experienced more assessment anxiety and consequently less enjoyment of the subject. There is also evidence that assessment anxiety has a negative effect on student performance that is exacerbated by a lack of prior mathematics experience. Hence, the flexible learning approach in statistics education, with minimal face-to-face teaching, may be especially inappropriate for these students.

Regression Diagnostics: Identifying Influential Data and Sources of Collinearity

Abstract: 1. Introduction and Overview. 2. Detecting Influential Observations and Outliers. 3. Detecting and Assessing Collinearity. 4. Applications and Remedies. 5. Research Issues and Directions for Extensions. Bibliography. Author Index. Subject Index.

Thinking fast and slow.

Abstract: In 1974 an article appeared in Science magazine with the dry-sounding title “Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases” by a pair of psychologists who were not well known outside their discipline of decision theory. In it Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman introduced the world to Prospect Theory, which mapped out how humans actually behave when faced with decisions about gains and losses, in contrast to how economists assumed that people behave. Prospect Theory turned Economics on its head by demonstrating through a series of ingenious experiments that people are much more concerned with losses than they are with gains, and that framing a choice from one perspective or the other will result in decisions that are exactly the opposite of each other, even if the outcomes are monetarily the same. Prospect Theory led cognitive psychology in a new direction that began to uncover other human biases in thinking that are probably not learned but are part of our brain’s wiring.