Economic and Social Development Under a Market Economy Regime in Sri Lanka
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Economic and Social Development under a Market Economy Regime in Sri Lanka Buddhadasa Hewavitharana Felicitation Volume II Edited by Saman Kelegama & Dileni Gunewardena June 2010 _____ Buddhadasa Hewavitharana ____ CONTENTS Introduction Economic and Social Development under a Market Economy Regime in Sri Lanka 1 Saman Kelegama and Dileni Gunewardena PART I—Factor Markets 17. Are the World’s Major Stock Markets Efficient? Implications for Resource Allocation and Corporate Governance in Developing Countries 17 Gishan Dissanaike 18. Evaluation of Business Finance Market in the Service of Industrial Growth 33 Anura Ekanayake and Patrick Amerasinghe 19. Achieving Economic Efficiency and Equitable Distribution of Land Use through Reforms and/or Market Discipline 54 Parakrama Samaratunga 20. The Economic Significance of the Virtual Water Trade 86 Ananda Gunatilaka 21. Labour Market Developments under Economic Reforms 103 Chandra Rodrigo 22. Development and Adoption of Technology under Free Market Regime’s Compulsions 137 Vijaya Kumar 23. International Migration and Employment in the Post-Reforms Economy 153 Piyasiri Wickramasekara PART II—Sectoral Impacts 24. Trends and Patterns of Foreign Direct Investments in Asia: The Sri Lankan Experience in Comparative Perspective 193 Prema-chandra Athukorala 25. Reflections on Food and Nutrition Security 221 T. Jogaratnam 26. Food Security since Liberalization 231 Nimal Sanderatne 27. Agriculture Marketing under the Market Economy Regime 244 M.B. Ranathilaka and H.M.W. Ariyarathne Herath 28. Productivity Decline in the Tea Plantations and a Possible Way Forward 260 Saman Kelegama 29. Why do Policy Decision-Makers opt for Command and Control Environmental Regulations? An Economic Analysis with Special Reference to Sri Lanka 275 Clevo Wilson, Manel Jayamanna and Wasantha Athukorala 30. Sri Lanka Oil Exploration in a Global Perspective 296 Neil R. De Silva 31. Ownership, Technology and Buyers: Explaining Exporting in China and Sri Lanka 313 Ganeshan Wignaraja Notes on Contributors 327 INTRODUCTION Saman Kelegama and Dileni Gunewardena This is the second volume of essays in honour of Professor Buddhadasa Hewavitharna, Emeritus Professor of Economics, University of Peradeniya and the Chairman of the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka. The introduction to the first volume gave a detailed account of Professor Hewavitharana’s contribution to the field of Economics in Sri Lanka and hence it is not dealt with here. The first volume examined the functioning of the market regime, income distribution, and monetary and fiscal policy in Sri Lanka. The third volume, comprising 13 essays emphases social development and social impact of reforms. In this volume we examine aspects of Factor Markets and the sectoral impact of market economy policies of Sri Lanka. Below we provide a brief overview of the Chapters of this volume. Chapter 17 by Gishan Dissanaike is titled: Are the World’s Major Stock Markets Efficient? Implications for Resource Allocation and Corporate Governance in Developing Countries. The chapter notes that a well-functioning stock market should perform at least six related roles, with two – the allocation and disciplining roles – being predicted on the assumption that stock markets are efficient in the fundamental sense. However in the literature on finance and macroeconomics, a preoccupation is seen with a different type of efficiency, namely information efficiency. Although many researchers continue to regard the informational efficiency of stock markets as being synonymous with fundamental efficiency, the chapter points out that the two are different but related concepts with a uni-directional relationship. While fundamental efficiency is a sufficient condition for ensuring information efficiency, the latter is only a necessary condition for ensuring the former. A capital market is said to be information efficient if it fully reflects all the available information when setting the price of securities. The intuition behind informational efficiency, or Efficient Markets Hypothesis (EMH), was introduced by Paul Samuelson, and the concept is now considered a cornerstone of financial economics and macroeconomics. The chapter takes a closer look at information and fundamental efficiency. A capital market is said to be efficient in the fundamental sense if today’s stock price represents a rational assessment of the present value of expected dividends, given the information available at present. Although less literature is available on fundamental efficiency, it is of high economic importance as the stock market’s allocative and disciplinary functions are predicted on it. Saman Kelegama and Dileni Gunewardena Samuelson proved that fundamental efficiency implied information efficiency but many subsequent researchers incorrectly interpreted this to mean that informational efficiency also implied fundamental efficiency. Therefore even if one were convinced about the evidence in favour of informational efficiency, a similar pronouncement on fundamental efficiency, stemming from that conviction, would not stand. However, evidence against information efficiency will constitute evidence against fundamental efficiency since the former is a necessary requirement for the latter. In fact, tests of information efficiency having a bearing on fundamental efficiency is indeed fortuitous, as constructing direct tests on fundamental efficiency are by no means an easy task. After overwhelming evidence in support of EMH put forth in the 1980s, several pieces of evidence running counter to it, labelled stock market anomalies, began to appear over time. Furthermore, the chaos and turmoil of 2008/2009 may result in more agreement that stock markets might not always be fully efficient everywhere. The chapter shows that for developing countries too, the allocation and disciplining of a stock market and the efficacy with which those functions are performed are of considerable importance, as they are actively seeking to promote stock markets as a means of achieving rapid economic progress. However, the chapter points out that policy makers and regulators in developing countries should be more aware that stock markets may not always be fully efficient, and take this into account when devising their regulatory, governance, and institutional frameworks. Chapter 18 by Anura Ekanayake and Patrick Amerasinghe is on the Evaluation of Business Finance Market in the Service of Industrial Growth. Industrialization in Sri Lanka has been subject to much research, in-depth analysis, and a range of sometimes conflicting policy prescriptions over the years. Issues relating to finance among a range of other issues, have consistently featured prominently in such research work. The chapter shows that the lack of access to investment funds for SMEs in particular and chronic high interest rates in general, are of significance in this research and policy making. While those who advocate the case for an industrial policy for directing resources towards the industry sector justify subsidized resources, the others who call for a level playing field urge for the markets to be allowed to play their role unhindered. There are so called pragmatists who acknowledge the case for specific and time bound interventions to support industries on grounds of infant industry protection. Yet, the chapter highlights that the satisfactory resolution of these perennial issues has been an elusive goal. The primary focus of this chapter is the issue of industrial finance to promote greater understanding of the issues involved and the eventual application of such knowledge for the betterment of the Sri Lankan economy. 2 Introduction Chapter 19 by Parakrama Samaratunga is on Achieving Economic Efficiency and Equitable Distribution of Land Use through Reforms and/or Market Discipline. Land availability is a serious social and economic concern in Sri Lanka due to its implications on both economic efficiency and equity. The chapter shows that in Sri Lanka, provision of new agricultural technology and irrigation, the two major determinants of land use efficiency are independent of the land market or state land regulation and are determined by state agricultural policy. Efficiency is also independent of the distribution of land determined mainly by state policy. Distribution on the other hand, is more dependent on state institutional factors like political ideology and regulatory framework and social factors such as overall income distribution and gender equity. Consequently, the chapter shows that land use efficiency and distribution in Sri Lanka are determined by a limited land market, pervasive regulatory policies, property rights, economies of scale, and efficiency-equity trade-offs. The chapter then goes on to show that considerable changes in the land use pattern have occurred over time due to market operations, traditional forces, social factors, and some state interventions. Population pressure, loopholes in laws, restrictive regulations, absence of clear property rights, and inefficiencies in the administrative set-up contributed to promoting improper land use and illegal land transactions. This has caused the present land use pattern to diverge from its sustainable optimum. Empirical evidence implies that the failure in agricultural land market is positively related to the existence of non-viable holdings and landlessness which are two major problems related to land use and rural poverty. However, the chapter shows that informal land transactions, to a