Sandaram P Premaratna

University of Colombo · Department of Economics

Poverty consists of two types: monetary poverty and multi-dimensional poverty. Monetary poverty is measured by determining whether income of a person falls below the poverty line while multidimensional poverty is measured using a method where it measures whether a person satisfies a set of specified basic needs. In 2010, the Oxford Poverty and Huma...

Poverty consists of two types: monetary poverty and multi-dimensional poverty. Monetary poverty is measured by determining whether income of a person falls below the poverty line while multidimensional poverty is measured using a method where it measures whether a person satisfies a set of specified basic needs. In 2010, the Oxford Poverty and Huma...

Colombo Economic Journal vol 1 no 1 June 2023

Decent Work and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Trade Unions Strategies in Promoting Decent Work in South Asia. Conducted for the SOUTH ASIAN REGIONAL TRADE UNION COUNCIL (SARTUC) on their Regional consultation on “Formalisation of Informal Economy and Just Transition to the Future of Work in South Asia: The Trade Unions’ Perspective'' on 21...

The proportion of the elderly population is increasing rapidly. This trend demands measures and actions that enable elderly people to stay active and self-sufficient as long as possible. However, in cities, elderly people are more vulnerable to climate change, and socioeconomic changes since most city environments are designed to support the workin...

Recovering from COVID-19: SME Family businesses in Sri Lanka

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the trust in tax authority and power of tax authority influence the tax compliance behaviour of SME entrepreneurs who engage in business activities in urban-rural locations. A quantitative research approach was applied, and a survey questionnaire was distributed among 408 SME taxpayers, who were s...

Work-Life Balance for an Inclusive Growth

Women's Participation and the contributions to Sri Lankan Economy. Here identifies women's contribution to the economy (not only visible and invisible contribution), issues, and policy recommendations.

Sri Lanka occupies a unique strategic location in the Indian Ocean that attracts major powers such as China, the United States (US), India and most recently, Japan and Australia. The paper explores how Sri Lanka confronts the struggle of power between major powers, mainly the US and China. This study examines the geopolitical and geo-economic inter...

In the Northern Province of Sri Lanka, many tourism opportunities are available to develop the tourism and hospitality sector, but the area suffers from a lack of effective and efficient entrepreneurship. This study aims to identify the prospects and challenges affecting tourism and hotel entrepreneurship performance in post-conflict areas, in the...

This edited book is a product of the Department of Economics to mark the celebration of the centenary of the University of Colombo. As one of the largest single departments in the University of Colombo, the Department of Economics proudly celebrates its Centenary of the University of Colombo. This edited book consists of ten chapters covering wide...

The objective of this chapter is to examine these emerging new directions in the provision of social protection in the context of social protection programmes in Sri Lanka and to propose an inclusive and development-oriented model of social protection for the country. This study primarily aims at presenting a conceptual model which is suitable to a...

This paper aims to investigate consumer choices among different segments of people when purchasing fresh products and it further explores how visual appeal, price, and information play a role in consumer choice. A quantitative study with an online choice experiment was carried out on a convenience sample of 90 respondents. A chi-square test for ind...

Knowledge on social and cultural systems is essential for comprehensive understanding of ecosystem changes, monitoring biodiversity, development and implementation of resource management strategies. Social values of coastal landscapes reveal the attributes of locations and their relative importance for people. Aim of the study was to evaluate the c...

Business firms now widely use business sustainable TBL model in developing as well as developed countries. The study identified the status of business suitable practices in Sri Lankan SMEs. Challenges faced by manufacturing SMEs in implementing TBL practices were identified. Several barriers are identified and categorized into two groups: internal...

Implementation of lean practices creates multiple benefits as depicted in literature. However, the experiences of implementing lean practices in manufacturing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), in Sri Lanka, remain unexplored. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which manufacturing SMEs use lean practices and their accrued...

This SME green manual

This study examines factors that determine green practice adoption by small and medium scale manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) located in urban areas of Sri Lanka. The determinants include technological factors, organizational factors, business environments, and environmental attitudes and awareness. A questionnaire survey on the green practice adop...

This paper examines the significant factors influencing the demand for micro credit among urban poor households in Sri Lanka. Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Kandy and Nuwara Elliya districts were selected. Employing the multistage sampling method, 1200 respondents were randomly selected from the urban areas of the five districts. Data on household cha...

CHALLENGES AND CONSTRAINTS TO ENHANCE THE ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION IN HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS OF A DEVELOPING COUNTRY: EVIDENCE FROM SRI LANKA T.M.A. Tennakoon1, Kennedy Gunawardena2, S.P.Premaratne3 This study through an exploratory approach review the challenges and constraints faced in enhancing entrepreneurship education in developi...

Assessment on Social Protection in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is currently facing a problem with achieving its tax revenue targets. The government can collect tax money from citizens through the enforcement or by letting them contribute voluntarily. However, the tax authority should take a firm decision to choose between enforcement of power of the revenue body or developing mutual trust in the tax...

This study focuses on analyzing the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on Smalls and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the Information Technology (IT) industry in Sri Lanka. SWOT Analysis of Albert Humphrey was used to conduct the situational analysis to outline the impact. This qualitative study is based on two experts' webinars conducted during April...

Understanding the sustainability of the electricity sector of Sri Lanka in a global pandemic

The association between the taxpayer's attitude of adhering to tax law caused by COVID-19 is unprecedented and has never been experienced before. The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tax compliance attitude of Small and Medium Sector taxpayers in Sri Lanka. According to the World Bank's Innovations in Tax...

Tax compliance has been examined from various perspectives by researchers since its impact on the economy is vital. The objective of this study is to explore the influence of the taxpayer's level of income on his compliance behavior within the Slippery-Slope Framework. The researchers focus only on the small and medium level business community in S...

This study attempts to explore the influence of urban-rural business classification on tax compliance patterns among SME taxpayers in Sri Lanka from the perspective of the Slippery-Slope Framework. Proper integration between the enforcement of power of the revenue body and the development of mutual trust in tax authority is vital in the process of...

This study through an exploratory approach review the challenges and constraints faced in enhancing entrepreneurship education in developing countries using Sri Lanka as a case study. Previous studies on the subject matter is very scarce and even in international journals only few papers appeared on entrepreneurship education in developing countrie...

3rd Research Conference on Business Studies held on 26th October 2020, at the faculty of Business Studies, Vavuniya Campus of the University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka

The study examined the impact of financial liberalization on Nigerian manufacturing firms' access to finance, using firm-level data of 3801 manufacturing firms from World Bank Enterprise Survey from 2007-2014. Although, crosscountry literature extensively discussed on the effect of financial liberalization on credit constraints, the studies signifi...

Sub Saharan African countries experience low private investment compared to other developing countries in world. For instance, private investment in the region averaged 15% of GDP from 2010 to 2016, as compared to 22%, 18% and 17% for developing countries in Asia, Europe and Latin America respectively. This low investment level constrained the regi...

The article identifies the pros and cons of the Sri Lanka Microfinance Bill 2016 focusing on how the regulation affects MFIs and their clients. Information for this study was gathered from published documents and papers, and discussions with practitioners and expertise in the field of microfinance and micro and small enterprise sectors. It is not c...

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the relation between corporate governance and dividend policy in Sri Lankan firms. Design/methodology/approach The data set consists of market data using 1,608 firm-year observations from 201 firms listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange and survey-based data from 151 respondents from the same 201 firms. The aut...

Recreation and tourism represent a major opportunity and nexus for managing the interaction between ecosystems and people, including particularly to urban ecosystems, where people living in an environment, that its' contact with natural or semi natural ecosystems is often limited. The Negombo lagoon has proven to be an important recreational site i...

The world faced with challenges in achieving three dimensions of sustainable development, which clearly shows in the COVID-19 pandemic case. Maintaining the balance of economic, social and environmental has become a global challenge. Any change in one dimension of the system, social or ecological, unavoidably has effects on the other dimension; and...

The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc and created a global health and economic crisis. Given the intrinsically entwined nature of the power systems in our daily lives, a study on the effect of the pandemic on the power systems is imperative. A few studies have been conducted on the impact of COVID-19 on the energy sector, but no such study has be...

The pandemic emerged in the world created many unhealthy environments for every causing 930,000 deaths as at today. Even though Sri Lanka was said to be under control in the first wave of COVID 19, however there have been uncountable number of other socioeconomic issues with this pandemic. There are 8.6 million of economically active populations in...

Adopting green practices in the manufacturing sector has become a requirement for achieving sustainability goals. Even though manufacturing small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) play a major role in the industrial sector in Sri Lanka, their contribution towards reaching a green economy is not well identified. This kind of identification needs a...

Sri Lanka in Geopolitics : Sri Lanka occupies a unique strategic location in the Indian Ocean that attracts major powers such as China, the United States (US), India and most recently Japan and Australia toward it. The paper aims to explore how Sri Lanka confronts the struggle of power between major powers, mainly the US and China. This study exami...

Poverty is generally considered to be a multidimensional problem. Meantime, the perception of poverty has challenged the focus on income and consumption as the defining condition of poor people. (United Nations, 2006). Resilience to urban poverty has defined as a method of ability to manage the wide range of socio-economic shocks and stresses which...

In Nigeria, measures were taking by government between the period 1986 to 2005 to liberalise the financial sector as part of the overall structural adjustment programme (SAP) with the aim to promote economic growth and alleviate poverty. The financial reform assumes that deregulating the financial market will eliminate the distortion and fragmentat...

Effect of financial liberalisation on savings and investment in Nigeria Danjuma Ahmad and S.P.Premaratna Abstract In Nigeria, measures were taking by government between the period 1986 to 2005 to liberalise the financial sector as part of the overall structural adjustment programme (SAP) with the aim to promote economic growth and alleviate poverty...

Information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) industry is one of the fastest growing industries in Sri Lanka. The industry vision is to reach USD 5billion exports revenue by 2022. Sri Lanka’s economy is being transforming from production- based to knowledge –based economy and IT-BPM sector has infinite potential to grow in the glo...

Social and Ecological Consequences of Sustainable Development: Evidence from South Asian, African and Latin American Regions

Designing a more reliable policy framework for women in informal sector requires a careful assessment of the issues and obstacles they face in working in the informal sector. This paper provides an overview of the barriers and challenges women face in the informal sector in Sri Lanka, which in some cases are embedded in the nature of informality in...

The second edition of the book consists of seven chapters covering most important aspects of the theory of production. Chapter one provides a basic introduction on economics, including microeconomics and macroeconomics. Thereafter, chapter two deals with the basic concepts of production. In chapter three, while presenting the theory of cost, a deta...

Green manufacturing Going "Green" has become the newest trend in many sectors and disciplines. As far as Sri Lanka is concerned various programs have been conducted frequently with a view to popularizing this concept and encouraging green practices. The term "Green" has been used as a more or less interchangeable term with “sustainability" which en...

The changing nature of women's labor force participation has been a critical dimension of the development process since the first Industrial Revolution. Engendering employment policies and poverty eradication strategies is very key to attaining women's economic empowerment and Sri Lanka's sustainable development. The objective of the study is to ad...

Women Policy

Water problem in the Colombo city has aggravated over the time. Thus, encouraging consumers for responsible water consumption is imperative. As the city is almost completely reliant on pipe-borne water, water tariff could be utilized in this effort. However, as water is a basic need and a human right, an upward revision of tariff should not deprive...

The study aimed to identify the determinants of the technical efficiency of Smallholder Tea Farmers (STFs) under UTZ certification system in Sri Lanka by employing stochastic production frontier using a sample survey of 75 STFs supported by the UTZ programme conducted between January and March in 2016. The results showed that a small number of STFs...

Some argued that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) sector has been recognized as a vital sector in economic development of a country because it contributes to generate employment, accelerate economic growth and reduce poverty, value creation, income inequality, inflation and balance of payment. As highlighted by many studies, overall health of th...

The study attempted to find out the impact of social capital on livelihood success of the members of community based organizations in Sri Lanka. The sample was selected from the North Central Province in Sri Lanka using multi-stage sampling method. Data were gathered for the structural questionnaire from 183 members conducting face to face intervie...

The study explored how information access through different dimensions of Social Capital (SC) (structural, relational and cognitive) affects the mitigation of business opportunism. Data were collected from 373 Small Enterprises (SEs) in Sri Lanka, conducting face-to-face interviews with the owners of SEs. Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation M...

Small Enterprises (SEs) have higher Transaction Uncertainty (TU) due to asymmetrical information (Ahmad & Seet, 2009). They do not have capacity to collect and evaluate information to predict future behaviour of business environment on one hand and they fail to avoid the hazards from opportunism of exchange partners on the other hand (Nooteboom, 19...

Small Enterprises (SEs) do not have capacity to collect and evaluate information to predict future behavior of business environment on one hand and they fail to avoid the hazards from opportunism of exchange partners on the other hand due to the lack of information. SEs develop informal and personal relationships with different members of the netwo...

This paper examines key governance challenges that are being experienced in the implementation of fisheries co-management programmes in Sri Lanka. Co-management has been identified as the preferred management approach for the protection and conservation of natural ecosystems around the world despite the ambiguity that exists around the meaning and...

The study explores how inter-personal trust between the Owners of Small Enterprises (OSE) and their exchange partners affects the mitigation of Transaction Costs (TC) of Small Enterprises (SEs) in Sri Lanka. Data were collected from 373 SEs located in nine Districts representing all Provinces in Sri Lanka, by conducting face to face personal interv...

Some argued that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) sector has been recognized as a vital sector in economic development of a country because it contributes to generate employment, accelerate economic growth and reduce poverty, income inequality, inflation and balance of payment. As highlighted by many studies, overall health of the industrializat...

Presented at the Annual Session 2017 of Sri Lanka Economic Association

The study explored how information accessed through Social Capital (SC) affect the improvement of rational ability of Owner Manager Small Enterprises (OMSEs) in Sri Lanka. Data were collected from 373 Small Enterprises (SEs) located all the Provinces in Sri Lanka, conducting face to face interviews with respondents. The data were analysed using Par...

The study explored how information accessed through Social Capital (SC) affect the improvement of rational ability of Owner Manager Small Enterprises (OMSEs) in Sri Lanka. Data were collected from 373 Small Enterprises (SEs) located all the Provinces in Sri Lanka, conducting face to face interviews with respondents. The data were analysed using Par...

The study explored how information accessed through Social Capital (SC) affect the improvement of rational ability of Owner Manager Small Enterprises (OMSEs) in Sri Lanka. Data were collected from 373 Small Enterprises (SEs) located all the Provinces in Sri Lanka, conducting face to face interviews with respondents. The data were analysed using Par...

The study explored how information accessed through Social Capital (SC) affect the improvement of rational ability of Owner Manager Small Enterprises (OMSEs) in Sri Lanka. Data were collected from 373 Small Enterprises (SEs) located all the Provinces in Sri Lanka, conducting face to face interviews with respondents. The data were analysed using Par...

The study explored how information accessed through Social Capital (SC) affect the improvement of rational ability of Owner Manager Small Enterprises (OMSEs) in Sri Lanka. Data were collected from 373 Small Enterprises (SEs) located all the Provinces in Sri Lanka, conducting face to face interviews with respondents. The data were analysed using Par...

The article identifies the pros and cons of the Sri Lanka Microfinance Bill 2016 focusing on how the regulation affects MFIs and their clients. Information for this study was gathered from published documents and papers, and discussions with practitioners and expertise in the field of microfinance and micro and small enterprise sectors. It is not c...

The nature of an ecosystem shapes human culture, heritage, values, social interactions and knowledge systems as well as amenity services (i.e. aesthetic, tourism and recreation, artistic, spiritual and intellectual development) considerably; thus, any changes in an ecosystem can have significant impacts on cultural services for societies. In light...

The study explored how different dimensions of Social Capital (SC) affect the mitigation of Transaction Cost (TC) of Small Enterprises (SEs) in Sri Lanka. The study used the survey method to gather data which were collected from 376 SEs located in nine Districts representing all Provinces in Sri Lanka, conducting face to face personal interviews wi...

Literature on peacebuilding emphasises the need for stakeholders at all levels of society to be engaged in the peace and reconciliation process for peace to be sustainable. Policy-makers around the globe strategically employ entrepreneurship, particularly self-employment and small enterprises development, to economically empower the communities in...

The article identifies the pros and cons of the Sri Lanka Microfinance Bill 2016 focusing on how the regulation affects MFIs and their clients. Information for this study was gathered from published documents and papers, and discussions with practitioners and expertise in the field of microfinance and micro and small enterprise sectors. It is not c...

The government has taken several steps to address unemployment problem among youths in Sri Lanka. Many authors have identified entrepreneurial intentions as a mean to better explain and predict entrepreneurship. One strategy is to promote entrepreneurship education and to encourage to start their own enterprises. However, despite of the fact that m...

Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) explained that Transaction Cost (TC) of a business firm increases with the increase of business uncertainty. As compared to large firms, Small Enterprises (SEs) have higher business uncertainty due to lack of information, resources and knowledge to predict future circumstances. Some scholars highlighted that mutual...

Given the environmental and economic importance of the lagoon fishery sector, governing and protection of lagoons have been a challenge, especially with increasing populations that put pressure on these natural ecosystems. As a governance measure, the co-management approach was introduced into lagoons in Sri Lanka by the PRACTICAL ACTION in collabo...

Co-management

Literature on peace building and reconciliation emphasizes the need for stakeholders in all levels of society to be engaged. Policy makers strategically employ micro entrepreneurship, to economically empower post-conflict communities. Researchers in entrepreneurship have identified 'networking' as important for success. Entrepreneurs lack finance,...

Smallholder farmers fail to govern their Transaction Costs (TC) using either 'market' or 'hierarchy' due to several limitations. Instead, they develop informal relationships with exchange partners and use such relationships to govern their TC. Results depend upon the qualities of relationship (i.e. inter-personal trust and relational norms) between...

Promoting micro enterprises in post conflict communities: case studies from the Northern Province of Sri Lanka

ABSTRACT: This paper attempts to study how relational norms between Smallholder Vegetable Farmers (SVFs) and exchange partners effect on the mitigation of Transaction Costs (TC) of SVFs in Sri Lanka? Both quantitative and qualitative data were used to study the research problem. A survey was conducted in Bogahakumbura village in Welimada Agricultur...

This paper attempts to study how relational norms between Smallholder Vegetable Farmers (SVFs) and exchange partners effect on the mitigation of Transaction Costs (TC) of SVFs in Sri Lanka? Both quantitative and qualitative data were used to study the research problem. A survey was conducted in Bogahakumbura village in Welimada Agricultural Divisio...

The paper aims to find out: i) what problems/ challenges are facing micro - scale women entrepreneurs in the Maldives; ii) in what industries are these small-scale women entrepreneurs engaged in; iii) what measures have been put in place by the Maldivian government and other institutions to assist such micro-scale women entrepreneurs; and iv) what...

An Analysis of the Paddy/Rice Value Chains in Sri Lanka S.M.P.Senanayake and S.P. Premaratne Abstract Since rice is the staple diet and its cultivation is the main occupation of millions of small scale producers the prices of both paddy and rice significantly affects the welfare of the people in the country. Although these prices are fixed by the...

Abstract: Lack of empirical evidence regarding the relative efficacy of relational norms on mitigating opportunism particularly against smallholding vegetable farmers represents a significant gap in the literature. Therefore, this paper attempts to fill this gap studying the effects of relational norms on mitigating opportunism against smallholding...

This study employs the collective household model in which the household is characterized as a collection of individuals. Each has a well-defined objective function and participates in household-level decisions. The study adopts the very general framework of Browning, Chiappori and Lewbel (2006) by replacing the empirical model from a highly nonlin...