Browsing by Author "Semasinghe, W.M."
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Item Dimensions of Rural Poverty in Sri Lanka: An attempt to identify the crucial aspects of well-being of rural poor(Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2015) Semasinghe, W.M.Though, identification of the dimensions of poverty of a specific setting is crucial for poverty analysis and designing targeted poverty reducing programs, there is no consensus among researchers, policymakers etc. on the dimensions of poverty. In fact, the criteria for selecting dimensions used in the literature remain controversial. In the Sri Lankan context, though, poverty has been greatly discussed recently as in many other developing countries, most of the analysis focused solely on the identification of incidence and trends of poverty based on uni-dimensional approach. It is hard to find the methodical attempts which made to identify the aspects of well-being and poverty. The main objective of this paper was to identify the dimensions of rural poverty. Qizilbash‟s „core poor‟ framework was applied in this analysis. Findings revealed that food, clean drinking water, agricultural lands, clothes, education and knowledge, health care, housing, income (money), and sanitation are the crucial aspects of well-being of rural people.Item Economic and Social Cost of Fertilizer Subsidy on Paddy Farming in Sri Lanka(International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), 2014) Semasinghe, W.M.The main objective of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of fertilizer subsidy on paddy cultivation. ANCOVA model was fitted in order to accomplish this objective. Accordingly, it was found that there is a statistically significant positive relationship between fertilizer subsidy and average yield of paddy farming. Marginal Analysis was employed in order to assess the efficiency of fertilizer usage. According to the analysis, private benefits of fertilizer usage are higher than private cost; hence, fertilizer usage is inefficient; more precisely fertilizer is underutilized. On the contrary, as evidence shows social cost of fertilizer usage is higher than social benefits; fertilizer usage is inefficient but over utilized. Hence, appropriate measures should be taken up in order to reduce fertilizer usage. This dilemma should be handled very carefully. Since evidence has established that fertilizer usage is encouraged by fertilizer subsidy, it is suggested to reconsider the mechanism of fertilizer subsidy instead of removing it.Item Economic value of water functioning system of paddy field in Sri Lanka(Reviewing International Encounters 2015, Research Center for Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2015) Nishantha, B.M.N.; Mahindha, G.M.; Semasinghe, W.M.; Kularathne, M.G.Paddy farming in Sri Lanka can be divided in to tree schemes according to the source of water availability for farming. In addition scale of cultivation depends on the schemes. Naturally paddy field acts as a multifunctional surface due to its structure. Then paddy field helps to mitigating flood, recharging groundwater and purifying water which was determined previous studies. Then, the study focused on estimating economic value of those non-market benefits and find out how does the magnitude effects of those benefits vary within the cultivation schemes in Sri Lanka based on non-market evaluation methods of Replacement Cost Method (RCM) and Contingent Valuation Method (CVM). Primary data was collected by using structured interview method and experiment method. Further one-way ANOVA was utilized to achieve the objective of the study. Further the result shows that the Economic Water Functioning system of Paddy Field is vary within the cultivation schemes and allocated as 172421.8LKR, 63320.7LKR and 32996.66 in major irrigated scheme, minor irrigated scheme and rain-fed scheme respectively per acreItem Economic value of water functioning system of paddy field in Sri Lanka(2015) Nishantha, B.M.N.; Kularathne, M.G.; Semasinghe, W.M.; Henegedara, M.Item The Effects of Public Welfare Policies on Rural Poverty in Sri Lanka: A Logistic Regression Analysis(Sri Lanka Journal of Advanced Social Studies, 2011) Semasinghe, W.M.Poverty alleviation is one of the greatest phenomenon that acquired a foremost priority within the development effort of Sri Lanka, mainly during the past few decades. Public sector has been playing a vital role in this endeavor. In the first phase of independence, social welfare was given highest priority. Free education, health services, food rationing, land reforms, subsidies for agriculture, control of the prices of essential food items etc. were among the major welfare and poverty alleviation measures in this phase. In addition to these measures, targeted poverty alleviation strategies were implemented in 1980s. As a result of these efforts, the nation has been able to reach to a reasonable level of social development and to reduce income poverty significantly. The purpose of the present study is to assess the effects of public welfare policies on the reduction of rural poverty in Sri Lanka. The study is based mainly on the Hambantota district of southern Sri Lanka. Logistic Regression Analysis was employed to assess the effects. State of multidimensional poverty (Y) was the dependent variable. Six basic capabilities namely, Avoid hunger and food insecurity (Food capability-FOD), Free from illiteracy and having knowledge (Education capability-EDU), having a healthy life (Health capability – HEL), Access adequately to clean drinking water (Drinking water capability - DRW), Sheltered safely and adequately (Housing capability - HOU) and Access to improved sanitation (Sanitation capability - SAN) were used as independent variables. The analysis concluded that food related public policies have played a significant role in reducing rural poverty. Though, public policies on health, housing, education, drinking water and sanitation have played a vital role, they have not still been able to provide adequate opportunities for the rural poor. Hence, public expenditure on those spheres can play a significant role in reducing rural poverty. Among the considered areas, public health policy is the comparatively most effective in reducing rural poverty, followed by housing and drinking water policies. Thus, expenditure on health can reduce rural poverty at a comparatively high rate. Education policy is less effective than other services.Item Estimation of Leisure Benefit of Leisure Time Consumption as an Economic Product: A BAL analysis(Research Centre for Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Ramanaka, A.R.N.D.; Semasinghe, W.M.; Wehigaldeniya, W.G.D.S.; Oshani, P.A.L.; Dilshani, P.Y.H.; Dissanayake, N.B.Leisure benefits are non-monitory gains that lead to the positive changes in the needs of individuals or substantial environments, including interpersonal relationships, physical fitness, alleviation of social problems, and stabilization of communities. The purpose of this study was to estimate the leisure benefits of leisure time consumption for the national production. There was one independent variable called Leisure Time (LT) and dependent variable was Benefits of Leisure (BOL), in this study. The secondary and primary data were collected in a survey of a sample comprising on 60 person. The Benefits Approach to Leisure (BAL) is used to measure leisure benefits considering leisure benefits areas as a production for leisure time. According to the findings there is opportunity cost which borne their time choice and leisure and Revenue undertakings. On the other hand amount and quality of leisure time is important for people‘s well-being due to the direct satisfaction it brings. Additionally, leisure, taken in certain ways, is important for physical and mental health of a person. Leisure also contributes to the well-being of people other than the person directly enjoying leisure. When a person engages in leisure, the benefits gained are shared with others in a multitude of ways, including improvements in personal relationships, family functioning, and in terms of creation of social capital networks (at least from some types of shared leisure).Item Impact of inflation on growth: with reference to Sri Lanka(Research Centre for Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Semasinghe, W.M.Inflation is one of the greatly discussed economic variables which make significant impact on many macroeconomic variables including growth, employment, import, export, investment, savings and money supply. Very high as well as very low rate of inflation are detrimental to economic performance. However, there is no consensus among economists over the precise rate of inflation which favorable to an economy. As literature reveals, the relationship between inflation and economic growth has been at the center of the macroeconomic policy debate since 1960s. Numerous empirical analysis have been documented on the relationship between these two variables and have arrived different conclusions. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of inflation on economic growth in Sri Lanka. During the past seven decades since independence, successive governments have adopted different policy instruments for the economic progress of the country. Hence, the present paper intended to examine the relationship between inflation and growth at the different policy regimes. The analysis mainly relied on quantitative approach and secondary data collected from the Department of Census and Statistics and Central Bank of Sri Lanka were employed. Multivariable regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between inflation and selected macroeconomic variables. Based on the empirical results, the study concluded that there is a positive relationship between inflation and growth, but the relationship is not strong in the period covered by the analysis. Only during the seven year period from 1970-77 that has adopted closed economic policy framework has established a relatively high relationship between the two.Item Impacts of external costs and benefits of paddy farming in Sri Lanka(2015) Nishantha, B.M.N.; Semasinghe, W.M.; Kularathne, M.G.; Gunarathana, K.M.L.M.M.Item Multidimensionality of urban poverty: an inquiry into the crucial factors affecting well-being of the urban poor in Sri Lanka(International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, United Kingdom, 2015) Semasinghe, W.M.Although, identification of the nature of poverty in a specific setting is crucial for poverty analysis and designing targeted poverty reducing programs, there is no consensus among researchers, policymakers etc. on the dimensions of poverty, due to the multidimensionality and the universality of the phenomena. Even the criteria for selecting dimensions used in the literature remain controversial. Although, the poverty has been greatly discussed recently in Sri Lanka as in many other developing countries, most of the analysts have focused mainly on the identification of incidence and trends of poverty based on uni-dimensional approach. It is hard to find the methodical attempts which are made to identify the border aspects of well-being and poverty of mankind. The main objective of this paper is to identify the dimensions of urban poverty in the light of conventional methodologies and historical knowledge. Qizilbash’s ‘core poor’ framework was applied in this analysis. Findings revealed that shelter, clean drinking water, children’s education, health service, environmental pollution, addiction to drugs/ alcoholism, uncertainty about the future, sanitation, domestic violence and stability of livelihood are the crucial factors of well-being of urban poor.Item Poverty incidence in Sri Lanka: Overview, trends, challenges and opportunities(Humanities and Social Sciences, 2014) Semasinghe, W.M.Poverty is one of the major socioeconomic issues that Sri Lanka has been attempting to tackle in the past six decades. Successive governments of the country have given highest priority to alleviate poverty and to sustain socioeconomic advancement of the country. The aim of this paper is to examine the trends of poverty incidence of the country and to identify the future challenges and opportunities that have opened up for poverty alleviation. The assessment was focused mainly on the income dimension of poverty. Secondary data published by the Department of Census and Statistics based on its Households Income and Expenditure Surveys and the data published by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka were used in the analysis. The data reveals that poverty incidence has shown a gradual declining trend during the past ten-fifteen years. Several factors including economic growth, workers’ remittance, targeted poverty alleviation programs, increasing employment opportunities, improvement of socioeconomic infrastructure can be identified as the causal factors of this progress. Sustaining the declining trend and overcoming the disparity of poverty incidence among geographical locations are key challenges that should be addressed, appropriately. The end of the war the country presents several opportunities to free the country of income poverty. Keywords: Public Policy, Poverty Alleviation, Economic Growth, Workers Remittance, SocioeconomicsItem Public welfare policies and rural poverty in Sri Lanka : with reference to Hambantota district(2010) Semasinghe, W.M.Item Public Welfare Policy, Capability and Rural Poverty with Reference to Hambantota District in Sri Lanka(University of Kelaniya, 2012) Semasinghe, W.M.Item Public Welfare Policy, Capability and Rural Poverty with special reference to Hambantota District in Sri Lanka(Faculty of Social sciences, 2010) Semasinghe, W.M.Item Social development in independent Sri Lanka: achievements and challenges(University of Kelaniya, 2008) Semasinghe, W.M.Item Social development of Sri Lanka: achievements and challenges(Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, 2009) Semasinghe, W.M.Item Social Development of Sri Lanka: achievements and challenges. Journal of Social Sciences – Sri Lanka(Faculty of Social sciences, 2009) Semasinghe, W.M.Item පශ්චාත් යුද සමයේ ශ්රි ලංකාවේ සංචාරක කර්මාන්තය, ප්රවනතා හා අභියෝග(Department of Economics, University of Kelaniya, 2016) Semasinghe, W.M.Item වී වගාවේ යෙදවුම් භාවිතයේ කාර්යක්ෂමතාව(Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2015) Madhuwanthi, R.M.N.; Semasinghe, W.M.