Ronald Ravinesh Kumar

Ronald Ravinesh Kumar

nguyen hoang thien phuc it
School:  The Business School
Department: Economics & Finance
Position: Senior Lecturer
Location: RMIT Saigon South
Email: ronald.kumar@rmit.edu.vn
ORCID:  0000-0001-9658-4896

Before joining RMIT Vietnam, Ronald was an associate professor in School of Accounting, Finance and Economics, The University of the South Pacific (USP) based in Fiji from January 2019 to May 2022.  Prior to this, he held different positions including senior lecturer, lecturer & advisor for Banking and Finance Program at USP. Ronald taught and coordinated courses in the area of banking and finance (financial mathematics for first-year undergraduate, international finance, investment analysis, and banking management for final year undergraduate courses, and corporate finance for at the graduate level, in the program of professional accounting.  Ronald started his academic career in 2011 as a teaching assistant in the School of Economics at USP where he taught courses in microeconomics, macroeconomics, economic statistics and development economics. Prior to this, he worked as economist for the Reserve Bank of Fiji, and analyst project analyst for ANZ Pacific Operations.

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  • PhD - Economics – The University of Bolton, UK. Thesis title: Economic growth in development: examining the effects of contemporary sources of economic growth in selected countries across continents. 
  • Certificate – Investment Foundations, CFA Institute - https://basno.com/vhsvf1jj
  • MSc. Finance – The University of Leicester, UK. Thesis title: The relationship between the term structure of interest rate and economic activity: An analysis of G7 countries. (Overall Grade: Distinction)
  • Graduate Certificate-Tertiary Teaching – The University of the South Pacific, Fiji .
  • M.A. - Development Studies – The University of the South Pacific, Fiji. Thesis title: Migration and development: The development impacts of short-term labour migration of Ni-Vanuatu workers to New Zealand (Overall Grade A)
  • M.Com. - Economics (by coursework) – The University of the South Pacific, Fiji 
  • BSc. - Mathematics and Computer Science – The University of the South Pacific, Fiji. 
  • Dip. Business Studies - Accounting – Fiji Institute of Technology (Fiji National University)

  • Economics
  • Finance

  • Sources of economic growth and development
  • Small island economies and developing states
  • Financial flows, financial institutions, stock market, and sector and regional analyses
  • Migration, remittances, energy, technology and sustainable development

Ronald has more than 30 publications between 2017-2022. Below are listed a few:

2022

  • Profitability Determinants of the Insurance Sector in Small Pacific Island States: A Study of Fiji’s Insurance Companies, Engineering Economics, 33(3):302-315 (co-authored) (Q2)
  • Determinants of Social and Environmental Accounting Information Disclosure: An Analysis of Top 50 Firms in New Zealand, Engineering Economics, 33(2):118-131 (co-authored) (Q2) 
  • An Application of Portfolio Mean-Variance and Semi-Variance Optimization Techniques: A Case of Fiji, Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 15(5), 1-25 (co-authored) (ABDC: B)

2021

  • Tourism and economic growth in the Pacific region: evidence from five small island economies, Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy,  (co-authored) (Q2)
  • The Relationship between Yield Curve and Economic Activity: An Analysis of G7 Countries, Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 13(1), 1-23 (co-authored) (ABDC: B)
  • Determinants of bank stability in a small island economy: a study of Fiji. Accounting Research Journal, 34(1), 22-42 (co-authored) (Q2)

2020

  • Relationship between ICT and international tourism demand: A study of major tourist destinations, Tourism Economics, 26(6), 908-925 (co-authored) (Q1)
  • Is the tourism-growth relationship asymmetric in the Cook Islands? Evidence from NARDL cointegration and causality tests, Tourism Economics, 26(4), 658-681. (co-authored) (Q1)
  • Modelling inbound international tourism demand in small Pacific Island countries. Applied Economics, 52(10), 1031-1047. (co-authored) (Q2)

2019

  • The effectiveness of fisheries subsidies as a trade policy tool for achieving sustainable development goals at the WTO. Marine Policy, 100, 132-140 (co-authored) (Q1)
  • Exploring the effect of ICT and tourism on economic growth: a study of Israel. Economic Change and Restructuring, 52, 221-254 (co-authored) (Q2)

2018

  • The effect of remittances on economic growth in Kyrgyzstan and Macedonia: Accounting for financial development. International Migration, 56(1), 95-126. (co-authored) (Q1)
  • Determinants of non-performing loans in the banking sector in small developing island states a study of Fiji. Accounting Research Journal, 31(2), 192-213 (co-authored) (Q2)
  • Revisiting the threshold effect of remittances on total factor productivity growth in South Asia: a study of Bangladesh and India. Applied Economics, 50(26), 2860-2877 (co-authored) (Q2)
  • Exploring the effects of tourism and economic growth in Fiji: Accounting for capital, labour and structural breaks. Tourism Analysis, 23(3), 391-407. (co-authored) (Q2)

2017

  • Productivity growth and income in the tourism sector: Role of tourism demand and human capital investment. Tourism Management, 61, 426-433. (co-authored) (Q1)
  • The effect of energy on output per worker in the Balkan Peninsula: A country-specific study of 12 nations in the Energy Community. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 70, (co-authored) (Q1)
  • Tourism-led growth hypothesis in the top ten tourist destinations: New evidence using the quantile-on-quantile approach. Tourism Management, 60, 223-232. (co-authored) (Q1)
  • Nexus between tourism demand and output per capita with the relative importance of trade openness and financial development: A study of Malaysia. Tourism Economics, 23(1), 168–186 (co-authored) (Q1)
  • Carbon emission, energy consumption, trade openness and financial development in Pakistan: A revisit. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 70,185-192. (co-authored) (Q1) 
  • The lead-lag relationship between US industry-level credit and stock markets, Journal of Economic Studies, 44(4), 518-539, (co-authored) (Q1)
  • The lead-lag relationship between US industry-level credit and stock markets, Journal of Economic Studies, 44(4), 518-539, (co-authored) (Q1)
  • Examining the efficiency and interdependence of US credit and stock markets through MF-DFA and MF-DXA approaches. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 471, 351-363, (co-authored) (Q1)

  • Regular member – CFA Institute

  • Guest Editor – Special issue on Financial Development and Economic Growth, Journal of Risk and Financial Management (MDPI, Switzerland) (2020-2022)
  • (Guest Editor –Special issue on Tourism and Economic Growth, Sustainability - (MDPI, Switzerland) (2019-2020)
  • Associate Editor, Journal of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, Fiji (2018-2020)

  • June 2022 – current: Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics and Finance,  The Business School, RMIT Vietnam, Saigon South, Vietnam.
  • January 2019-May 2022: Associate Professor, School of Accounting, Finance and Economics, The University of the South Pacific, Fiji.
  • August 2018-Dec-2019 Associate Dean – Research & Postgraduate Affairs, Faculty of Business & Economics, The University of the South Pacific, Fiji.
  • July 2018- August 2018: Acting Head – School of Accounting and Finance, The University of the South Pacific, Fiji.
  • October 2016 – December 2018: Senior Lecturer & Advisor for Banking and Finance Program – School of Accounting & Finance, The University of the South Pacific, Fiji.
  • July 2016-September 2016: Lecturer – School of Accounting and Finance, The University of the South Pacific, Fiji
  • Aug 2013- July 2016: Assistant Lecturer – Finance, School of Accounting & Finance, The University of the South Pacific.
  • July 2011-July 2013: Teaching Assistant – Economics, School of Economics, The University of the South Pacific.
  • April 2011-June 2011: Economic Planning Officer- Ministry of National Planning, Government of Fiji. 
  • Dec 2005-Mar. 2007: Project/Business Analyst – ANZ Operations, Project and Governance, Fiji.
  • May 2005 – Nov. 2005: Economist- Policy & Research – Reserve Bank of Fiji, Policy & Research Department, Fiji.
  • Feb.2005-Apr. 2005: Part-Time Tutor/ Lecturer (Math) – School of Foundation Studies, The University of the South Pacific, Fiji.