Harshana Kasseeah & Sanjeev K Sobhee 
In-Depth Analysis of Rising Household Indebtedness in an Upper Middle – Income Economy – The Case of Mauritius [PDF ebook] 

Sanjeev K Sobhee is Professor of Applied Economics and Development Studies. His research areas include macroeconomics of the environment, sustainable development policies and the economics of climate change. Professor Sobhee has published extensively in internationally refereed journals and has consulted on projects for various international institutions: The World Bank, UNDP, UNEP, FAO, IOM and UNCTAD. This book is based on a study of household indebtedness in an upper-middle income economy known as Mauritius, and authored by a vibrant team of researchers from the University of Mauritius. The novelty of this publication is that it fills the gap with respect to the paucity of microeconomic studies pertaining to and relevant for developing countries. At the local and regional level, there is no consolidated work that studies household indebtedness with so much rigour and with such deep-rooted analysis. All in all, this publication uses different data sources and a mixed methodology approach to investigate the factors related to household indebtedness. The main advantage of this publication is that it is based on a comprehensive survey of indebted households in Mauritius. While the survey questionnaire tracks micro-socioeconomic characteristics of households, the empirical analysis is highly scientific and uses the latest statistical and econometric tools, techniques and softwares. It has a good review of literature backed by sound macroeconomic analysis and puts into practice the state of the art of econometric analysis. The discussions are clear and provide insights into expenditure patterns, financial constraints and vulnerability of households both within and among different income categories. The findings uncover specific traits of the typical Mauritian household debtor. The findings in this book are also compared with studies based on other developed and developing countries. Moreover, the book probes deeper into cases of over-indebtedness and the different reasons that could explain various financial commitments of a typical household debtor. Policy recommendations are provided to open the outreach to policy makers and researchers. Lastly, the book is also useful to the academic community and students in terms of its academic endeavors and achievements.Target Audience:Academic community and Research students – The scientific rigor which entails sophisticated analytical tools (statistical and econometrics) could be of interest to academic circles in terms of providing insights into tested theoretical hypotheses within the real life context. The book clearly links up the findings to established economic theories. Besides, there are comparative inferences made with studies done by international scholars in this area.Policy makers – There are several policy recommendations which are provided and useful to decision makers and policy makers, having implications for regulations and institutional changes and monitoring Financial institutions – The findings from the study or from this book may provide very interesting and useful information not easily available to commercial banks, the Bank of Mauritius and private enterprises with respect to credit monitoring and over indebtedness.General public – This book would serve as a useful piece of information to members of the public in better understanding the causes of households’ indebtedness and how does it vary across different people. The policy implications could be informative to consumers in general and consumer society in particular.International community – Being comparative in nature, the book provides additional empirical evidence on an upper middle income economy for which little information is available. The findings are compared and contrasted with findings from different countries- European, African, Asian, Australian amongst others.