The study assesses the state of competition in the Philippine wholesale and retail sector, focusing on the distribution of specialized goods and pharmaceutical products. It uses the traditional tools of analysis like concentration ratios and price-cost margins in determining the competitive...

This paper reviews the current empirical literature on competition and market structure of Philippine industries. It shows that weak competition is one of the fundamental factors that explain limited growth, productivity, and employment in the economy. Philippine experience has shown that...

Nobody would claim that regulators, or academics working on regulatory policy, have neglected the Internet. But most of this work is attracted by the global character of the Internet. Admittedly this is a serious challenge to regulation. But it is not the only, and probably not even the most...

The paper discusses the respective roles of competition policy and sector-specific regulation for industries such as telecommunications, electricity, and gas, in which network infrastructures that are natural monopolies serve as essential facilities for anybody who wants to provide services in...

The paper analyses the causes of the current crisis of the global financial system, with particular emphasis on the systemic elements that turned the crisis of subprime mortgage-backed securities in the United States, a small part of the overall system, into a worldwide crisis. The first half of...

This paper looks at the regulatory reforms in the electricity and downstream oil industries, two important inputs to the production process that were heavily regulated by the government. While electricity has strong externalities as well as economies of scale and scope, the oil industry does not...

This paper is a preliminary review of the state of competition in the insurance industry of selected Asian countries. In particular, it explores how competition has been affected by the market structure and the regulatory regime in the insurance industries of the ASEAN5 economies - Indonesia,...

The Philippines is an archipelago of approximately 7,107 islands. It has a long coastline extending to 235,973 square kilometers which is longer than that of the United States (UNESCAP 2002b). The country's archipelagic configuration requires an efficient maritime transport infrastructure...

Following the global trend in using private sector participation in infrastructure financing and development, the Philippines has largely utilized privatization as a major approach to the development of infrastructure, particularly in power, water, transport, and telecommunications sectors. To...

The paper discusses financial liberalization in the context of a proposed RP-US FTA. It discusses the state of the financial industry, in general, and also reviewed the US-Chile and US-Singapore FTAs to be able to arrive at the proposed provisions for the RP-US FTA. It also tackles the reforms...