We investigate the effects of two accountability measures on the decisions of the local governments under decentralization. Using a panel of Philippine municipalities and cities in three election years, we find that term limits have negative but weak effects on the provision of health insurance...

In 2010, the Philippines appeared to be on track to attain by 2015 its target for Millennium Development Goals 4 (Reduce child mortality), but less so for Goal 7 (Ensure environmental sustainability). In pursuit of the latter, the government expands its provision of water and services to more...

Using a panel dataset from cities and municipalities in the Philippines in 2001, 2004 and 2007, we investigate whether yardstick competition

While gerrymandering in developing countries is often pushed by local authorities to secure political advantages, fiscal grants systems under decentralization may also have result in the same. We investigate this issue to identify the correlates of the growth in the number of cities in the...

The treatment of drinking water is advocated to reduce the incidence of child diarrhea. However, evaluating the impact of water treatment with only observational data leads to biased estimates since it could be the occurrence of child diarrhea that induced the household to treat their drinking...

While education is universally held to enhance a child human development, policies must still contend with parental biases. Here, we investigate if school attendance of young household members aged 6-12 years old varies with their kinship ties to the household heads in the Philippines. Applying...

The effect of the performance of the judicial system has been thrown into the limelight as the business sector has in various surveys pointed to its performance as being one of the main obstacles and disincentives to doing business in the Philippines. The channels through which judicial...

In developing countries like the Philippines, a major policy concern is the inequity in access to health and education services. In this paper, we investigate the effects of factors over which households have control ('choices') or none ('circumstances') on their access to basic services. Our...

This study investigates the importance of leadership as a driver of local government innovations. Based on a survey of 209 innovations introduced in selected 48 local governments in the Philippines during the period June 2004-June 2008, the observable qualities and possible incentives of...