We show that the most important barriers to investment and growth in the Philippines are structural and institutional problems that are characteristic of limited access societies, which can be more effectively and efficiently overcome by prioritizing 'first-order' market reforms that increase...

There has been an array of studies on the effect of economic liberalization on foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to the developing world. Still more have focused on whether countries decrease government services, as well as labor and environmental standards, in order to attract investment....