This paper analyzes the economic and poverty effects of a voluntary carbon emission reduction for a small liberalized economy - the Philippines. The simulation results indicate that tariff reductions undertaken by the Philippine government between 1994 and 2005 reduced the cost of fossil fuels...

The present report is an evaluation of the projects aiming at the abolition of the death penalty (ADP), financed under the European Initiative on Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR). The evaluation, undertaken between November 2006 and February 2007, covers a portfolio of 28 projects, some dating...

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...

The official poverty data fall short of properly informing public policy and governance concerning the progress, or lack of it, in achieving the country's commitment of halving, between 1990 and 2015, the incidence of poverty and hunger. Imposing consistency in poverty estimation shows that the...

Anecdotal evidence permeates accounts on the impact of the global economic crisis (GEC) on Philippine poverty. This study systematically assesses the evidence and recent data. It adopts a somewhat eclectic approach, applying regression and decomposition techniques to trace the GEC impact on GDP...

Recent work has documented industrial output growth around the poor periphery from 1870 to the present, finding unconditional convergence on the leaders long before the modern BRICS and even before the Asian Tigers. The Philippines was very much part of that catching up. In the decade or so up...

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...

Labor markets in all economies are subject to transaction costs associated with recruiting, monitoring and supervising workers. Rural labor markets in developing economies, where institutions such as labor and contract law and formal employment assistance mechanisms are not in place, are...

The paper aims to measure transaction costs and its effects on labor market participation and on wage earnings. The observed differences between between buying and selling prices of rice across households are used to calculate transaction costs indices for villages which are incorporated into...