Taking off from the self-evident fact that the population variable centrally figures in both labor and product markets, this paper argues that the growth rate of population, its age structure and spatial distribution should be key considerations in a country’s development strategy to promote...

The paper looks into the effects of international migration and remittances on household incomes and well-being, poverty reduction, human capital investment, saving, and regional development in the home country. Remittances appear to raise average incomes for all income groups but more so for...

Labor migration began to be promoted in the late 60s or early 70s by a number of Asian countries burdened by problems of unemployment, poverty, and scant foreign exchange. However, labor export was generally intended to be a stop-gap measure while governments were trying to implement policy...

Time was when solar energy was facilely dismissed as impractical, inefficient, and pricey. In recent years, however, innovations in technology, regulation, and financing have resulted in remarkable efficiency improvements and price reductions, thereby reversing the skepticism about this...

This paper examines the Philippines' investment climate in its many dimensions, relating these to the performance of the economy at the national, regional, and provincial levels. The central thesis is that the economy's slow growth over the past two decades or more can be attributed in large...

The population issue - now passé elsewhere in the developing world, even in the poorer countries - remains a durable puzzle in the Philippines. On the one hand, a majority of Filipinos regard rapid population growth as an impediment to socioeconomic development, requiring policy intervention;...

Following an earlier paper titled 'Population and Poverty: The Real Score' (UPSE Discussion Paper 0415, December 2004), the present paper was first issued in August 2008 as a contribution to the public debate on the population issue that never seemed to die in this country. The debate heated up...

This paper addresses the question whether and to what extent remittances contribute to poverty alleviation and regional development in the Philippines. It first revisits the causes and consequences of international migration, drawing on the more recent literature. It then zeroes in on...

Labor migration began to be promoted in the late 60s or early 70s by a number of Asian countries burdened by problems of unemployment, poverty, and scant foreign exchange. However, labor export was generally intended to be a stop-gap measure while governments were trying to implement policy...