This short note provides a framework for looking at public sector governance and productivity improvements. It argues that the role of government in enhancing productivity growth is two-fold. First, government should provide an environment that is conducive in improving total factor productivity...

Microfinance is an emerging important financial subsector in Asian transition countries. Its role is to improve financial access of the poor and small economic players and thus help them to build assets, thereby contribute to poverty alleviation. This paper provides an overview of rural finance...

This paper examines the competitiveness of the Philippine information technology (IT) industry vis-à-vis its emerging competitors and neighboring countries in the region. While the industry boasts of being the largest foreign exchange earner for the country, it suffers from structural...

The paper determines the factors affecting the export performance of firms in three main manufacturing sectors in the Philippines. Specifically, firm-level characteristics like firm size, firm age, and foreign affiliation are identified and statistically tested to determine if it affects a...

Changing the base year (1985) of Philippine GDP in constant prices could change the growth rate and the shares of components even when there is no change in the volume of production, implying that the changes in growth rate and shares are anomalous (i.e., no real basis). This possibility weakens...

This study is a quantitative assessment of regional development performance in terms of economic growth and convergence (described simply as the minimization of disparities in regional income) during the period 1975-1997. The study not only takes stock of how far the goals of regional...

The study attempts to characterize agricultural technology, acquisition, development and dissemination in the private sector. Technologies extensively used in agriculture are introduced either through established subsidiaries of multinational companies, joint venture agreements, technology...

The prevalence of hunger in the Philippines prompted the government to launch its hunger mitigation initiative in November 2005. The initiative consisted of two programs: the Food-for-School Program (FSP) and the Tindahan Natin Program (TNP). The FSP belongs to a class of social safety nets...

Although MWSS has the responsibility for providing urban water and sewerage services in Metro Manila, actual service coverage has been low particularly for sewerage and quality of service has been poor despite subsidies from the national government. This paper examines the impact of the recent...

There is a growing emphasis on the role of trade in health services (telehealth, health tourism and retirement, investments and deployment of medical professionals) in easing fiscal constraints, generating jobs and income, improving infrastructure and financing, and upgrading the capacities...