This paper contributes to the literature on financial inclusion in the Philippines by examining three key financial services, namely, savings, credit, and insurance, and identifying individual socioeconomic characteristics that are associated with access to these financial services. Financial...

Set against a rapidly changing global environment, Philippine industries now, more than ever, are facing new demands that will require more innovation for firms to remain competitive across the global market. The PIDS Survey on Innovation Activities (PSIA) conducted among firms in food...

Digital technology applied to banking and financial transactions or e-finance in general has made financial services more widely available and affordable to consumers. And with appropriate and affordable technologies and applications, the financially excluded and the unserved can participate in...

The 1991 Local Government Code devolved substantial spending, taxing, and borrowing powers to local government units. Moving governance closer to the people can generate a welfare gain but local governments must have adequate revenues to finance local development. The paper examines the current...

This paper presents a general picture of the difficulties in developing a sustainable lending service geared toward smallholder agriculture. Drawing on the experiences of the Philippines and other countries, it traces the rethinking of the agricultural credit policy following the collapse of...

This study assessed the sources and levels of infrastructure financing in the Philippines for the last five years (2008-2012). [PIDS Discussion Paper No. 2014-01].

The paper calls the attention of policymakers to address critical constraints affecting the effective utilization of free trade agreements, growth, trade facilitation and customs administration, services liberalization, and investment incentives. [PIDS DISCUSSION PAPER SERIES NO. 2013-51].

The ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint targets an ASEAN single market in 2015. This is an ambitious reform agenda that seeks to ensure the free flow of services, investment, and skilled labor along with the free flow of goods and the freer flow of capital in the ASEAN region. For logistics...

The study looks at the rarely studied customs brokerage activity in the Philippines and its role in facilitating trade given the ongoing push to modernize customs administration. It analyzes how the customs brokerage profession is being regulated and synthesizes insights on opposing views on the...