The Philippines has undertaken substantial trade-policy reforms since the 1980s. However, the poverty impact is not very clear and has been the subject of intense debate, most crucial of which is the likely poverty effects of liberalizing the highly protected agricultural sector. A CGE...

It is widely recognized that while high and sustained economic growth is critical for poverty reduction, there are other policy interventions that may also be significant in a ‘growth plus’ approach to poverty reduction. This volume brings together a series of case studies on the...

Trade liberalization--particularly tariff reduction, which is the focus of this paper--triggers changes in both sectoral price ratios and domestic-foreign price ratios. These changes in turn cause a reallocation in production and resources, which lead to a contraction in some production sectors...

As suggested by vast literature, the Philippine economy has performed poorly over the last three decades due to deterioration in productivity. This paper provides an updated productivity estimates for the manufacturing industries over the period 1956-1992. This paper decomposes this industry...

The GATT/WTO may affect the Philippine economy in three ways: through changes in tariff structure resulting from the country’s commitment in the Uruguay Round, through the expansion of world trade as developed and less developed countries adjust their protection structures and through the...

Based on the chain of causality, R&D translates to innovation and to productivity/ technological progress, which ultimately leads to economic growth and prosperity. There exists a strong empirical support to positive relationship between effort levels in R&D and productivity. The objective of...

Major exchange rate adjustments have been seriously resisted by various groups due to their association of its occurrence during periods of severe economic crisis. Hence, exchange rate policy has not been utilized as part of development strategy but as a reactionary tool during periods of...

The paper analyzes the possible effects of tariff reduction in the 1990s on unemployment, household income and household welfare using a computable general equilibrium model calibrated to the 1994 social accounting matrix. The series of simulation experiments indicate that tariff reduction is...

While adjustment policies are necessary to realign the economy in the right track, it entails a number of adverse impacts, especially on the poor and vulnerable groups. This paper reviews the Philippine growth performance, its economic structure and the reforms it has implemented. This also...

The Philippine economic growth has been highly unstable in the last 20 years. From an erratic pattern, it has recovered in the early 1990’s. Whether this growth momentum is sustainable especially in the light of the recent financial crisis depends heavily on the strengthening of factors deemed...