The paper analyzes the impact of major policy changes on banking structure, performance and competition, using bank-specific data from 1990-2002. We find that the entry of more market players is correlated with drops in interest spread and profits which, partly, bespeaks of possible dissipation...

The paper describes the current decisionmaking structure for trade policy formulation in the Philippines and compares it with the systems in selected countries. It cites difficulties in the current set-up, such as: 1) turf mentality among government agencies that tend to paralyze interagency...

The paper is an industry study of the audiovisual services sector, specially the film and television industry in the Philippines. It discusses the importance of the sector in the economy and employment, its strengths and weaknesses, regulations that affect it, and the competitive forces that...

The paper analyzes how various preferential trading arrangements deal with agriculture liberalization and examines a few case studies highlighting the provisions on agriculture. It assesses the effect of preferential trade agreements on agriculture trade flows in the case of ASEAN. It finds that...

Nontariff measures are everywhere vilified for preventing exports, especially of agriculture, from developing countries. Philippine exporters seem to be taking things in stride, however. The paper estimates the cost of certification regularly borne by a typical Philippine food exporter to be...

Globalization and pressure from increased competition have led to "splintering" of in-house services from formerly integrated manufacturing firms in developed economies and, at the same time, to an increase in "outsourcing" of these same services. These two trends have caused a stronger linkage...

This paper addresses the regulatory and policy environments conducive for e-commerce to thrive. In particular, as regulatory issues affecting e-commerce have become more prominent in recent regional trade agreements (RTAs), the paper seeks to investigate their role in setting the regulatory...

Intra-ASEAN trade has increased six-fold since 1993 but greater integration challenge looms in addressing non-tariff measures. The paper discusses the various ASEAN work programs on NTMs and assesses the incidence of Members' NTMs on various products. Various ways of accelerating the reduction...

The paper examines the labour migration trends in ASEAN and in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), in particular, and analyses the ASEAN regional labour-related initiatives that seek to improve the protection of migrant workers. It discusses social protection and the access status of GMS migrant...

This paper surveys studies of the importance of Central Asian small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in the economy and their experience during the Russian financial crisis. It also uses survey data from the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's Business...