Striking a balance between trade facilitation and preventing trade deflection is the single most difficult challenge with regard to the issue of rules of origin (ROO). ASEAN ROO is already considered as among the simplest in the world and still, in practice, results fall short of expectations....

Over the past sixty years, the concept of development has expanded from economic growth and investment, to poverty reduction, human development, sustainable development, and more recently to institutional development. There has also been a fresh look at industrial policy and the role of the...

One of the objectives of the evolving ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is to promote free investment flows and freer capital flows. By deepening economic integration among them, ASEAN member countries can establish a region-wide production base that will attract more foreign direct investment and...

The 2008 global economic and financial crisis spawned a synchronized recession among industrialized countries leading to a contraction in world trade. Exports from developing countries fell sharply dragging many of them into the global economic downturn. The Philippines was not spared the...

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) recognize the need to understand the link between disability and poverty. In fact this has become one of the key issues in the subject of poverty reduction in Asia and the Pacific. The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific...

Monitoring the behavior of potential output helps policymakers implement appropriate policies in response to an economic crisis. In the short-run, estimates of the output gap will guide the timing of implementation and withdrawal of stimulus measures. In the medium- to long-term, these estimates...

Research and development (R&D) is an important resource for sustained economic growth. New knowledge created by a firm has spillover effects that improve the productivity of other firms and even other sectors. This is the heart of endogenous growth theory. In this framework, government policies...

Within the context of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Scorecard mechanism developed by the ASEAN Secretariat to monitor the implementation of the AEC Blueprint, the study focuses on the current state, performance and impact of investment liberalization and facilitation, trade facilitation,...

ASEAN member countries are moving toward achieving the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) with the timeline set at 2015. It is therefore important for policymakers in the region to sustain the momentum - or perhaps even accelerate the pace - toward establishing the AEC. Policy measures are being...

The private sector is the driver of growth in most ASEAN economies. It is therefore expected to play a significant role in the process of economic integration in ASEAN. In the Philippines, the private sector has dominated the economy, contributing about 95 percent of GDP, but it has not lived up...