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Item Restricted Competetiveness and the standard of living: a study on the determinants of competitiveness and its relationship with standard of living at the provincial level(2015-12) Sicat, Regina Bianca D.; Villarosa, Dea Marie Isabel A.A growing debate in the field of development economics is defining competitiveness and its importance to economic growth. The Philippines has joined this bandwagon and created its own index, the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI), which measures how competitive local government units (LGUs) are at the municipal level and then at the provincial level. Our study looks critically into the variables included in the index with the use of exploratory factor analysis to see how the CMCI can better measure competitiveness. Afterwards, we perform a multivariate regression and see how the extracted factors of competitiveness affect the standard of living, as reflected in average household expenditure. The results of the study show that competitiveness at the smaller scale is determined by economic performance of businesses, labor costs, basic government services, ease of doing business, and miscellaneous infrastructure. It is insignificantly related to standard of living. The study recommends a future replication of this methodology but when there is more complete data available. The study also recommends that the National Competitiveness Council review the CMCI variables as well as the construction of the index to see how it can be more relevant to the study of living standards and overall economic development.Item Restricted Comparing the inclusiveness of economic growth in the Ramos and Arroyo administrations(2015-06) Ruiz, Karen P.Inclusiveness of growth depends on the availability of economic and social opportunities, and the extent to which these opportunities are distributed across society. This paper applies a methodology using mobility/opportunity index and equity index to assess inclusivity. Based on the principles of social welfare and opportunity functions in measuring inclusive growth, this paper establishes that the high growth episodes experienced in the Philippines in effect increased income and expenditure of individuals from different income levels but did not increase opportunities available for employment. Equity was not improved also as there is no change seen in the manner of distribution, which tends to benefit the rich more than the poor.Item Restricted Measuring and monitoring the pace and pattern of inclusive growth in the Philippines(2014-04) Crisostomo, Samantha Carissa D.; Mirafuente, Rafael Vincent B.; Horioka, Charles YujiThis paper attempts to determine the extent of inclusiveness in growth episodes of certain welfare indicators for different marginalized groups in order to shed light on the progress the Philippines has made in reducing poverty and inequality. Developing countries all over the world have begun shifting their policy views towards inclusive development, which is defined as nondiscriminatory, disadvantage-reducing growth. There are three dimensions for inclusive growth; these are productive jobs that pay well, the reduction of inequalities in access to social services and markets, and the presence of adequate social safety nets. Using the Family Income Expenditure Surveys from 1985 to 2009, this paper tracks the growth of income to determine the existence of jobs that pay and the growth of access to potable water, roofing (as a proxy for housing quality), and electrification to determine equal access to social services. Income was found to be largely not inclusive for all groups during the growth episode, while access to social services was more inclusive, though volatile for certain groups. The high fluctuations in growth in regional areas suggest that the lack of sustainability indicates an absence of a long-term effort for improvement. Therefore, this paper recommends a heightened commitment to strong governance and a push for fiscal liberalization in order to support large scale national and regional infrastructure improvements and the creation of value-adding industries to create productive employment.Item Restricted The sectoral composition of growth and its effect on poverty alleviation in the Philippines(2014-12) Yap, Gian Louis Y.; Carlos, Fidelina N.Numerous studies have analyzed the impact of aggregate economic growth on poverty alleviation. One key finding is that the composition of growth also has an effect on reducing poverty. Constructing a sub-national panel data composed of the gross regional domestic product, value added to output by the three sectors and poverty incidence of the 16 regions in the country, results of the panel estimation show that both the primary and tertiary sector have been significant in contributing to the Philippines's endeavor to raise real incomes and reduce poverty. The revealed importance of both the agricultural and services sector to the Philippine's goal of further reducing poverty should be taken into account in policy formation. Fostering an environment conducive for growth in both primary and tertiary sectors must be central to an effective strategy for poverty reduction in the Philippines.Item Restricted Factors associated with full employment in the Philippines(2013-03) Anatalio, Avery; Mabutas, Victor; Pernia, Ernesto M.Despite respectable economic growth in recent years, underemployment and unemployment remain critical problems in the Philippines. Most studies on labor markets are concerned with factors associated with underemployment and unemployment. Instead, we aim to focus on identifying the determinants of full employment. Focusing on full employment allows us to see the factors that prevent the labor market from being flexible and productive. To this end, we analyze data from the 2011 Labor Force Survey (LFS) using regression analysis. Our results suggest that the probability of being fully employed varies with educational attainment, age, sector of employment, class of worker, nature of employment, and marital status. A policy implication of our study is to make quality education more accessible to everyone, especially the less privileged members of the labor force. Creating permanent, salaried jobs appears to be a key factor in improving labor productivity and job satisfaction. Aiming for full employment will be good for poverty alleviation and inclusive growth.Item Restricted Tourism and economic growth: the case of the five ASEAN countries(2013-10) Chua, Angelyne M.; Rivera, Kyla Viktoria V.; Pernia, Ernesto M.For many national governments, the tourism industry is seen as an important contributor to economic development. The industry is expected to provide job opportunities, reduce poverty, earn foreign exchange, and stimulate economic growth and progress in general. Although tourism is touted to play such a role, some economists remain skeptical about the significance of its impact on economic growth and development. Accordingly, studies ofthe relationship between tourism and economic growth have not been lacking; economists still continue to disagree on the real benefits of tourism to the economy. Hoping to contribute to this ongoing discussion, our paper aims to find out whether or not tourism exerts a positive impact on economic growth by looking into the experiences of five ASEAN developing countries, namely, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. We want to address the question: are governments correct in investing so much in an industry whose contribution to growth still seems open to inquiry? We employ fixed effect panel data estimation to answer this question. The results of our analysis provide supporting evidence that tourism has a positive and significant impact on economic growth using data on the five ASEAN countries covered in this study.Item Restricted It takes concentration: measuring the impact of agglomeration on growth(2013-10) Costales, Lesley Astrid A.; Gonzales, Patricia Georgina B.; Alonzo, Ruperto P.Essential for overall development, economic growth has always been a primary concern of developing countries, including the Philippines. The role of agglomeration economies in promoting growth, however, is often overlooked and dismissed to be mere externalities. Agglomeration economies provide benefits to firms locating near other firms by increasing efficiency due to easier, faster, and cheaper access to inputs, may it be in the form of capital, labor, or knowledge. These geographical concentrations are further classified into two broad categories: localization economies and urbanization economies. Although, from a theoretical perspective, they are expected to have positive impacts on growth, prior empirical studies do not show consistent results. More so, there is little existing literature that relates these two domestic phenomena in the context of the Philippine economy. This study aims to fill this gap by answering the question: Do patterns of agglomeration in the Philippines help drive economic growth? This is achieved by exploring the impact of localization economies and urbanization economies on the level of employment from the years 2006 to 2011 across 17 regional divisions and 10 major industry groups using the fixed effects regression model. The location index an inverse relative Hirschman-Herfindahl index are calculated as a measure of the degree of specialization (associated with localization economies) and the degree of diversification (associated with urbanization economies) for the considered regional industries. Results demonstrate an existing significant and U-shaped relationship between measures of agglomeration and regional employment levels, thereby providing empirical proof that growth does, indeed, take concentration.Item Restricted An analysis on the impact of climate growth in the Philippines(2013-01) Sy, Ryan; Wee, Louie; Pernia, Ernesto M.Climate is a major factor in our daily lives. We aim to examine what effect climate has on the economy as indicated by the gross regional domestic product (GRDP). In this paper, we intend to analyze GRDP with respect to average temperature and rainfall in several Philippine regions, to test the hypothesis that weather affects GRDP in general, and agricultural productivity in particular. Results of our study reveal the phenomenon that as temperature increases, regional productivity falls significantly. For agricultural productivity, a rise in temperature results in an increase to agricultural productivity up to a point, declines and increases again, following the behavior of a cubic equation. Our study, though, falls short in achieving a significant causal relationship between rainfall and total regional productivity, but is successful in illustrating an inversely proportional relationship for rainfall and agricultural productivity.Item Restricted Foreign direct investment and growth: the role of business regulations(2011-04) Cueto, Maria Concepcion M.; Duldoco, Ricardo Ervin R.; Carlos, Fidelina N.The theoretical literature has identified various channels through which Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows may contribute to economic growth in host countries. However, empirical evidence examining the direct role of FDI to growth has shown mixed results. This paper examines the role of business regulations in the exploitation of the _growth benefits of FDI. By means of the Fixed· Effects Regression, we estimate a growth model, where growth depends on additions in human and physical capital, using longitudinal Datamation developing countries for the years 2000-2008. We find that FDI alone negatively affects economic growth. However, upon the interaction of business regulations, the results show that FDI positively contributes to economic growth, and that the more regulated business environments cannot fully enjoy these benefits. The results are robust to the inclusion of other determinants of economic growth.Item Restricted The effect of religiosity on economic growth(2011-03) Icsiano, Allison Louise E.; Omila, Stephanie Channaine A.Research on economic growth models have often neglected to include social and political measures to the However, However, recent studies have shown promising results of a relationship between cultural and in dimensions. In our paper, we evaluate the role of religion in The growth. The variables of interest are monthly church attendance and belief in hell and belief Church an after-life. Church attendance and belief in hell have negative relationships with growth of real GDP per capita while belief in an The has a positive relationship. The negative impact of church attendance on growth can be attributed to churchgoers spending less time on productive activities and choosing to attend a religious service instead. Our sample countries had dominant religions that did not emphasize the Christianity-dominated of hell, hell is more pronounced in Christianity-dominated countries; this explains The negative result of the belief in hell variable. The positive effect of belief in an after-life can be explained by the tendency of individuals with strong religious beliefs to be altruistic yet at the same time engage in economically productive activities.