While the national average for maternal and child health services utilization shows improvement, the Philippines is yet to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) targets for maternal and child health. This study shows inequality in maternal and child health services utilization across...

This paper examines the influence of overseas remittances to patterns of family expenditures in the Philippines using a matched dataset of the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) and the Labor Force Survey (LFS). The objective is to study whether or not remittances influence budget...

Changing the base year (1985) of Philippine gross domestic product (GDP) in constant prices could change the growth rate and the shares of components even when there is no change in production volume, implying that the changes in growth rate and shares are anomalous (i.e., no real basis). This...

Amidst the rising trend in free trade agreements (FTAs) and growing international production sharing, rules of origin (ROO) has been beset with difficult recurring issues. First is the cost of ROO administration. Second, ROO as part of FTAs could generate new barriers to trade, thus taking with...

Fruits and vegetables comprise a large and dynamic subsector within Philippine agriculture. However, the country`s agricultural development strategy continues to emphasize traditional crops. Evidence points to a significant role for fruits and vegetables in agricultural diversification and rural...

The measurement of vulnerability, as in the probability that a household becomes poor, is concomitant to the analysis of poverty. To estimate households' vulnerability to income poverty, this study used a modified probit model that considers volatilities in income per capita as explained by some...

This paper employs several econometric methods to test the validity of the "export-led growth" hypothesis in three BIMP-EAGA countries, i.e., the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Firstly, the study uses Johansen cointegration test and Granger causality test to examine the relationship...

Applying a conjectural variations (CV) model introduced by Haskel and Scaramozzino (H&S model 1997), the paper examines the impact of trade liberalization on the Philippine cement industry where alleged cartel activities have taken place after the entry of the world's Big Three cement firms:...

Government education spending is expected to improve the well-being of beneficiaries and enhance their capability to earn income in the future. In this sense, directing education expenditures to the poor holds a promise for breaking the intergenerational transmission of poverty. Given this...

How poor are participants of development projects in the Philippines? This paper uses the 2002 Annual Poverty Indicators Survey to construct an easy-to-use objective poverty scorecard that estimates the likelihood that a participant has income below the national poverty line. The scorecard uses...