This note shows that unit labor costs, the most widely used measure of competitiveness, are equivalent to the labor share in output multiplied by a price-adjustment factor. This has three main implications. First, unit labor costs are not just a technical concept. They embody the social...

Economics is an important component of social science instruction in secondary level education in the Philippines. This paper aims to trace the evolution of economics education in Philippine high school through a review of all available textbooks, from the very beginning of the institution of...

When poor households face catastrophic events, they do not have any means for risk protection. Access to formal risk protection schemes such as insurance may be a more effective means to minimize the poor households' losses but traditional mainstream insurance has bypassed informal workers and...

This paper investigates the Philippine government's price stabilization policy for rice. Seemingly unrelated regressions are used to examine the effectiveness of the program at regional and national levels over a 21-year period (January 1983 to December 2003). Results of the regional analysis...

The paper determines the factors affecting the export performance of firms in three main manufacturing sectors in the Philippines. Specifically, firm-level characteristics like firm size, firm age, and foreign affiliation are identified and statistically tested to determine if they affect a...

The prevalence of hunger in the Philippines prompted the government to launch its hunger mitigation initiative in November 2005. Such initiative consisted of two programs: the Food-for-School Program (FSP) and the Tindahan Natin Program (TNP). The FSP belongs to a class of social safety nets...

This paper investigates the Philippine government's price stabilization policy for rice. Seemingly unrelated regressions are used to examine the effectiveness of the program at regional and national levels over a 21-year period (January 1983 to December 2003). Results of the regional analysis...

The paper determines the factors affecting the export performance of firms in three main manufacturing sectors in the Philippines. Specifically, firm-level characteristics like firm size, firm age, and foreign affiliation are identified and statistically tested to determine if they affect a...

Economics is an important component of social science instruction in secondary level education in the Philippines. This paper aims to trace the evolution of economics education in Philippine high school through a review of all available textbooks, from the very beginning of the institution of...

When poor households face catastrophic events, they do not have any means for risk protection. Access to formal risk protection schemes such as insurance may be a more effective means to minimize the poor households' losses but traditional mainstream insurance has bypassed informal workers and...