For more than a decade now, the national health accounts (NHA) of the Philippines has been providing data that are important for health policymaking. At present, the NHA not only continues to be important for health policymaking. It has also become indispensable as a tool for monitoring and...

This paper studies the relationship between population dynamics and income growth in the Philippines using data from 74 provinces for the period 1985-2003. Simulation techniques were used to quantify the effect of population dynamics on the differences in income of the provinces. It also...

Trade liberalization--particularly tariff reduction, which is the focus of this paper--triggers changes in both sectoral price ratios and domestic-foreign price ratios. These changes in turn cause a reallocation in production and resources, which lead to a contraction in some production sectors...

This paper attempts to analyze governance systems in Southeast Asia and proposes some policy suggestions that can improve governance practices in the region. To put the discussion on governance systems in a proper context, the paper discusses the governance and growth nexus in Southeast Asia;...

The use of English language for cross-border communications is important in many areas of trade ranging from tourism to trade in financial services. English will increase the capacity of people to communicate and exchange ideas and goods across borders. However, the increasing involvement in...

This paper looks at the regulatory reforms in the electricity and downstream oil industries, two important inputs to the production process that were heavily regulated by the government. While electricity has strong externalities as well as economies of scale and scope, the oil industry does not...

This paper investigates the implications of China’s accession to the World Trade Organization in December 2001 for the Philippines based on an analysis of Philippine-China bilateral trade structure, a presentation of the commitments made by China for its WTO accession, and a discussion of this...

This article deals with the concept of competitiveness. Competitiveness is technically a firm-level concept. However, it is oftentimes extended to the national level--the idea of a country's 'international competitiveness' with the following analogies: market share--export share of country;...

A major theoretical as well as political approach to transport infrastructure investment and management is the idea that such services are public goods and should not be subject to private market considerations. However, from time to time, public provision seems to fail, which increases the...