Despite the continuing threat of the COVID-19 virus mutating, the pandemic will eventually end given widespread vaccination and virus suppression policies. Policymakers need to think ahead, assess scenarios of possible futures, and start to reset and rebuild toward a better Philippines in the...

This common country assessment update for the Philippines underpins the sustainable development partnership framework for the Philippines and the United Nations (UN). Taking off from the analysis of the national baseline on sustainable development goals (SDGs) and progress in the SDGs, this...

Socialized pricing mechanisms are common in utility services like electricity because it is critical for daily activities and therefore, considered vital for economic growth. The aim of such mechanisms is to redistribute financial resources from well-off to marginalized consumers. This is seen...

It is well recognized in the literature that a country's transport system plays a central role in its development. This paper shows the economic impacts of improvements in the transport system by studying the experience of the Philippines with the roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) policy that promotes...

The Philippine government has historically underinvested in transport infrastructure until a few decades ago when the country was in a relatively more favorable financial position. The immense need to fast-track transport infrastructure investments is driven mainly by two pressure points: 1) the...

The domestic shipping industry has a crucial role in the Philippine economy as it serves as the backbone supporting domestic trade and provides an affordable means of interisland transfer. However, the industry is riddled with inefficiencies with interrelated consequences such as high cost of...

Electricity serves as a vital input to modern economies. Many critical infrastructures such transportation, telecommunications, banking, among others, depend on continuous supply of electricity to perform their functions. However, as modern economies continue to move towards digitalization and...

The Philippines entered its deepest recession in post-war history in 2020, with output declining by 9.6 percent. Coming up with a strategy on how to best manage the economy and deal with the fallout of the public health shock, especially on the weaker segments of society, became the biggest...

This paper investigates the financial determinants of research and development (R&D) investment in Asia, where innovation is naturally seen as the key driver of future (high) economic growth. We sample listed nonfinancial firms from eight economies in region (the People's Republic of China; Hong...