Low-income households find it hard to cope with the risks brought about by an illness or injury, death of a family member, man-made calamities, and natural disasters. Demand for microinsurance products is growing and both formal and informal microinsurance schemes have started to emerge to...

This study assesses the state of microinsurance in the country, identifies the players and their performance, and the challenges facing microinsurance development. The term micro pertains to the capacity of a program to handle the small, sometime irregular cash flows of poor households, who have...

This study proposes a set of indicators for monitoring and evaluation of agricultural policy, patterned after the support estimates of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The main indicators are: producer support (incorporating indirect market support, and direct...

This study attempts to measure subsidies to agricultural credit in recent years and provides policy implications. It finds that credit policy has evolved, from provision of subsidized credit to one that is more market-oriented, focusing on providing access to credit to farmers while exposing...

Several studies have shown that land reform has a positive impact on rice and corn productivity. However, the same cannot be said in sugar and coconut areas. This paper attempts to verify the effect of the implementation of CARP on the productivity of sugar and coconut farms. To answer the...

The Philippines, a country of great promise in the 1950s, has greatly lagged behind many other Asian countries. Between 1991 and 1994 urban poverty declined from 26% to 29%; but rural poverty virtually stagnated at a much higher rate: 55% and 54%, respectively. Poverty lending programs were...

The 1991 Local Government Code devolved substantial spending, taxing, and borrowing powers to local government units. Moving governance closer to the people can generate a welfare gain but local governments must have adequate revenues to finance local development. The paper examines the current...

Establishing financially inclusive ecosystems for low-income clients, including small and medium enterprises, has become a rising global concern. The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor and the World Bank estimate that around 2.7 billion adults worldwide do not have access to credit,...

The Philippines has used the BOT law, as amended to motivate private sector provision of infrastructure. Using examples from selected BOT projects in the country, the paper points out key issues constraining the successful implementation of the BOT approach to infrastructure provision. It also...

The paper examines the progress being made in local finance reforms and indicates pathways to advance those reforms. A summary of the effects of decentralization is given as a contextual background for the discussion of local finance reforms. The inefficient tax assignment has constrained the...